Peacock in Mt View is reborn a few blocks away on Mary in Sunnyvale. Still got the same biryanis from a few years ago. And, as far as I can remember, still taste pretty good just like before, with the caveat that they could use a better source for rice since it was a little starchy. Northern style. Very moderate heat. Came with a hard boiled egg.
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Annachikadai’s mutton biryani was ok. I think there aren’t too many biryani competitors in Mt View (e.g. Chennai Kings, BiryaniZ) so this would do, or we’ll have to go high end like Amber.
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Crossposted here. The seeraga samba rice in Arusuvai’s chicken biryani was quite wet, the wettest I have had in a biryani. Hidden from view were pieces of seasoned chicken. I’d say the biryani was average, compared to a similar one from Bawarchi that’s made with seeraga samba rice a while ago.
Crossposted here. Biryani buffet at Sankranti. Probably better to order al la carte since all the biryani blends together, though its a good value. They also have ‘personal’ biryani to go at $5.
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Zareen’s in Mountain View/ Palo Alto excel in many dishes, but unfortunately the Friday special at the PA location- chicken biryani- is not one of them. I specifically seeked this dish out because the biryani here, according to Zareen Khan, is actually cooked in a dum the long way unlike other Indian restaurants, and hence doesn’t offer 49 meat options. But alas, its not meant to be- soggy rice kinda ruined it. Many Sunnyvale Indian restaurant biryanis are better. Also didn’t know what to do with the raw green bell pepper.
I was wondering if anyone had a recommendation for a biryani that roughly fits these criteria:
1: On the wetter side. I like moist rice dishes. I realize this is probably not traditional.
2: Meat cooked in the rice. I want to taste the meat in the rice, not just rice from a rice cooker and a piece of dry meat on top which seems to be how it almost always tastes to me.
3: Not overly peppery. Spiced is great, but unfortunately I can’t handle anything too hot.
4: Chicken or tender lamb or goat.
I see in some of the above pictures the rice is pretty much white still. That seems unappealing to me.
Am I being too unreasonable? Maybe I should learn to make it?
I think Little Yangon came closest to this several years back, but even while they were still around it changed and suddenly they were using a dried rice pilaf mix.
I live in the east bay and am so envious of the amazing variety of biryani you all have down south. I’ve tried a few places mentioned in this thread and look forward to trying more.
The best Biryani I’ve found in the east bay is at Amaravati House in Pleasanton. I believe it is Andhra style, it is served with salan and raita and is spiced similarly to places like Hyderabad Dum Biryani in Milpitas or Ulavacharu in Sunnyvale.
I tried both the boneless chicken and the ulavacharu goat biryani. The boneless chicken was similar to chicken 65, it was no longer crispy after being covered with rice but I still found it delicious. The ulavacharu goat had just a hint of something different, but was mostly spiced like similar biryanis I’ve had.
The rice was extra long grain and not oily at all. Servings were huge too. I also tried the biryani on the buffet, it wasn’t as good as the takeout orders but the other dishes were really good.
I’ve also tried Biryaniz in Livermore, it was just ok. Spicy but less flavorful than others and more oily. I’ve tried many biryanis in Berkeley and Oakland and can’t really recommend any of them. If anyone knows of any other locations in the east bay with good biryani, I’d love to hear them!
I’ve noticed that there is more variety of Indian (and by extension, biryani) in the trivalley now. Probably because of a larger Indian population nowadays.
Biryaniz is spicy, and I agree with your assessment that its not particularly great. Hence I am a bit perplexed why they are popular enough to become a local chain.
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I like Biryaniz OK, but the buzz is that it is very popular among south Asians. I’ve heard that many consider it their favorite.
I just did a mini biryani crawl with a couple of similar-minded folks: Biryaniz (Vijayawada, chicken), Hyderabadi Dum Biryani (chicken), and Dindigul Thalappakatti (mutton), all in one evening. The other two liked Biryaniz the best, while I preferred HDB. Both were considered very good. Dindigul was quite disappointing as the rice was short-grained and too mushy, although we suspected that it might be accurate-to-style.
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Now that’s a real biryani crawl- three biryani in one night…!
Dindigul Thalappakatti uses a short grain seeraga samba rice. When I got their biryani when they first opened, it was not mushy and had nice grain separation. Not sure what happened there- perhaps the QC has gone to the toilets after the initial opening period.
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A good biryani other than the Thalapakattu biryani from Everest Cuisine in Mountain View- the Hyderabad biryani. Well-balanced and aromatic spices, good rice texture and flavorful and tender meat.
The vijayawada biryani was saucy and spicy.
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Dark times for biryani in the valley. I called Everest Cuisine last Saturday to place a biryani order and was told that they are switching to new ownership this week. Not sure how the change will affect the food so I hope they keep the standards high for the food including the biryani (they served one of my favorite biryani).
Then I found out Peacock on Mary also closed. They were my second favorite.
Then I got a goat biryani from Gup Shup on University Ave in Palo Alto. They used to be Amber Dhara but recently switched to a more casual concept. $18 for a tiny and bland bowl of biryani that came with bland raita. Just a little heat, no fragrance whatsoever. I got that order because I was hungry after my dinner. And after finishing the biryani, I was still hungry. What a waste of $18.
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Finally had a biryani from the revamped Everest cuisine. They previously had one of my favorite biryanis. Alas, I think the focus was no longer on biryani. I found the chicken biryani middling at best, and a bit too wet.
Asked the server what I should get next time, and they recommended the shrimp curry and the special shrimp coconut. Who would have thought the tropical coconut and seafood would be an ingredient to a presumably Nepalese dish from a mountainous region?
Had the hyderabad dum chicken biryani from Biryaniz in Mountain View. I found it the most pleasant out of the other two biryani I tried previously from Biryaniz- the vijayawada and the amaravathi (which I was disappointed with). succulent pieces of chicken thigh in rice that was well balanced when the gravy was mixed in.
I felt the rice was still a little bit chalky, like the other times I had their biryanis at Biryaniz.
Anyone tried the keema biryani special?
A recent goat dum biryani at Biryani & Kababs in Sunnyvale was, terrible. Either their kababs are very good or I just don’t know why people go there.
From their menu: “The deliciously complex blend of flavors, spices and aromas in Biryani…”
But the real dish had no complex blend of flavors, spices and aroma, or really, no blend of flavors, spices and aroma whatsoever. Instead, its just parboiled rice with some more colored parboiled rice on top that had no flavors infused. Goats were all at the bottom of the pile. I had never had a biryani that I’d consider terrible until this one. I don’t understand why they still have takeout business given the abundance of biryani in Sunnyvale and Santa Clara. Avoid.
Recently again had the mutton biryani from Dindigul Thalappakatti in Milpitas a couple of times. They were doing some good takeout business (relatively speaking). No wonder, their biryani is still my gold standard in the South Bay.
My wife also reacquainted herself with their biryani, and rated it more highly than the biryani at Kabob and Curry in Santa Clara. And I agreed with her. The balance of aroma was great. And I’ll happily eat the biryani at Kabob and Curry any day too.
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The goat biryani from Paradise Biryani Pointe Milpitas was Hyderabadi in style. It was spicy, as expected. The rice had two layers. The goat-infused layer at the bottom with darker colored rice. And the orange/ red / yellow parboiled layer on top. Its fairly decent.
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Hey, I’m not seeing Himalayan Kitchen on the list. They’ve fallen off my goto-takeout list because:
- they’re simply too spicy for GF and marginal for self,
- every order is a nightmare of getting there and having them not having written it down
But I liked their biryani last time I tried it, had enough flavor.
I am not really sure why I never got biryani from Himalayan Kitchen. I will make that my next destination for biryani. Its welcoming news to me if they are good, since its right next to 85 so its quick to get to. Thanks for the tip.
Here’s Himalayan Kitchen’s hyderabad biryani. Pretty decent. Comparable to the ones from nearby BiryaniZ. My wife told me I had been here before although I must say I have no recollection whatsoever.
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Had the mutton biryani a couple of times from Thalappakatti in Milpitas recently. Still to me the gold standard in the South Bay. They are just so flavorful and well seasoned, both meat and rice. Even my wife, who liked the biryani from Santa Clara’s Kabob and Curry’s, got converted by Thalappakatti’s mutton biryani.
Here’s another of their weekend special biryani, the nattu koli biryani. Quite good. Not quite as good as their mutton biryani. I will still rank it second in the South Bay, though.
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