FOOD GUIDE - Oh! My Chicken Biriyani

The news of Andhra Bhavan soon making way for a five star hotel was little hard to digest. What would happen to my favourite Chicken biriyani?

Only made on Sundays it really is worth a week's wait. Will the canteen which is a beehive of activity during lunch and dinner also face the axe or be relocated to some funny place which would be hard to spell, leave alone reach?

Hope the planners have a place for one of the most-sought after canteen in the capital in the idea of things to follow.

The news however pulled me and my wife to pay a visit to the AP Bhavan this Sunday. I usually get the biriyani packed to be relished either at home or office but this time we decided to sample it here.

My veggie wife ordered her meal and started her gleeful swim in the pool of ghee as I digged into my chicken biriyani which seemed a bit less than my usual packed version.

I was soon through with my first plate and was feeling greedy to have another. My wife seeing my dilemma allowed me to go for one more which i did and finished with little effort. Tripti. That can only be the right word to describe my feeling.

More so due to the disappointing chicken biriyani I had last week at the Swagath in Defence Colony which often serves some lovely non vegetarian food. I did complain.

It seemed more like a chicken fry eaten along with a fried rice. When it comes to biriyani the rice should blend well with the properly cooked meat.

My expectation was very high after the last visit to Swagath when I had the chettinad chicken curry laced with pepper along with the malabar porotta, quite an amazing combo. Bikku was quite impressed with egg appam and vegetable stew.

I had to eat the first egg appam as it came sprinkled with chilly powder. I did sample a fish fry suggested by the staff but found it lacking a tinge of masala and spice which I have grown up eating. Those were the good old day's of Akkamma's (mother's sister) fish curry and fry.

So put your Sundays to good use and hop into AP Bhavan as this value for money deal might soon be a thing of the past.