It may be the season of fasting, but it’s also the season of good food.
And restaurants in the city — from outlets near mosques to luxury hotels — are cashing in on the craze for ‘haleem’, kebabs and ‘double ka meetha’.
About a decade ago, the city did not have much on offer when it came to Ramadan fare. Now however, ‘Iftar’ specials are everywhere.
And it’s not just restaurants that offer Arabian-style cuisine — fast food chains such as Marrybrown and McDonald’s too have gotten in on the act with ‘Iftar-special’ burgers.
At Charminar in Gopalapuram, the ‘kheema’ samosas get sold almost as soon as they are made. The restaurant also makes 25-30 kg of ‘haleem’ per day. “We make a unique ‘haleem’ that uses 28 herbs and is cooked traditionally in an outdoor furnace,” says R. Vidya, one of the directors of Charminar.
But ‘haleem’ comes in various kinds, and aficionados have their own preferences. Mughal’s Zaika restaurant in Kilpauk says it makes a ‘Lucknowi haleem’, using nine varieties of dal, rice and mutton.
Some prefer the homemade kind and order from Hajeera’s Kitchen or Daawat-a-Biryani. By 8 p.m. or so, most places are sold out. “On weekends, our orders go up to 100 litres. We also deliver, though most people prefer to come pick it up fresh,” says Hussain Basha, one of the owners of Hajeera’s.
Navin Balachandran, a city-based IT professional, is just back from a trip to Turkey where he sampled all kinds of kebabs.
“Every year, my office team orders ‘haleem’ from Hyderabad. I also like the kebabs and other items at Fisherman’s Fare in Egmore,” he says.
Other restaurants such as Zaitoon, Arab Kitchen, Buhari, Savoury Sea Shell, Taj Coromandel and Radisson Blu have ‘Iftar’ packages with a set menu, starting from about Rs. 250.
Outside Wallajah mosque in Triplicane, crowds line up from 6.30 p.m., for the ‘kanji’, dates, biscuits and other Iftar specialities served every day. “We cater to between 750 and 1,000 persons here daily,” says a member of the Sufi Dar Trust, which organises the feast.
While ‘Iftar’ food is what most people look forward to, some places also offer ‘Sehri’ or the meal at dawn. Travellers in luxury hotels can order from 24x7 coffee shops, while in Triplicane, near the mosque, biriyani shops start business around 4 a.m.
