Our story
We cook one city's food, properly.
Hyderabad has a particular way with rice, spice and patience. That is the food we set out to cook in Wellington, and we have not been tempted to broaden it into something vaguer.
Since 2020
A kitchen in Lower Hutt, then two more.
We opened in Fairfield, Lower Hutt in 2020, cooking for a neighbourhood that had not had this food nearby. Word carried further than we expected, and a second kitchen followed in Johnsonville, then a third in Kilbirnie.
All three run the same recipes and the same standards. What changes between them is the hours and the neighbourhood — not the cooking.
How we cook
Three things we will not shortcut.
01
The marinade sits overnight
Meat goes into yoghurt, ginger, garlic and whole spice the day before it is cooked. It is the difference between spice sitting on top of the meat and spice running through it.
02
The pot is sealed
Par-cooked basmati is layered over the marinated meat, the lid is sealed, and the pot goes on a low flame. Nothing is stirred. The steam finishes the rice and the meat together.
03
The tandoor runs to order
Kebabs and breads go into the tandoor when the order comes in, not before. It costs us a few minutes on the ticket and it is worth every one of them.
Sit in or take away
Plain rooms, serious food.
Our rooms are simple on purpose. The money and the attention go into the kitchen, the ingredients and the time a dish is given.
Most of what we cook travels well, so a good share of it goes out the door in a bag. Biryani in particular is happier for a few minutes' rest.
The menu
Over a hundred dishes, and one we would start with.
If it is your first time, order the dum biryani. Everything else can wait for the second visit.