The Dindigul Thalappakatti Restaurant is a very famous restaurant chain based out of Tamil Nadu that dates back to 1957… It has been over a year since their outlet opened here in Trivandrum and I have been hearing mixed reviews from the people who have dined there… To be frank, even me and my parents tried their biriyani once during those initial days and we weren’t impressed… Today when I was looking for a biriyani option to have for lunch, their outlet in Lulu Mall came up in the app and so, having heard some positive reviews recently, decided to go ahead and order the Chicken Biriyani Combo from their menu…
This restaurant is known as a legendary restaurant that specialises in a unique version of the South Indian style Dum Biriyani, invented by their founder, which became so popular that there really is a cult following for the same so much so that the Thalappakatti Biriyani became a style of biriyani on its own… Of-course, what the founder intended and also whats the most popular is their Mutton Biriyani… However, since I eat only Chicken among meats, I decided to go for their Chicken Biriyani…
Now as I was checking out their menu, rather than just going for the biriyani, a combo option caught my eye which according to the menu, consisted of half portion of the Chicken Biriyani, along with a Porotta, Chicken 65 pieces, Raita and Gravy… So, this idea peaked my interest and so placed the order for the same and the food was delivered as can be seen in the pics above, all well packaged… The following pics show the food unpacked…
Lets start with the Porotta… To be frank I didn’t like it cause it was too dray and hence tough for me… But soaking it in that Non-Veg Gravy as they call it, did help… The gravy was a generic tasting gravy as in all I could taste was the spices used and so couldn’t know for sure if it had any chicken stock… I remember hearing someone saying long time ago that this gravy might be a mixed non-veg gravy as in having stock made with the butchery waste from all kinds of meat that the restaurant uses… To be frank, I couldn’t be 100% sure if that was indeed the case with this one… Unfortunately I did feel a taste of Vanaspati which I wish was not present in it… Coming to the Chicken 65 pieces, I must say that I felt that they were well made… Perfect amount of spices usage that didn’t overpower the flavour of the Chicken and the chicken meat itself was cooked perfectly as per Indian standards… The only minor problem I felt was that the sour component which I suspect came mostly from the use of Lemon Juice, felt a bit too much to me, especially when having them on their own…
Before I talk about the Biriyani itself, I must first stop and talk about that Raita… I don’t think I have ever seen an Onion Raita that was so incredibly creamy with the perfect balance of the sweetness from the Yogurt and the seasoning (salt)… I really wish their delivery menu had an option of buying this raita separately cause I wanted more and would’ve ordered to have with food from other places that I usually buy food from… Anyways, last but not least, lets talk about the Biriyani… First of all, it was indeed a better experience compared to the last time I had the Thalappakatti Biriyani… The Biriyani was definitely on the dry side, but it wasn’t too dry like last time… That unique tasting masala usage felt well balanced and the rice has indeed soaked up all of its flavours… The Chicken was again, like the Chicken 65 pieces, perfectly cooked considering Indian standards… Regarding. the flavour of the masala, personally, I felt it to be a version of the typical Hyderabadi inspired Tamil Biriyani but with a dominance of Cumin and less intensity of the spices overall so that the flavour of the Chicken could be felt well… The genius move is indeed that Raita which really does elevate the Biriyani to the next level, imparting all of its richness… I would 100% recommend just dumping that entire cup of Raita and mix it all into the Biriyani before eating… The other thing I felt quite surprised about, was the fact that the Chicken pieces were all boneless… I did not expect to see that, especially considering the affordable price of the combo that I ordered…
That’s it for now… Quite an enjoyable lunch it was… The quantities were just perfect for one person to eat, though I wish they had sent more of that Onion Raita… Based on this experience, I will definitely be trying more from their menu and they do have quite a good Tamil Non-Veg spread there… Hopefully will get to try very soon… Will post about it when I do… 🙂
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