Haleem At Hotel Shah Ghouse – The Best So Far

The Haleem at Hotel Shah Ghouse takes the top honours for this year. This time my inquiries about any new and good places serving haleem in the old city had only one answer—Hotel Shah Ghouse. Not to ignore my friends advice who already tasted the haleem (more of an instruction) we, a group of four headed to Hotel Shah Ghouse.  We did have a tough time wading through the traffic to reach Hotel Shah Ghouse. The hotel is situated on the road from Charminar to Barkas.  One can find the hotel (around 250 metres from Pista House’s main outlet) on the right hand side of the road from Charminar to Barkas.

We placed our order as soon as we reached Hotel Shah Ghouse. The first thing I noticed after getting the haleem was that it was very hot. This was the perfect serving of haleem I had so far this year. Spicy, Piping hot, tasty, the right consistency, the right quantity of ghee and spices used, and a taste that was the best. Anything hot and spicy and Hyderabadi’s love it. The haleem is worth the price at Rs. 55 per plate.

After devouring the haleem at Hotel Shah Ghouse we headed to the main outlet of Pista House to get a plate of vegetarian haleem. Unfortunately, the vegetarain variety was over by the time we reached Pista House. Not to be dissappointed we ordered a plate of the regular haleem that was served with loads of ghee in it. The taste was almost the same as that of the parcel we ordered from its outlet in Babu Khan Mall.

A cup of chai in a Irani cafe near Charminar ended the trip for us.

Recommendation: Must have. Do not miss it.

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Just Missed – Vegetarian Haleem At Pista House

Updated Post: 25 September, 2008

Come the month of Ramzaan and the whole of Hyderabad is busy gorging on the favourite dish in this month—Haleem. But it is only people who eat meat who enjoy the delicacy. For people who do not eat meat they hardly have any alternative. But that was until a few years ago when Pista House started offering the vegetarian variety also. As far as I am informed it is the only place where you get Vegetarian Haleem.

My intial plan was to taste haleem (the regular non-veg variety) at the most popular places in Hyderabad. Then vegetarian haleem was not even on my agenda. However, my curiosity about what goes into a vegetarian haleem and how it tastes got the better of me and I decided to taste vegetarian haleem also this year. And yesterday was my chance to try it out.

We (Akhil, Prasanthi, Ram and I) went to the Old City to try out the haleem at Hotel Shah Ghouse, the surprise package of this year. My plan was to taste the haleem at Hotel Shah Ghouse and then proceed to Pista House’s main outlet near charminar to try vegetarian haleem. It was around 8 p.m by the time we reached the place. Unfortunately for us the vegetarian haleem was over by that time. Dejected, we ordered a plate of the regular haleem and started digging into it. The taste was almost similar to the one we had from its outlet in Babu Khan Mall, Somajiguda, the only difference being the amount of ghee served at the main outlet. We literally scooped out a few spoons of the ghee before we finished off the plate.

Haleem At Paradise

Haleem at Paradise in Hyderabad (Photo Courtesy: Jim Reeves)

After tasting Haleem at Pista House last week I got to taste Haleem at Paradise today evening with my friends.  Paradise is the famous restaurant in Secunderabad known for the Chicken Biryani and Mutton Biryani it serves.

The Haleem at Paradise was served fresh and hot with crispy fried onions and lemon juice. Must say it tasted better than what they served last year. The extra ghee did scare me but disappeared into the Haleem quite quickly. The serving was good and worth the price (Rs. 60).

The preparation was better this time and the serving had very few bones. The bones tasted great. While lot of people throw the bones away they can actually be eaten and they taste great. Cooked for more than 12 hours the bones become soft and one can chew the bones effortlessly.

The fresh serving of Haleem at Paradise tasted better than Pista House’s Haleem (We took the parcel). Need to check if a fresh serving at Pista House would be any better.

Recommendation: Do try the Haleem fresh and hot with some extra garnishing

Haleem In Hyderabad (@Pista House)

Bohri cookbook: Haleem (Photo credit: Faraz)

Now that the month of Ramzaan (Ramadan) has set in, Hyderabad’s another favourite dish becomes available—the delicious Haleem. This time my first serving of Haleem was from the Pista House outlet in BabuKhan Mall at Somajiguda circle. The Haleem was tasty and not very spicy. I had Haleem at the other popular joints in Hyderabad but this one was definitely worth its price (Rs. 70/- for one serving).

I hope I will be able to eat the delicacy at the old and popular Haleem outlets in Hyderabad. The list of Haleem joints that I intend to visit are Niagara (Chaderghat), Shadaab and Madina (Charminar), Cafe Bahar (Hyderguda), Garden and Paradise (Secunderabad) and Bawarchi (RTC X Roads). All of them are quite old and mostly run by Iranis.

Tip: For someone looking to taste Haleem in Hyderabad these are the ones that you need to go as they still serve the best Haleem in Hyderabad.

What is your favourite Haleem joint in Hyderabad?

Ganesh Chaturthi

Om Shri Vigneshwaraya Namah

Lord Ganesha (Source: Madhu Pasulla)

Wish you all a happy ganesh chaturthi.

Where Have The Rains Gone?

Where have the rains gone? It is the second week of July and the rains haven’t drenched Hyderabad yet. Pray the rain gods do not deny the city its quota of rains this year. We are already having power cuts in the rainy season and it could get worse in case the state does not receive enough rainfall this year.