The best thing about hyderabad...

What is the best thing about Hyderabad ? I say, it is the food. You get mouth watering delicacies at belly popping quantities for very reasonable prices. I doubt whether this can be generalised to the rest of Andhra Pradesh. (The way Shashi craves for biryani from Cafe Bahar every other night has played a significant role in that assumption.)

Today I ate a sweet called 'junnu' జున్ను (?, I hope it is written so, trust google !). This was not the first time that I was given away with a bowl of this sweetened cheese by my office colleagues. Junnu is made from the colostrum of cow,lactated in the subsequent days of delivery. For the obvious reason it is available only sporadically. No wonder they are bringing it to office as a big celebration. I am unable to equate its taste with anything. It has the distinct taste of milk, added with the flavour of Jaggery.

Another item which has captivated our tastebuds is a snack called dilkhush available widely at the coffee bars of this great city. In one of my old FB posts, I wrote like this "Dilkhush is just another junk food-soft loaf with a sweet filling, yet we walk 2km and ride another 5km for that". And that was less than the truth! Fatty and me used to walk about 1.5 km down and 1.5 km up the road to Narayanaguda to have dilkhush from a particular cafe. If Kubbu was in his mood we used to rev his thunderbird to Abids. The quality of this sweet varies from outlet to outlet and so far the best ones I have got are from Bombay Restaurant of Abids and Adarsh Cafe opposite to Old MLA quarters in that very order. 

It is ramsan going on now and I cannot help but write a few lines about haleem, a light to medium repast served especially during this season. It is a dish made from finely ground mutton added with wheat flour and dry fruits. The first time when I tasted it, the flavour appeared quite bland to me. I was attracted to the dish for it being a protein rich substitute for our usual elaborate dinners. Gradually I have learned to appreciate the flavour and aroma of Haleem and I was told by an autorikshaw driver that the best Haleem of the city is available near Charminar. Hopefully we will be able to taste it in the coming two days.