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Pandemic or not, Hyderabadis swear by luscious biryani

Waiting for tables is slowly returning to usual, with crowds thronging popular restaurants, even going so far as to wait on roads on their bikes and cars just to get a table, and all this for biryani

By Kota Saumya

Updated On - 11 July 2021, 11:37 PM

Pandemic or not, Hyderabadis swear by luscious biryani

Hyderabad: Come rain or shine or heck even a pandemic, Hyderabadis love their biryani. As the lockdown has been lifted, restaurants that are well-known for the luscious dish have once started to slowly register a rise in footfall for the much-loved dish.

As of now, barring online delivery orders through Zomato and Swiggy, the footfall is yet to pick up for dine-in at some of the popular biryani hotels.

“It depends on the restaurant’s reputation and brand that gives confidence to customers. On our side, we were already following the same levels of hygiene and safety precautions previously, now the level has gone up even more. It’s quite stressful, but we have to manage. There are many people who would come in with the elderly to eat out previously. Now we see families, but they mostly comprise younger lot and groups of youngsters,” says B V Uttam Reddy, owner, Rayalaseema Ruchulu.

Waiting for tables is slowly returning to usual, with crowds thronging popular restaurants such as Shah Ghouse, Café Bahaar, Biryaniwala & Co, Behrouz Biryani, even going so far as to wait on roads on their bikes and cars just to get a table, and all this for biryani.

The ubiquitous and wholesome meal filled with succulent pieces of meat or vegetables evokes a bunch of nostalgia among people. There is bound to be some memory attached to the iconic biryani shared over warm conversations. It’s not for nothing that biryani remained the most-ordered item during the pandemic, lockdown and even in the new normal.

Hotel owners say that it is the loyal patrons who have returned for a bite of their dish apart from new customers. “Pre-pandemic or post-pandemic, biryani lovers will want to come to eat at the restaurant. From what I have seen so far, footfall at most joints has more or less come back to normal. In fact, there is waiting for tables. Dishes like biryani should always be eaten at the restaurant. I believe half of the flavour gets lost when you order it as takeaway,” says Ravikanth Reddy, food enthusiast and part of a well-known foodie group in the city.

Tell us what your favourite Biryani is?

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