Palamuru Grill - HYD

Some of the best food I have had while travelling is from unknown dhabas and local houses that open their doors to hungry, tired travellers. They rejuvenate them with homely food that is humble yet unforgettable. The simple flavours convey beautifully the essence of the kitchen the food comes from, the smoky taste of the wood-fired stove and the love that the chef, most often the woman of the house, has put in the cooking. But one can't always travel far and wide in the hopes of experiencing it, one has to make do with restaurants that claim to serve such homely food.

But I was reminded of that feeling when I went to Palamuru Grill. Probably a little exaggerated but true nonetheless. The space looks like a dhaba, an Andhra dhaba, but no trucks around. When you enter the place you are greeted with ethnic painting on mud walls and the smell of smoke from the various tandoors they have grilling the meat and vegetables. Cleverly situated in the usually empty part of the newly popular 100 feet road, it gives you the sense of the hotel you see on highways. Don't get fooled by the name. They don't serve any sizzlers or any fancy grilled food, just plain and ethnic Andhra food.

Please excuse the quality of the pictures, the interiors were too dark to take good pictures. The menu wasn't heavy on the vegetarian options, and we tried the minced vegetable kebabs which were average to say the least. Made from regular vegetables like beans, carrot and cauliflower, they were shaped like sheekh kebab and had a sourish aftertaste - probably too much amchur powder. The green chutney was too tangy for the kebabs and I could hardly taste the mint in it. I would order the paneer or mushrooms next time, if I had to choose a vegetarian option.

The lime water was not bad. Though I asked for lime water sweet, my drink was a mix of salty and sweet. But at least it did not have the taste of the usual lemon cordial which provides an artificial aftertaste.

Their kebab options are simple - mutton, chicken or vegetarian. Each meat kebab can be ordered in 4 different forms you want: regular (with bone), wings (for chicken), boneless and kheema (minced). We tried the wings and they were good. The simple dry rub of red chilli, coriander, cumin and turmeric powder with a smoky flavour from the grill provided a nice Indian twist to the common fried and sauced wings.

The boneless chicken kebab had the same spices as the wings. But I would have liked some green chutney served with it. The kebabs weren't moist enough to be eaten without a chutney. I didn't ask for any because I did not like the green chutney which came with the vegetarian kebab.

For main course, they have an extensive curry list for non-vegetarians, most of which are from their regional specialities. For vegetarians, there are probably only 6-7 curries in all. But that shouldn't discourage the vegetarians from trying out their curries, especially if you like brinjal and legumes. We ordered (pictured from left) baingan bagara, Ankapur natukodi pulusu and the Gadwal dal fry. The common theme among these curries were that they were tart and spicy. But that's where the similarity ended. 

The baingan bagara was very good! It was a coconut-peanut-sesame seeds gravy with strong spicy taste of the red chilly, coriander, cumin and turmeric powder. The base ingredients of the gravy were not overpowering. When you eat it, the strong sourness hits the tongue first before giving way to the spices. This combination is mouth watering (my mouth is watering as I am writing this, reliving the taste). What I also liked was that the curry wasn't too oily and the brinjal was fresh.

The natukodi pulusu was brilliant as well. I was having this curry for the first time so I'm not sure what ingredients go into making this dish taste so good. But the country chicken used gives it a distinct village flavour. Either their way of cooking or the chicken itself, one of the two makes you feel like you are eating in a home of a village and that the dish was lovingly prepared over a wood-fire stove. Try this curry with jowar roti or ragi sankati and you will be in heaven!

The Gadwal dal fry was interesting but average. It was similar to dal panchmel with Andhra spices. Also sour to taste, a downside of the dish was that the dals were not well-boiled. But it complements the regional taste of all the other curries on offer.

I had wanted to try these curries with jowar roti but they had run out of them. Their regular rotis and naans were soft and hot. We also had their chicken pulao which was more like a layered biryani but tasty nonetheless. 

Overall,it seemed like everything was freshly prepared. Most restaurants claim to make their dishes fresh but Palamuru Grill takes its time to serve the food which indicates that they start the cooking after the order is placed. We probably also might gone there to eat when they were making a fresh batch of the food. But this makes their service painfully slow. We waited an average of 15 minutes for each dish. So if you are really really hungry this probably is not the place. They run out of dishes as well. We didn't get our jowar roti and the chicken biryani. Now that I think about it, I think the chicken pulao was just hot, flavoured rice topped with one their chicken curries - it took them quite a while to serve it.

I recommend this place purely for their ethnic feel and genuinely good and spicy food. After-all their promise to you is "Good food at a profit if we can, at a loss if we must. But always good food". But beware of their slow service.

Palamuru Grill

Cost for 2: Rs. 600

Taste: 8/10 - mouth-watering spicy dishes!

Service: 3/10 - they almost got a 1 for the slowness but the owner apologized so up by 2

Ambience: 7/10 - I liked the mud wall art of stick figures depicting village life