New Recruit
the Indonesian nasi goreng comes served with a fried egg on top and it works great. Never seen an omelette or fried egg on a biriyani but they do put a hard boiled egg in it sometimes.
Where did you go for student buryani? Was it saddar the original or a franchise like in choti market defence phase 1. It shouldnt matter but it does. 8 out of ten times the buryani I get from franchise is awful . But on the rare occasion I had one of the best buryanis from student buryani . You might question why I still went there if 8 out of ten eas a bad experience. Well I live nearby and when I cant finf anything else , its I,ll give it a try one last time . Also friends swear by the fact that if you go to saddar the original shop the quality is way much better and its five out of ten ....................................................................
The quest begins with Saddar Restaurants:
I began by exploring the heart of Karachi, downtown Saddar, where I found the dozens of famous eateries serving up biryani.
Aside from the novelty of eating on metal plates in hot open rooms with smog for company and screaming minibus drivers for entertainment, even the most famous of these offerings were merely acceptable at best.
My first stop was at the most famous biryani franchise in Pakistan, Student Biryani. As it turned out, this was the second most disappointing biryani I’d consume in Karachi.
If biryanis were predators, then Student Biryani would be like that poor old toothless lion; living in the glory of his past and waiting to be put out of its misery. A good biryani isn’t necessarily spicy, but Student’s offering simply lacked flavor. What’s more, it was the victim of mass production, tasting almost rubbery in nature.
Somewhat less disappointing was Karachi’s other such franchise, Biryani Centre. Here, both the rice and meat were better cooked than what Student Biryani was selling, yet the food was still ho-hum.
Biryani from Biryani Centre.— Photo courtesy: Biryani Centre's website
With established clienteles, it all but seemed that the big biryani franchises in Karachi weren’t keen on selling exceptional food.
Thankfully, the biryani by the Karachi Foods franchise stood above its peers. Although heavy on both grease and spice, their hot plate of biryani stood apart from Student Biryani and Biryani Centre in terms of taste, freshness, and quality of its ingredients.
After trying other merely adequate biryanis from restaurants such as Indus Foods and Jeddah Food Centre, I decided it was time to return to my ‘burger’ roots and sample more biryanis by ordering from home.
Biryani of the Seas:
My first Biryani of the Seas (BOTS) experience at their restaurant was a disappointment. The rather pricy signature prawn biryani lacked freshness, and was only remarkable in how it set fire to the roof of my mouth.
A few weeks later I ordered a single serving of the BOTS prawn biryani through the delivery service Eat Oye. Shockingly, the quality of this biryani was even worse than what I had eaten at the establishment.
BOTS's Prawn biryani.—
The rice was dry, broken, and had clearly been prepared several hours before delivery. Meanwhile, the falsely advertised ‘prawn’ was in actuality little pieces of overcooked hard tiny bits of shrimp that was scarce in quantity. At this point I couldn’t recall a single biryani I had had more appalling than this. Paying the price of Rs275 for a single (not even double), plate of this ‘food’ felt like a violation.
Considering the BOTS reputation, it is possible that I was unlucky, but I can only judge what I was served. If their best wasn’t ready, they should have refrained from accepting money for substandard biryani. Leftover food should be discarded, not sent to the customer.
RATING: 0 stars out of 5.
Daily Dubai Restaurant:
Following the worse biryani I had ever consumed I cleverly decided to take a gamble and experiment with a biryani of unknown potential. This from Daily Dubai cost Rs220 for a double plate. As it turns out, it wasn’t a clever idea at all. In hindsight, even walking into a bear cave covered with honey would have been more clever.
I was starving after what had been a long day. I was so hungry in fact, that my pet cats were starting to look good, so it was fortunate for them that the Eat Oye delivery came in on time.
The moment I took out the biryani, two strong scents greeted me immediately. The smell of burnt food, and the smell of black pepper. I tossed some of the food on to a plate and the greasy rice came out in clumps. Daily Dubai Restaurant had used so much oil for this biryanithat I half expected them to be liberated by the United States of America in the name of freedom (as the meme goes).
Biryani from Daily Dubai Restaurant — Photo by author
In spite of my hunger I was in a quandary; the food looked incredibly unappetising.
I glanced at my cats. They wisely hid under the bed.
A couple of spoons of biryani later I realised the food was overcooked, devoid of salt, and carried countless bits of whole black pepper that exploded under my teeth with every bite. The use of black pepper was such that it overpowered the rest of the meal. I wondered if someone had played a prank on the chef and mislabeled all of his seasonings.
Daily Dubai Biryani— Photo by author
In an effort to give the biryani a fair shake I sliced a piece of chicken and my fears were confirmed when the meat tasted both tough and dry.
Having only consumed a few spoons my throat was painfully sore. To make matters worse there was little else to eat at home. The evening only grew more tragic when one of my cats disappeared soon after.
RATING: -1 stars out of 5.
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Not exactly my cholesterol levels are through the roof and BP is high . wife want me to be a vegetarian . so all in all things not looking good
I'd like to know as wellwhere is Telefood biryani ? is it some restaurant and where it is located ? tell me i am starving
And where is white biryani??
Helping out, you get the best tastes while cooking in a great social environment. Here we have around 70 moslem families who are here for approx 4-5 generations. The local mosque takes care of everything from wedding, funeral etc. you dont pay a single cent. I respect the community as they each contribute for wedding etc. no outside catering what so ever.
eesh, such a wrong analogy.
hmm... a invention, this white biryani.
and i like foods, especially biryani, to look clean, and this new dish is all that.
and ghazi, isn't this the second time this article has been posted??
I liked food centre biryani. Used to live near burns road. Will definately try mutton danda biryani.
Will try united biryani . Also whats the minimum order for these kitchens and if you could give adress even a general idea of where they are located. Food centr biryani is quite good as compared to other establishments . Quite a few kashmiri friends studied with me at dmc and being kashmiri their staple was biryani . So it ws literally food centre biryany seven days a week for them , not me
do you have a crossfit gym in Hyderabad?Not exactly my cholesterol levels are through the roof and BP is high . wife want me to be a vegetarian . so all in all things not looking good
