Khaa ke Dekh - HYD

Location: Deloitte Gate near Wipro Circle

Timings:  11AM to 11PM. 

Cost for 2: Rs.400

Taste: 7/10 - Most of the points go to the biryani 

Service: 6/10

Ambience: 6/10

One of the caveats of living away from the city you grew up in, is missing the local food. The tastes and smells you grew up with and the dishes you lived on. 

One of the dishes my Calcutta friends always talk about from back home is the Calcutta Biryani. In the regular biryani wars, HYD biryani is always not favoured by them. They miss the lack of spice, the free, saffrony rice and most of all the huge, whole potato served with the Cal biryani.

Khaa ke dekh has finally helped all previous residents of Kolkata get a taste of the ever-loved Cal biryani. Located close to the Wipro circle and outside the Deloitte office, Khaa ke dekh looks like any other nondescript restaurant serving tasty food to the surrounding office-goers. 

But then someone discovered the elusive Calcutta biriyani - rightly so because of the popularity of the Hyderabadi version. And now khaa ke dekh is the rage among everyone who has grown up eating Calcutta biriyani and among newbie addicts like me.

What's so special about it? Its fragrant, yellow, saffron flavoured basmati rice which is not overpowered by the chicken masala. It's the similarly boiled, saffron flavored potato, which is more popular than the meat even amongst the more hardcore meat-eaters. It's also the moist piece of chicken/mutton cooked in mild spices served underneath the mountain of rice -  the combination is to die for. 

If you haven't grown up eating this, then you definitely need to savour this dish with an open mind. Cal biryani is far more subtle in its flavours than its HYD cousin. If you love saffron and rice, then this is your dish.

Aloo dum

They also serve regular north Indian fare which is homely and simple. The aloo dum was sufficiently spiced and wasn't oily. I wouldn't spend any stomach space for their starters - they were average. Their chicken chaap (another Mughlai dish) and butter chicken is also popular.

At Khaa ke Dekh, forget the starters and dive straight to their biryani and chicken curries. They also serve other popular Bengali dishes like luchi and kosha mangsho on request over the weekends.

~Donnobaad!~