So I hope you have an idea about Ramzan and Iftar and the food and the likes of the month by now. So what are places offering such goodies? My first week of eating out turned out to be pretty average. What you see above is the perfect Haleem and no, I have not had it in Chennai this year.
After staying at home to break fast on the first day, my friend and me ventured out to eat Haleem and decided to go to Charminar Biriyani. And what a disappointment it turned out to be. Like I mentioned in my previous post, a good Haleem should be pasty and when you are eating something pasty, you do not expect to encounter large chunks of anything. The Haleem here was pretty much full of it. Large pieces of cinnamon sticks, fat of the mutton and pretty much chucks and even a couple of bones. Adding to it the flavor was overwhelmed by spices of yelachi and cinnamon. Spices in a haleem should be subtle while here it was dominant. Sad excuse for a Haleem. The Khubani meetha was pretty decent here and that is what you see in the picture above.
After a pretty disastrous first outing, we ordered the Iftar kit from Daawat Biriyani. We got an Iftar pack which was priced at Rs, 315 for one small portion of Haleem, two pieces of kebab, one chicken roll and one piece of ande meetha. The minute I opened the box, I knew it was not Haleem. The consistency was completely wrong but as I tasted it, i must accept that the flavors were just about there, it was the nombu kanji that I wrote about in my previous post. At 150 for about 200 or 250 ml, it is very pricy, considering you get about 500 ml for about 200 elsewhere. But the remaining dishes were excellent. The kebabs were brilliant. We had ordered one box as my friend was to have lunch that day, but he gobbled up one kebab leaving me with just one, and he also took a bite of the chicken roll. Hey, I am the one fasting here. The ande meetha was brilliant. While the pack is pricy, this is home made stuff and the quality is there, if not the quantity. You see the ande meetha and the chicken roll with the kebabs above.
And then came the best deal of the week. Everyone says that Fisherman's fare has lost its quality but we all enjoyed the Iftar that day. Maybe because the previous two days were Haleem disasters, but it was good. They have a buffet priced at Rs. 299, but I was the only one fasting and the other two guys just wanted to nibble, so we sent someone to pick up from the Ramzan counter. We got 500 ml of Haleem, two portions of murthabak, two portions of chicken rolls and one portion of Khubani meetha. The Haleem was under spiced here, but the consistency and the taste were pretty good. The murthabak was good, though it was much thinner than how a murthabak should be, but then it tasted good and priced much lower (rs. 50) than a regular murthabak. The chicken rolls were great value for money. You get 6 pieces for Rs 60, but they are felt like frozen stuff fried for the evening, but good though. The Khubani meetha was a little overdose of jaggery, but certainly not bad.
And that is how my first week of fasting went.
You can contact Daawat Biriyani at 9840318668 for delivery, but for Fishermans Fare, you will have to pick it up. I would not recommend the Haleem at Charminar.
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