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The town has been a steady increase in new restaurants that are serving food belonging to different cuisines. Within these cuisines there are so many variations which is hardly known to many of us. When these new establishments come up, the flavours they offer just mesmerize me. It might be the very commonly known dish, but then the variation in the usage of spices causes the dish to taste completely different. One such the ‘Chinnasamy Naidu Biryani – Traditionally Dindigul’ that has newly come up in HSR Layout. It might sound to be another Biryani place but then you need to go deeper to understand that they serve biryani from ‘Dindigul’ region which is in Tamil Nadu.
The usage of spices is completely different from what we might get in Karaikudi, Ambur, Dhonne, Hyderabdi, Awadi or any other region that we are aware. I really appreciate the owners to let for getting these unique flavours to people of Bangalore, which otherwise might not have been known to us.
Background
The city has seen an increase in the # of restaurants serving food of different cuisines belonging to different countries. There are areas where you get global cuisines. But then the small regions offer something unique. And since people here want to try these variations, a restaurant like ‘Chinnasamy Naidu Biryani’ has come and I am sure will flourish.
Speaking of biryani, it is surely one of the favourite items to be consumed by us for lunch or dinner. Some want it spicy, some want it less spicy, some want it with the raita and some without, some want with salaam, some without. Basically we all are exposed to so many of these that we will try the new one and say that this is what I have been looking for since a long time.
Location
If you are coming from Outer Ring Road towards the HSR BDA complex. Take the right at the first signal that has Mc Donald’s appearing to the right side as the corner building. Drive along for nearly 100-200 mts to find the ‘Chinnasamy Naidu Biryani’ place to the right side.
Apart from this restaurant in HSR layout, there is another one in Whitefield belonging to the same chain.
Ambiance
It is important to have good ambiance coz these are the restaurants where lots of families would be coming over. Few things to highlight.
- Great entrance which always gives you a nice feeling when you enter a restaurant.
- Very clean interiors which is also important for people to feel like being at home.
- Seats are very separated and not congested though the restaurant would usually want to focus on volumes.
- Nice paintings on the glass that segregate sections inside restaurant.
- Food is always served on plantain leaves which gives more of the traditional touch coming to this place.
In general, I liked the interiors of this place.
Food
This is the most critical part in a restaurant that say that they serving a food from a different region. They need to have something that people will surely like and may be also recollect having had somewhere. Let me share my experience of the items that I had from the Vegetarian point of view.
Soup
There isn’t any special vegetarian soup here. They served the traditional rasam that had various items like Tomato, Garlic, Curry Leave and various spices. It was pretty decent and I surely did not feel like leaving it and ended up finishing the entire soup.
The non-veg lovers had options of Chicken and Mutton soups which they told was pretty good.
Starters
Raw Banana Fry
This is basically the raw banana which is made soft and also fried a little bit.
The traditional spices are added to it which gives the flavour along with the actual taste of the raw banana itself.
The taste was so good that I could not control by having a few pieces and I ended up eating nearly 2 plates.
Yum Fry
This was a starter that was served and initially I thought it was the Paneer Fry.
But then when I tasted, I could make out it is completely different. Basically the yum is the ingredient that is in place of the paneer and is deep fried to be able to get the reddish brown texture outside.
There is also spices added which made the taste of the starter very good.
The non-veg lovers had many more items in Chicken, Mutton and Fish which I think they all loved.
Panniyaram / Paddu / Gunpungla
This is one of the breakfast items prepared in south region.
Though this is not part of the menu when we asked the manager, he obliged by getting it for us. This is the dish for which the same ‘Dosa Batter’ is used for making and there are onions added inside it.
The taste was simply superb and infact many of my friends also loved it.
Main Course
Vegetarian Biryani
The obvious choice for main course at ‘Chinnasamy Naidu Biryani’ is the biryani. And for the vegetarians they prepare a biryani, which is the ‘dum biryani’ and there is a special addition of ‘Soya’ in it. It does not contain any veggies but just the rice + soya. And the best part about this biryani is that it is all about the spices which just gives you a great feel the moment we put it into our mouth. The spice was just right or may be a little lesser. I had a doubt on this and the manager clarified the addition of spice is limited for biryani made in this region coz they wanted to focus on letting us enjoy the flavours of spices.
I was actually pretty impressed with this biryani and for sure it tasted completely different compared to biryani eaten anywhere else. You can add some raita and the taste enhances even further.
Plain Rice + Eggplant Curry / Katrikai Curry
This was another amazing combination of items that I had.
The brinjol curry had complete pieces of brinjol, onion and masala. Brinjol were not cut but the complete pieces were put.
The taste was simply amazing when taken with the plain rice.
If you love adding some curds, the taste enhances event further.
Deserts
There were 2 deserts that we tried at this place.
Jil Jil Jilgarthanda
A Madurai Special Jigarthanda
This is one of the traditionally favourite drinks in the Madurai region. It comes in different colours like – Rose or Orange. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jil_jil_jigarthandahas more details on the same. Though I could not compare with what the original drink might taste.
I loved the juice.
Panai Paagu Thair
Curd in Mut Pot with a sweet twist
This might have tasted more like ‘sweet curds’ but the taste actually comes from the Jagger induced liquid that is put on the curds.
To be able to taste the desert properly you will need mix the sweet Jagger well with the curds and then the taste is simply out of the world.
In terms of the drink I tried the Butter milk and lemon juice. Both of the drinks were pretty good for the hot summer.
Overall Experience
I enjoyed the complete experience of having food at the restaurant and I feel that this a place which will click very much among the masses. The service at the restaurant was pretty good and the waiter are always ready to serve. Manager and the staff was very good coz they are ready to explain to you about the dish & its origin if at all you have any doubts. Overall I would rate this place currently at 4.0/5 for this place. The only request would be think of adding more options of vegetarian in the Biryani section and the main course section.
My rating in other departments.
Food – 4.0/5
Drinks – 4.0/5
Ambiance – 3.5/5
Service – 4.0/5
Food for 2 at this place will costly anywhere between INR400-600 which is really effective for lunch/dinner.
Foodies along with included – Naveen, Pratheek, Donovan, Pheno Menon, Madhan, Mahima, Poojitha, Arijit, Hari Camala, Bijan, Pramukh, Lopamudra.
