I have been diligently following a portion measured meal plan for a month like a teacher’s pet. However, I decide to ‘accidentally’ forget marking my meal for the following day. Then, I call a friend and suggests she takes me out for a long-pending treat from her.
My heart is set on having a traditional Telugu meal, complete with flavoured podis sprinkled on the rice and topped with copious amounts of warm melted ghee . I also envision fried chicken with clingy gravy, soft pappu (dal), spicy mutton curry, tangy fish pulusu and juicy desserts. So we pick a restaurant with a rather unusual name — Vivaha Bhojanambu (Wedding meal). This restaurant is about a month old and so far I haven’t heard anything about the place, except that it is partly owned by a Telugu film actor Sundeep Kishan.
At the entrance of Vivaha Bhojanambu there is poster from a famous classic Telugu film - Maya Bazaar . This famous movie also features the song Vivah Bhojanam, from where the restaurant presumably gets its name. Inside, the walls are covered with 3D graffiti featuring of Telugu food-coma quotes in English. like ‘Ikada maimaripinche gumagumalu.’
Once seated my lunch date, who I know is a vegetarian, declares that she wants to eat non-veg. (Protein cravings she reasons). Chicken to be precise. We dive into the menu, which offers a mix of Andhra and Telangana food, carefully going through the names and descriptions of each dish to jog our appetites. Bhimavaram kodi vepudu for starters. I admit I also got a bit greedy and ordered mutton chops done in traditional tandoori style all for myself.
For a Monday lunch, the restaurant was buzzing with people. Vivaha Bhojanambu isn’t a fancy space, where you need to carefully co-ordinate your clothes, accessories and make up. All you need here is a healthy appetite. It helps if you’re ready and willing to dig into your food with your bare hands. Meals don’t taste the same with cutlery.
In the meantime, our chicken arrives looking especially tempting thanks to the gravy hugging it in all the right places. Minced browned onions carelessly fall from the chicken as it’s ladled onto my plate. It’s a ‘semi-dry’ gravy - perfect with ghee and rice.
With no time to spare or words to share, we begin to eat. The first bite is enough to pat my own back on the choice of the eatery. The chicken is polished off our plates as we wait for the chops to arrive. It comes sizzling with ghee-basted, coal-burnt fringes. Juicy and delectable. I nibble on it as the main course and desserts are pending. For main course, instead of the tempting thali , we order a Palavancha kodi pulao, simply because it is something neither of us have heard before (this pulao gets its name from a place in Khammam). Wherever it originated from, it’s delicious. Palavancha kodi pulao is like the fried chicken pulao, more aromatic and flavourful and less spicy.
The food at Vivaha Bhojanambu isn’t fiery-spicy nor is it oily. Eating a meal here would be even better if the serving staff learns how to relax, and be less intrusive. Service is fast but clumsy. There is a silver lining though. As we eat dessert, a mulberry delight, we mention this to the friendly manager who gives the staff an impromptu class on serving skills. They suggest they need more pratice. I’m happy to help. As we walk out, I sent a message to another friend. It reads — ‘Lunch tomorrow? I have to try the thali at Vivaha Bhojanambu.”
