“Give me at least a spoon of the biryani. I will be happy,” begs Vishaka, a business woman. The waiter looks at her apologetically. “We have put a fresh batch. It will take at least an hour to cook, ma’am.”
Biriyani lovers who decided to drop into the newly opened Ambur Star Biryani outlet in R.S. Puram around 2 p.m. are disappointed. The biryani is sold out!
Noushad, one of the proprietors, still cannot believe that so many turned up. “We had kept 550 people in mind. But the rush was so much on the first day that 150 kg of rice just vanished within an hour. We expected this kind of a crowd in the weekends, but never on a weekday.”
We decide to wait and to pass time. I tell Vishaka and her mother that I hail from Calicut, which is home for the best biryani in the world. “Is it full of masala or is it less spicy?”, “I have heard you put fruits and nuts in them?” …Vishaka and her mother, Indu, are full of questions and I tell them all I know. “Calicut Biriyani has no fruits in it and neither is it as spicy as the Hyderabadi one,” I inform them.
The memory of the famous biryani at Ambur last year on her way to Tirupati is still vivid in Vishaka’s mind. “I want to know if it tastes the same. The flavour, the smell and the rice…”
We venture into the smoky kitchen and the aroma of masala and spices hits us. The owners, Anees and Muneer Ahmed are supervising the cooks. The rice and chicken pieces are cooking in big steel vessels over chuhlas. “This is a family-run business that was started in Ambur by my great-grandfather in the 1890s. Biryani has evolved since then, but we make sure that we stick to the traditional methods and masalas,” says Muneer. The heavenly smell of the jeera rice and the masalas soon tells us that the wait is almost over. The waiter arrives reverentially bearing vessels of the slightly saffron-tinted biryani rice. And we dig into the soft rice and succulent meat pieces. biryanismasalaThe capsicum gravy and the raita are perfect accompaniments.
If you are in a mood to binge, do not hesitate to team up your biryani experience with that chunky tandoori chicken piece or a bowl of hot, spicy naatukozhi gravy. After all, Star biryani is not an everyday experience, and demands you do justice.
The outlet is open at R.S. Puram, East Venkatasamy Road, opposite Rajasthani Handloom.
For details, call 0422-4387373.
