Taste of Hyderabad

Some of the popular restaurants for non-vegetarian Hyderabadi cuisine are Paradise, Saarvi, Shadab, Shah Ghouse, Bawarchi, Four Seasons, Café Bahaar. 

The dishes to try are Hyderabadi Biryani (cooked rice flavoured with spices, with chicken or lamb), Mirchi Ka Salan (curried chili peppers, chili and peanut curry that accompanies biryani), Haleem (a stew composed of meat, lentils and pounded wheat made into a thick paste, prepared usually during the holy month of Ramadan), pathar ka gosht (mutton seared on a hot granite stone over charcoal), kababs (grilled or barbequed meat). 

Some of the popular restaurants in Hyderabad for vegetarian and south-Indian cuisine are Chutneys, Taj Mahal, Utsav, Minerva, Daspalla, Kamat. Some of the popular dishes to try are dosa, idli, vada, uttapam, thali (plate meal). 

Some of the popular Hyderabadi desserts are double ka meetha (bread pudding dessert of fried bread slices soaked in hot milk with spices, including saffron and cardamom), Khubani ka meetha (dessert made from dried apricots), firni (rice pudding).

Hyderabad is famous for its biryani but Irani chai is not far behind. You can sip this tea at any place in the city - a roadside cafe to a five star hotel - and the taste remains the same. The brewers are not simply serving a beverage called Irani chai, but keeping alive a slice of the city's history. Introduced by settlers from Persia, the beverage and the places serving it evolved into an institution over time. The sweet, milky Irani chai is known for its unique taste and rejuvenating properties. It is traditionally served with staples such as Osmania biscuits, and lukhmi.

There are variants of the Irani chai which one must try like the Khade Chammach ki chai if you have a sweet tooth, so named because the cup has so much sugar that the spoon stands upright. Burkhe wali chai, chai with a thick layer of cream. Cutting chai, half a cup of the tea.

In most cultures, dessert is the final course of a meal that is usually a sweet dish or drink. In India, sweets are an important part of all festivals, functions or any happy occasion. Most Indian desserts include milk or ghee as its main ingredient. There are also some desserts made with fruits and nuts. In South India, a sweet item is often the first item to be served in a meal during house warming, birthdays and weddings. It symbolizes the sweet beginning of the occasion celebrated. Of course there is also a dessert in the end.

You can experience seeing how some of these desserts / sweets are made. It is said that no country has a wider selection of exotic, yummy sweets than in India.