Fit for a Nawab

But as this is our first date, so to speak, we decide to stick to the basics: haleem, Hyderabadi mutton biryani and Double ka meetha. The subzi lukmi (vegetarian puff pastries which are a Hyderabadi specialty and more typically available in a mutton version) has unfortunately run out, meaning we’ll have to make do with only meat. Ah well.

The food comes quickly and efficiently packaged, the biryani with all its accoutrements, in particular, compartmentalised like the best IKEA table. But starting with the starters, it’s the haleem that fills our horizons initially. A pulverised kedgeree of slow-cooked wheat, meat and spices, the haleem is as gluttonous as it is delicious. Despite the slick layer of oil varnishing its surface, and the accompanying cholesterol warning bells going off in one’s head, you can’t help digging in; spoon, swirl, swallow, repeat becoming a sort of automatic response until your spoon scrapes the bottom of the container.

The biryani — accompanied by salan, raita and onions fried to the golden-brown shade of a puma’s pelt, is in a word, exquisite. Despite coming in a plastic container, it’s packed like it would have been in a dum: succulent pieces of meat at the bottom and the rice layered in two, with most of the grains caught in the web of masala emanating from the meat and adhering to it while a scattering of the rice still pristine white and on the surface.

Still contemplating the redoubtable rice, we reluctantly switch our attention to dessert, the Hyderabadi version of shahi tukda. The colour of a desert sunset and saccharine sweet, the Double ka meetha is as rich a royal treasury and accordingly rather heavy after a weighty meal and a shade too sweet. Next time, of which there will be many, we’ll stick to the kebabs and biryani apart from wading back into the haleem.

Meal for two: Rs 700 (including taxes, excluding alcohol)
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