[nagvasireddy]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Another thing that is surprising is why arent the Bangalore Andhra restaurants foraying into Hyderabad which is a huge market?There must definitely be something that is going on which is preventing this particular cuisine restaurants from coming up,till then it is people like us who die to eat some authentic veppudus and pappus and kooras who are at a loss and have to depend on the so called unclean mess which are more often than not always a MESS.

well said Ranjit. Reg. your point about dearth of restaurants in Hyd that have Andhra cuisine as their USP, the only reason I can think of is that people (in Hyd) don't want to settle for a simple Thali when they eat out. Hence, they feast on Mughalai, Tandoori, Chinese and Hyderabadi cuisine when they eat out, and when they want to indulge in Andhra cuisine they prefer takeaways from so called "curry points". On the contrary, in Bangalore I see people (incl. non-Andhra guys, and even foreigners) completing their meal with just a vegetarian thali. What I find surprising in Bangalore is that there are no "curry points".

[MileCruncher]

Have been feasting on them for sometime like Sri Kanya near Model House or Meghna's Kitchen in Balkampet.

Absolutely delicious and hot. Both of them!

[DieselDon]

When the McDonald's and Subway's started in India, they started with the same bland food as where they originated from. I am sure one can get a McAlooTikki & a Tandoori Sub now. They still do not offer beef (their USP elsewhere - remember the (ham)burgers) in India. It is another matter that pork offering outlets are faring even worse (atleast in Hyderabad).

On the topic of Andhra Meals - one always visualizes the college days + ghee & dal (andhra style) + dal and mirchi mix powder(podi) + unlimited . Some of the now famous chain outlets started with 'meals' and graduated to restaurants & some went on to hotel chains. Most of these have been changing all through. Depending on the 'market'.

Chennai & Bangalore definitely have more Andhra 'Meals' than Hyderabad for a reason. When I moved to Hyderabad, I found biryani and paranthas more enticing than plain jane Andhra Meals. Except the few in Ameerpet who served my favorite 'curd from the mud container'. With age, my ability to digest the 'highly nutritious' andhra mutton fry & chicken iguru varieties vanished. Of late I experience a heart burn of my once favorite 'ullikaram'. With the advent of the green revolution, in the recent years there has been emphasis on lowering the fat content in almost every food. Some dishes just lose their taste in the process.

To sum up my blabbering - Every city has its own market (on top of the taste buds of their 'regular' customer profile, not to forget the 'green revolution') & this is ever changing.

It does not make sense to compare between cities (as for that matter between restaurants) - Most of them keep their daily sales in view to profit & survive.

Indulging in Best Food Contests is another matter (Does'nt Toyota have a racing team/cars ?)

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by nagvasireddy

well said Ranjit. Reg. your point about dearth of restaurants in Hyd that have Andhra cuisine as their USP, the only reason I can think of is that people (in Hyd) don't want to settle for a simple Thali when they eat out. Hence, they feast on Mughalai, Tandoori, Chinese and Hyderabadi cuisine when they eat out, and when they want to indulge in Andhra cuisine they prefer takeaways from so called "curry points". On the contrary, in Bangalore I see people (incl. non-Andhra guys, and even foreigners) completing their meal with just a vegetarian thali. What I find surprising in Bangalore is that there are no "curry points".

The Hyderabadi curry points are replaced by the darshinis at every nook and corner in Blore that is why no curry points there.Yes curry points are such a saving grace in Hyd and am a regular at one place,though I quite dont like their way of packing up the curries-some of them pack the curries in their small plastic sachets and leave them like that for hours,which means we get to eat the curry-mixed with petroleum polyethylene pellets!!Just for information sakes and for people who do not know,the plastic bags that we so indiscriminately use is made from Petrol(the polyethylene pellets used to make the sachets and bags are extracted from petrol!)

[DerAlte]

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

... I visited Madina and had food there way back in 2003 along with parents. Food was delectable. Surroundings not so much. ...

If you call 2003 way back, it used to be my must-visit joint 22 years before that!!! In the early 80's, the shortest / fastest route for me from Delhi to Bangalore was Secunderabad Express, breakfast at those small joints near Charminar (don't remember the name, but on the left walking from Charminar to Madina), a walk in that area looking for bargains, a nice relaxed lunch at Madina and then catch a bus to Bangalore arriving early next morning. Stopped after a. the frequency of direct trains to Bangalore increased and b. I got married.

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

... does not have an authentic-easy on pocket-Decent surroundings kind of restaurant. ... any restaurant that qualifies to be called a hard core Andhra Cuisine restaurant, ...

Originally Posted by nagvasireddy

... people (in Hyd) don't want to settle for a simple Thali when they eat out. Hence, they feast on Mughalai, Tandoori, Chinese ... and when they want to indulge in Andhra cuisine they prefer takeaways from so called "curry points". ... What I find surprising in Bangalore is that there are no "curry points".

What are "curry points"???

Actually, it is the same in every major city in India. Everywhere, the locals prefer to eat in restaurants what they don't cook at home.

Go to Pune and Mumbai - you will have to *really* search hard for a typical Marathi meal. Ditto for Kolkata for Bengali cuisine (perhaps Bangalore has better Bengali restaurants). Ditto for Chennai and Coimbatore (please discount the abomination called A2B). Ditto for UP, Bihar, Kerala, Gujarat and Rajasthan. Exception is Goa, but Goa is not typically Indian.

And just the reverse outside India. In Japan, there are 2 types of joints. The specialty ones, for rare ingredients that - for love or money - you will not get *anywhere* else but in that district. And the generic ones, where one gets stuff that locals eat - no different that what they cook at home with common ingredients. Middle East one gets what they eat at home (again, discount A2B and the Kabab joints ). France - and any other country influenced by it - is pretty much the same as Japan. In UK, one gets in a pub - a proper one - the typical English (Bubble & Squeak anyone?) / Welsh / Scottish (Haggis?) dishes.

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

... surprising is why arent the Bangalore Andhra restaurants foraying into Hyderabad which is a huge market? ...

Probably because most of the Bangalore Andhra restaurants (excl. RRR, Nandini, Bhima etc.) are actually run by Dakshina Kannada (Kundapur, Mangalore etc.) guys, who are contented in serving Bangalore. One doesn't wish the Nandinis and Bhimas expand to AP - their Bangalore stuff will nose-dive like A2B's as running a large chain is a different ball game than they are used to.

One has to have the knack and a local support structure to run restaurants, without which one cannot sustain. Local Bangalore labor being what it is, the DK guys bring their own from their villages (they even fund their education). Anyone else who runs a restaurant here uses labor from Odisha and WB. Quick Service Restaurant entrepreneurship is quite difficult.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by DerAlte

What are "curry points"???

Curry Points in local Hyderabadi lingo is the equivalent of a Bangalore QSR Darshini.The only difference being that the curry points are takeaway joints and majorly stocks up on only Andhra dishes(the likes of dals,local styled subzis etc).No seating arrangements only takeaway.

Originally Posted by DerAlte

Actually, it is the same in every major city in India. Everywhere, the locals prefer to eat in restaurants what they don't cook at home.

Go to Pune and Mumbai - you will have to *really* search hard for a typical Marathi meal. Ditto for Kolkata for Bengali cuisine (perhaps Bangalore has better Bengali restaurants). Ditto for Chennai and Coimbatore (please discount the abomination called A2B). Ditto for UP, Bihar, Kerala, Gujarat and Rajasthan. Exception is Goa, but Goa is not typically Indian.

At the risk of diluting the real essence of this thread,I beg to disagree with the observation that locals like to eat what they dont cook at home.I guess once in a while they are ok with eating what they dont cook at home but on almost all other days,all local population(irrespective of the region they come from)love to eat and go hunting for places to eat their own local cuisine.How else could one explain the fact that Kerala is full of typical Kerala restaurants serving up boiled rice,fish curry,the seven course veg thali(complete with avial,payasam etc).Bangalore is full of restaurants serving up veg thalis(complete with rasam,sambhar,pallya,kosambari etc).Gujaratis even though I agree are the best people when it comes to experimenting with foreign cuisine still like their Undyos and Rajdhani thalis any day.Any Rajdhani outlet in any part of the country sees a majority of Gujarati crowd on any given day.Goans wouldnt bother eating at any multicuisine restaurant and still are forever on the lookout for sorpotels.Chennai and the whole of Tamil Nadu is full of "meals" only restaurants(even though they eat the same sambhar,rasam,kozhambu at home daily).Rajasthan is full of restaurants serving up authentic Ker Sangri Kadi and Dal Dhokli and Rajasthani thalis.Kolkata is full of restaurants serving up fish-based recipes.You can take the paneer out of Delhi,but never can take the paneer out of a Diliwala(inspite of the fact that paneer is an almost daily occurence in a delhi household).Yes Mumbai is an exception,even Pune is full of authentic places for Maharashtrian thalis.So in short if you see,local cuisines are a big time business and big time hit in their home turf.Even in Hyderabad,if you see we Hyderabadis cannot think of rounding up a meal without a typical Hyderabadi biriyani much like how a Bangalorean or a Tamilian or a Keralite finds it impossible to round off a meal at the end without a curd-rice!The only exception with Hyderabad is that the thali meals are just not found anywhere and if they are,then they are hard to get,even though there exists a huge market for it.All the other recipes mentioned above are easily got on home turf as well as foreign turf while the humble Andhra Thali is hard to come by on its home turf.Maybe its due to the fact that the hoteliers thought that the Hyderabadi biriyani and the Thali never could peacefully co-exist[/quote]

[DerAlte]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Curry Points in local Hyderabadi lingo is the equivalent of a Bangalore QSR Darshini. ...

Thanks. Ah, OK. This is more like the way North Karnataka cuisine (Hubli-Dharwad; joLada rotti, brinjal ennegai, black gram curry, etc.) is available at shops in Bangalore, which otherwise sell pickles and fried besan stuff.

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

... At the risk of diluting the real essence of this thread,I beg to disagree with the observation that locals like to eat what they dont cook at home. ...

Oh, but you really aren't - you are also saying the same as what I did, just that you didn't perhaps realize the difference between "what is available and accepted as an alternative to home stuff" and what is the local cuisine (always cooked at home). "What is available" as you describe is only loosely from that region, and not cooked at home / too difficult to replicate in small quantities.

* "Kerala is full of typical Kerala restaurants..." - actually, much worse than what Mom or dear Wifey cooks. Meant for people who do not want to change, yet are not appreciative of what they get at home. A 'mess' or 'local restaurant' is not what we were talking about, are we?
* "Bangalore ... veg thalis ..." - stuff that one eats only in marriage lunches, not at home
* "Gujaratis ... Undyos and Rajdhani thalis ... Gujarati crowd" - people looking for familiar stuff *outside* Gujarat; at home, they make Undhiyo maybe once or twice a year in winter, and don't buy from outside. The thalis - same logic as Bangalore
* "Goans ... sorpotels." - shows you haven't been there
* "Chennai ... whole of Tamil Nadu ... "meals" only restaurants" - same as Kerala, only vegetarian. A Chennai guy considers eating veg Chettinad cuisine sacrilege, so it is only the desire to eat generic "familiar" - that is not cuisine
* "Rajasthan ... authentic Ker Sangri Kadi and Dal Dhokli and Rajasthani thalis" - same logic as Gujarat. Try eating in a Rajasthani home sometime
* "Kolkata ... restaurants serving up fish-based recipes ..." - heheh, you haven't been there, have you?
* "You can take the paneer out of Delhi ... almost daily occurence in a delhi household)" - LOL I am from Delhi, and you should definitely sample real Delhi stuff. What you think it is, is not exactly what it actually is
* "Pune ... authentic places for Maharashtrian thalis" - and the locals can only think of 2
* "Hyderabadi biriyani and the Thali never could peacefully co-exist" - very true - it will be too much to eat, and the one cannot appreciate the delicate flavors in the Biriyani. Andhra biriyani (from the AP region near Bangalore) does coexist with Nandini thali in Bangalore

My comments are not directed at you personally. We all pick up prejudices along the way, and in food and cuisine, we generally pick up stereotypes first - till someone treats us to something we never imagined was the real thing. God bless you with many instances of such providence. Watch Aditya Bal cook regional stuff in Chakh le India - Kachcha Rasta on NDTV Good Times - for all the mistakes he makes, THAT is regional cuisine, not stuff that is served in restaurants serving 'familiar' food.

[NoRules]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Totally agree with you,after having stayed an equal amount of time in both the cities,I can safely vouch for the fact that BLR does have a higher number of so called Andhra restaurants as opposed to Hyd.Even today,Hyd does not have an authentic-easy on pocket-Decent surroundings kind of restaurant.

There must definitely be something that is going on which is preventing this particular cuisine restaurants from coming up,till then it is people like us who die to eat some authentic veppudus and pappus and kooras who are at a loss and have to depend on the so called unclean mess which are more often than not always a MESS.

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

The only exception with Hyderabad is that the thali meals are just not found anywhere and if they are,then they are hard to get,even though there exists a huge market for it.

I do not understand this. You are saying there is a dearth of Andhra food outlets? What are Kakatiya Deluxe Mess, Sairam Mess, Harsha Mess, Harika Mess, Abhiruchi Mess and 1000 other messes you find in every locality of Hyderabad? Few of them might be unhygienic but not all of them are dirty.

I lived a bachelor's life in Jayanagar, Bangalore from 2006 to 2009 and other than couple of Nandinis and a Nagarjuna I did not find anything where I could eat a decent Andhra meal in that area. After searching for several weeks I found one 'mess' near Sagar Apollo hospital and it was a sad excuse for a 'mess'. I thought at 70/90 bucks a meal 6 years ago, for the quality of food they serve, Nandini / Nagarjuna were total rip offs. (Nagarjuna Chimney at 4th block Jayanagar used to charge 120 bucks for their meal) Whereas in those days you used to get a decent meal with all the typical Andhra items for as low as 35 bucks in Hyderabad . Even today KDM serves delicious meals at 60 bucks. I do not think any Nandini / Nagarjuna can come close to the taste / price of KDM or Sairam or Harsha or Harika mess.

Curry points are such a boon to people of Hyderabad. I agree with you about the packing thingy but they do serve tasty veg and non-veg curries / daals / pachadis at a very low cost and they are at every nook and corner of the city barring areas like Banjara Hills / Jubilee Hills. Search all you want, you cannot find anything like that in Bangalore. Hyderabad also has the Swagath, Fishland, RR & Anupama chains apart from the highend places like Southern Mirchi / Spice / Chutneys / Minerva.

What Bangalore has in abundance is tiffin centres like Adigas / all kinds of Darshinis which are now in Hyderabad too. Bangalore scores way above Hyderabad in fine dining but if you want to find a decent meal which does not burn a hole in your pocket then it is just not possible.

[bblost]

Originally Posted by NoRules

I agree with you about the packing thingy but they do serve tasty veg and non-veg curries / daals / pachadis at a very low cost and they are at every nook and corner of the city barring areas like Banjara Hills / Jubilee Hills.

Banjara Hills Road Number 12 has a couple of nice curry points.

Have not bought anything from them in a quite a few months but they all used to be quite good.

[chinkara]

Originally Posted by DerAlte

Oh, but you really aren't - you are also saying the same as what I did, just that you didn't perhaps realize the difference between "what is available and accepted as an alternative to home stuff" and what is the local cuisine (always cooked at home). "What is available" as you describe is only loosely from that region, and not cooked at home / too difficult to replicate in small quantities.

.....

My comments are not directed at you personally. We all pick up prejudices along the way, and in food and cuisine, we generally pick up stereotypes first - till someone treats us to something we never imagined was the real thing. God bless you with many instances of such providence. Watch Aditya Bal cook regional stuff in Chakh le India - Kachcha Rasta on NDTV Good Times - for all the mistakes he makes, THAT is regional cuisine, not stuff that is served in restaurants serving 'familiar' food.

But what is home food? The food that is cooked in my home is always different from that in my neighbour's home. So obviously, "ethnic cuisine" will always be an approximation of home food, a find of lowest common denominator perhaps. And that is why, out of 10 restaurants serving a particular ethnic cuisine, you end up settling for 1 or 2 because they are closer to what you consider "home food".

Also, I find the point that Kerala, TN, Gujarat do not have "local food" joints as difficult to digest. There are vast numbers of food shops catering to tastes of that state.

Of course you can fine tune things saying this serves Kachhi food or Kozhikode food; and it is only natural that people of that state would appreciate the more subtle differences, which most outsiders may not.

Your point about quantities of course is well taken.

Ditto for Kolkata for Bengali cuisine (perhaps Bangalore has better Bengali restaurants).
This would have been absolutely true 10 years back, but absolutely wrong now. The mushrooming of ethnic restaurants has to be seen to be believed. Perhaps because our generation cannot cook the delicacies that our mom's generation used to make at home.

[autotranny]

The last few posts had a whole lot of information and comparisons, but unfortunately it ended up as a B'lore V/s Hyd battle, where we have forgotten the real essence of this thread.

Ludicrous, I say, given that we are in the holy month of Ramadan, which serves up some of the best dishes throughout the year. So lets get back and compare our haleems and biryanis. : )

Btw, in the middle of all this, no one bothered to answer my previous question , " Where can I find decent, pocket friendly Andhra food in Miyapur/ Kukatplly area. I need the full course incl rice, so no curry points please. "


Foot Note : Sorry to nitpick DelAlte, but I'm totally flummoxed by your observations on restaurants in Kerala and Kolkatta. I strongly believe that 2.5 out of 3 restaurants in Kerala serve pretty authentic Kerala style food (even the Bars serve a full course meals ). In Kolkatta, without doubt the major cuisine is Chinese, but I have definitely seen a significant number of desi bengali restaurants, and that too not the Bhojori Mannas types.

[NoRules]

Originally Posted by autotranny

Btw, in the middle of all this, no one bothered to answer my previous question , " Where can I find decent, pocket friendly Andhra food in Miyapur/ Kukatplly area. I need the full course incl rice, so no curry points please. "

I do not frequent those areas but I am sure there are quite a few restaurants / messes available in Miyapur / KP. After all Kukatpally and Miyapur are predominantly 'Andhra' areas in Hyderabad. Try Swagath restaurant on the KP main road.

[anoop.mathew]

Just wanted to let you fine foodies know that I've sent your list of food/restaurant suggestions to Madhu Menon (aka @madmanweb on Twitter).

He is taking part in Ford India's #1TankFull event where they've chosen experts from various fields (his is food as he used to own a restaurant and is a food consultant, photographer and columnist among other things) to drive the Ford Classic to a location of their choosing and blog about it (no obligation to blog about the car).

He has chosen to visit Hyderabad during Ramzan season (Aug 10 to 15th) and explore the food available during this time. Hopefully I'll get his suggestions/feedback as well, by the time I reach Hyderabad.

[DerAlte]

Originally Posted by autotranny

... I strongly believe that 2.5 out of 3 restaurants in Kerala ... In Kolkatta, ...

Even I would like to believe that, however my experience, as well as that of a lot of others not from those regions, say otherwise. Getting there, yes, but not from the p-o-v of the issue that was at the heart of the impromptu discussion (on the wrong thread ) - clean restaurants with a decent ambiance serving local food at affordable prices. The dearth of that is still palpable.

I think we should let the thread continue with it's main topic as you rightly pointed out, shall we?

[NoRules]

Originally Posted by anoop.mathew

Just wanted to let you fine foodies know that I've sent your list of food/restaurant suggestions to Madhu Menon (aka @madmanweb on Twitter).

He has chosen to visit Hyderabad during Ramzan season (Aug 10 to 15th) and explore the food available during this time. Hopefully I'll get his suggestions/feedback as well, by the time I reach Hyderabad.

Please post a link of his food experience at Hyderabad.