Hyderabad | - Page 6

Dwaraka (Lakdikapul) | Restaurant Review

Place: Dwaraka
Location: Hotel Rukmini Riviera, Lakdikapul
Cuisine: Indian
Meal: Dinner

Wanting to eat some yummy Biryani, I dropped into Dwaraka Lakdikapul a couple of weeks ago. Their Hundi Biryani, which I last had in their Ameerpet branch (now closed) happens to be among the best in the city. It’s been ages since I last came into Lakdikapul Dwaraka. Times have changed and so has the place, and here I was at the newly revamped restaurant inside Hotel Rukmini Riviera. Brightly lit, the restaurant had decent ambiance, and I made myself comfortable at a corner table for four.

For a relatively new place, their menu was in shreds with pages falling apart. To my disappointment, the Hundi Biryani was replaced with Paneer Hundi Biryani. Not wanting to experiment, I enquired about the Dwaraka Special Thali. I was informed it is North Indian Thali with an additional dish, and ice-cream. I went for it thinking what could go wrong with a thali. Alas!

Dwaraka Lakdikapul Restaurant Review — Tomato Soup

The Tomato Soup was served in about five minutes, and tasted pretty good for it was thick and creamy.

Before I finished the soup came the Thali. It had Paneer Butter Masala, Channa Masala, Mixed Vegetable, Bhendi Fry, Manchuria, Biryani and Gajar Halwa, and came along with a Plain Naan. Of the curries, while the PBM was decent, the other two weren’t great. The Manchuria was dripping in oil, and the Bhendi fry was cold and hard as rock. When I informed the waiter about the oil in Manchuria and showed it to him, he retorted saying Chinese dishes come with oil. Argh! The Naan was decent, but the biryani was terrible. When I asked for more Naan, I was informed that I would have to let go of the white rice in such case. I didn’t want the rice anyways, so asked for it and had to wait for about ten minutes. The Gajar Halwa was decent.

I finished a disappointing meal and was waiting for the ice-cream. But I was instead served the bill. Curiously, I asked if they forgot something, and everyone seemed clueless. I then had to demand for the ice-cream. After forever, Strawberry ice-cream was served.

Overall, close to a disastrous meal. Did I say I didn’t want to experiment? But for a couple of items, the thali was terrible. What was more surprising was the indifferent attitude of the waiters. For a small restaurant, they had a handful of waiter, most of them standing in the corner and chatting away to glory, unbothered about the customers. People at every table had issues with them. And for 165 bucks, the quantity served was minimal. I could have had an unlimited yummy thali for around the same price at Shanbhag. Bottom line, looks like I’m not coming back to this place again, for good!

Food: 6/10
Service: 4/10
Ambiance: 7/10
Meal for 1: Rs. 165/-

Verdict: 5.5/10

Ci Gusta | Restaurant Review

Place: Ci Gusta
Location: Kavuri Hills, Madhapur
Cuisine: Italian, Desserts
Meal: Lunch

As part of a foodie meet, dropped into this place last Sunday. Ci Gusta happens to be more of a dessert place also serving Italian food. Walking in, I thought the place was brightly lit and very nicely done. As part of our special meal, we were to start with frozen yogurt, head for starters and main course along with a drink, and finish with gelato and some more frozen yogurt. This was to be quite a meal!!

For Froyo, they had self-serve charged by weight dispensers right at the entrance. This was the first time I came across a self-serve dispenser in India, and was pretty impressed. After trying out all the available flavors, I opted for Forest Berry and Mango combo, topped with some nuts and Blueberry sauce.

I loved the Forest Berry the most of the lot for it had a very distinct flavor. The Mango also tasted pretty good but it wasn’t the best.

For starters, we were served with Chef’s special dishes: Potato Wedges and a some kinda Chicken starter. The wedges were tossed in a sweet and spicy sauce which gave them a nice flavor. I would have preferred them to be served with some kinda dips to add more taste.

We had to choose either for a Pizza or Pasta, and I chose for the latter: Ci Gusta Di Mafia, a creamy rich sauce pasta with tomato, garlic and broccoli.

I choose this pasta is for the cream, and to my disappointment, I found the sauce very thin with barely any cream. While it had nice flavor, a thicker sauce would have worked wonders. I would have also preferred more veggies.

For the drink, I opted for a Litchi shake which turned out to be pretty good.

Back to the desserts now. From a range of gelato, after tasting quite a few, I finally picked pannacotta flavoured gelato which turned out to be pretty yum!

And finally, to finish off the meal, we were to choose for Parfait of Caffetine. While Parfait was fruit flavoured frozen yogurt, Caffetine (I hope I’m spelling it right) turned out to be a coffee flavoured one. It was more creamy than the dispenser froyo, and the espresso shot gave it nice taste. It was good finish to the meal.

Overall, it was a decent affair. While I wasn’t really satisfied with the main course, all the desserts turned out to be pretty good. Though ambiance is good, the service needs to be improved upon quite a bit. On price front (in general), everything is on the higher side. I believe that quality of food needs to be improved by quite a notch for them to be worth the price. Also, while the desserts were good, nothing really left me in awe. Bottom line, I’m probably gonna go back for the desserts, but not for the food.

Food: 8/10
Service: 5/10
Ambiance: 9/10
Meal for 1: Rs. 350/- (As part of a deal)

Verdict: 7.5/10

Green Bawarchi | Restaurant Review

Place: Green Bawarchi
Location: Off. Indira Nagar, Kamalapuri Colony Main Road
Cuisine: Indian
Meal: Take-away

Have you ever tasted Irani hotel Puri? If you haven’t , I suggest you try Green Bawarchi first for these guys serve yummy Puri Korma, available only in the mornings. Anyways, on this day, I was here to grab something for lunch, and opted for Vegetable Biryani. Oh, about the place, it’s a regular Irani Cafe serving Bawarchi/Paradise kinda food, focusing primarily on non veg delights.

Green Bawarchi Restaurant Review — Vegetable Biryani frm Green Bawarchi

Back to the Biryani. For 120 bucks, quantity served for superb, with it sufficing at least 3 tummies. On taste front, while it was pretty good, I felt that the masala was a little too much, which kinda made is spicy. It had a very strong flavor associated to it as well. The salan served along was decent, and overall, good food.

Being an Irani Cafe, Green Bawarchi is no fancy place. On the positive side, the food is usually tasty and very reasonably priced, so give the take-away a try.

Food: 7.5/10
Service: N/A
Ambiance: N/A
Meal for 1: Rs. 120/-

Verdict: 7.5/10

Chopsticks | Restaurant Review

Place: Chopsticks
Location: Srinagar Colony Main Road
Cuisine: Chinese
Meal: Take-away

I’ve been to Chopsticks a couple of times in the recent past but have been ordering the usual (Singapore Noodles, Veg-65/Manchuria and Shanghai Fried Rice), which taste more or less the same as they did a couple of years ago. As mentioned in my last review, quantity varies every time. Anyways, this time around, I was here to try something different. I read on Zomato that these guys serve good American Chopsuey, so decided to give it a try instead.

CYMERA_20140627_151533

American Chopsuey is supposed to be mildly sweet, but this one wasn’t. I kinda liked this for I’m not really fond of my food being sweet. Crunchy hot fried noodles were served separately and tasted yum along with the gravy. However, I could taste the oil oozing out for these noodles in every bite (Only while they were hot. Once they cooled down, they were very good).

I wouldn’t call it the best American Chopsuey, but it was close. Though the amount of fried noodles was great, I was disappointed with quantity of the gravy. For 130 bucks, it was much less in comparison to any of their other dishes. GIve it a try, and lemme know your feedback!

Food: 8/10
Service: N/A
Ambiance: N/A
Meal for 1: Rs. 130/-

Verdict: 8/10

Hari Balaji Dhaba | Restaurant Review

Place: Hari Balaji Dhaba
Location: Lane adj. Durga temple, Opp. Gurudwara, Ameerpet
Cuisine: Indian
Meal: Take away

I was kinda bored with the same food everyday and wanted to eat something spicy. So I headed out towards Ameerpet to find good food. My first choice Dwaraka closed down recently, so I stopped by at this dhaba I once visited with my brother long ago. It’s on the first floor of a jewellery shop building bang opposite Ameerpet Gurudwara. The ambiance isn’t really great, so opted for a take away.

I ordered for Paneer Butter Masala, Masala Kulcha and Kaju Biryani. It took about 10 minutes for my parcel to be ready.

CYMERA_20140614_143735

Once I unpacked everything, I found the quantity of the curry to be very good while was a little disappointed with the rice. On taste front, the Paneer Butter Masala had too much garam masala which kinda ruined the taste. The paneer too wasn’t really soft. PBM at a dhaba is a metric on how good the food is, and the one at this place was disappointing. The Kulcha was alright.

Compared to Kaju Biryani of any other place, this one was boring. The number of cashew nuts were minimal, and the masala wasn’t really that tasty. To add to that, the gravy served along was terrible.

Overall, a sad meal. But for the Kulcha, I wasn’t really happy with anything else. The price I paid wasn’t minimal either. I’d probably give this place one more shot before I put it on my no-go list.

Food: 6/10
Service: N/A
Ambiance: N/A
Meal for 1: Rs. 250/-

Verdict: 6/10

Fremmy | Restaurant Review

Place: Fremmy
Location: Opp. Rainbow Hospital, Road No. 10, Banjara Hills
Cuisine: Global
Meal: Lunch (with my cousin)

There was a foodies meet at Fremmy last Sunday and I dropped in with my cousin. I’ve been wanting to try this place for a while now, so here was an opportunity. It’s a small do, with about 5-6 tables, and open kitchen. It actually gives you a feel of walking into a Subway, with a similar concept in store – make your own food.

As part of the meet, there was a special deal where we were to get either a pizza or burrito, a donut and a drink for 200 bucks. We were handed out a piece of paper with all the options for the make yourself pizza or burrito. We chose for a pizza with garlic base, basic veggies and Paneer in Pesto sauce as an additional topping. For the burrito, we asked for Dal Makhni, veggies and Schezwan Paneer. Do note that the burrito served here is very Indianized.

The burrito was served in about 10 minutes and looked very different from what I expected. I knew it was gonna be served in a bowl (ya, not a roll), but still, the concept of serving rice with separated toppings on top didn’t feel like a burrito. What’s worse, it actually looked very different from the burrito served to other foodies. I expected the toppings to be mixed at the least. On taste front though, it tasted alright. The Dal Makhni wasn’t that great by itself, but with the rice and along with the toppings, was good. My cousin loved the rice.

Because of the huge gathering (thanks to the meet), there was some confusion with our pizza and it took a little longer than expected to be served.

The thin crust pizza looked like a set of crackers put together, topped with cheese and veggies. And it tasted exactly like a cracker. I absolutely loved the crust for it was very different from any pizza I’ve tasted before. I would have preferred for more base sauce, but it was still a yummy pizza.

We were served with Blue Curacao for the drinks which were good. We bought our Donuts (Almond and Chocolate) home, and they were actually very good, especially the almond donut. It was creamy and yummilicious.

Overall, a decent meal. It looks like the guys are still settling in and it might take a while before they get everything right, but worth a visit for sure. Everything is priced reasonably as well. They need a better exhaust system for the place got stuffy after a while. Give it a shot for their pizza and donuts and lemme know how it goes. 🙂

Food: 8/10
Service: 7.5/10
Ambiance: 7.5/10
Meal for 2: Rs. 400/- (as part of the deal)

Verdict: 8/10

Flurys | Restaurant Review

Place: Flurys
Location: Food Court, GVK One, Banjara Hills
Meal: Dessert

Having read about this place on Zomato (listed on best bakeries), I decided to give it a try before venturing onto a movie at INOX. It’s a small yet brightly lit stall in the food court, displaying all the pastries and savouries. Their signature Blueberry cheesecake was done for the day, and I opted for a Tiramisu.

The Tiramisu was pretty decent. Though it was creamy, I thought it could have done away with a little sugar. I was actually struggling to finish it off towards the end for it was that heavy. I like my desserts creamy and light, and this met only one criteria.

The price seemed a little too steep for a small slice which didn’t really seem worth the money. I’d give it another try for their Blueberry Cheesecake before I certify this place.

Food: 7.5/10
Service: N/A
Ambiance: N/A
Price of Tiramisu slice: Rs. 120/-

Verdict: 7/10

Paradise Food Court | Restaurant Review

Place: Paradise Food Court
Location: Adj. Shilpakala Vedika, Hitech City
Cuisine: Indian
Meal: Lunch (with a friend)

A friend of mine visited Hyderabad from Bangalore and wanted to eat Paradise Biryani. Though I told her that there are better places to have Veg. Biryani in Hyderabad, she insisted on Paradise. So at a little past noon, we walked in to Persis restaurant at Hitech City. The place was packed and we sat at a table for two in a corner. Ambience wise, there was nothing great; it actually looked more like a function hall converted into a restaurant.

We ordered what we were here for, the Vegetable Biryani.

And it was served right away, in less than five minutes. For the price we were paying, and in comparison to other places, I thought the quantity served was less. On taste front, the rice was well cooked and the masala tasted pretty good, but overall it was pretty bland. We probably should have asked for double masala. The Salan was good and went well along with the biryani.

To give my friend a taste of Hyderabadi desserts, I asked for one-by-two Khubani ka Meetha with ice-cream.

As expected, this took longer to be served than the Biryani. One look and it seemed like canned dessert (because of the color, but maybe it wasn’t). It tasted alright, not too sweet, but nothing great either.

Overall, an average meal. My tummy wasn’t really full for the quantity of biryani was dismal for 200 bucks. The service wasn’t great either and neither was the ambience. It just seemed like an overpriced affair in existence thanks to the brand name, and ya, maybe their non-veg food.

Food: 7.5/10
Service: 7/10
Ambiance: 6/10
Meal for 2: Rs. 390/-

Verdict: 7/10

PS: My friend also ordered for a takeaway of the Biryani. This cost 160 bucks (AI), and quantity seemed much more than what was served in the restaurant.

Kathmandu Momos | Restaurant Review

Place: Kathmandu Momos
Location: Yashoda Hospital Bus Stop, Opp. Saboo Motors, Somajiguda
Cuisine: Chinese
Meal: Dinner

Having read quite a bit about this small stall selling Momos (another Hidden Gem on Zomato), I ventured out to give them a try. The place was quite difficult to find for it is a small stall within a bus stop, with just a banner and no lights. For anyone searching, just look for a man standing across a table at the bus stop opposite Saboo Motors/Inner Circle. Being a roadside stall, there’s no place to sit and eat; it’s more like having pani puri off a bandi.

I discovered the place a little past 9:00 PM, and the owner, Om Prakash, was in the process of packing things up. All he had were the last 10 pieces of Paneer Momos, 6 of which were reserved by someone else (on phone). So without a choice, I opted for the remaining 4 Momos. The usual options are Vegetable, Chicken and Paneer.

Three of the Momos were piping hot and really soft, while one was a little hard. On taste front, they were actually as good as the ones I had on my visit to Leh. The paneer filling had a nice flavor to it, and the Momos tasted yum along with the tangy, spicy szechuan chutney. I was left craving for more, for another night.

Priced reasonably (50 bucks for a regular plate of 6 Paneer/Chicken, and 40 for Vegetable), this place is really a hidden gem in Hyderabad. I’m going back soon to try their Vegetable Momos. Give it a shot and lemme know what you think 🙂

Food: 9/10
Service: N/A
Ambiance: N/A
Meal for 1: Rs. 30/- (for 4 Momos)

Verdict: 9/10

Needs Dhaba | Restaurant Review

Place: Needs Dhaba
Location: Lane adj. Life Style, Kundan Bagh
Cuisine: Indian
Meal: Dinner (with a friend)

Met my friend after a long time and we wanted to try 13 Dhaba. But it was already late (around 10:00 PM), and apparently 13 Dhaba closes by then. I had read about this dhaba in the Hidden Gems section of Zomato a while ago, and so decided to give it a try instead. It might be a difficult place to find if you aren’t looking, as it is located on the first floor of an old building at Kundan Bagh. Walking in, the restaurant was shabby and the tables seemed dirty. However, it was pretty much packed even at this hour, and we found ourselves a table right next to a window.

Unlike most other dhabas in the city, this place also serves non-vegetarian food. Still, their menu wasn’t really long. We started of with Paneer 65, and ordered an onion and gobi paratha with Kaju Masala curry for main course. We also ordered for a Lassi and Mango Milkshake.

The starter was served in about 10 minutes. Though the quantity seemed good, the paneer pieces were dripping in oil. On taste front, it was just alright, and the paneer wasn’t that fresh. A thick layer of oil on bottom of the dish was a huge turn off.

The curry and parathas were served next. For 100 bucks, quantity of the curry seemed less, and it tasted mediocre. There was too much cumin powder which kinda ruined the gravy. Being a Punjabi dhaba, I was hoping the parathas to be thick and oozing with butter, but they turned out being close to terrible. They were very thin, with barely any stuffing, and dry as a phulka. Those who’ve reviewed that this place serves awesome parathas, sorry but it seems like you’ve never tasted an authentic paratha in your life! These were horrendous.

Hoping for a miracle, we ordered a Veg. Pulao to finish our meal. At around the same time, the lassi and milkshake were finally served.

Honestly, these turned out to be the best part of the meal. The lassi was thick, creamy and lip smacking good, and so was the Mango milkshake. We in fact ordered for a second round of the milkshake.

The Pulao was served along with a small portion of Chole. With the rice being very dry, and barely any vegetables, it turned out to be a forgettable dish.

Overall, but for the lassi and milkshake, it was a bad experience. The service was pretty slow, and the ambiance wasn’t great either. We weren’t even served water during our entire meal. Though the prices seemed reasonable, it actually turned out to be an expensive affair while we weren’t satisfied with the meal. Give it a shot for their drinks for they are the only things worth your money here.

I haven’t found any hidden gem at this place!

Food: 5.5/10
Service: 6/10
Ambiance: 6/10
Meal for 2: Rs. 420/-

Verdict: 6/10