Tried the (new to me) Thalapakattu biryani from Bawarchi Santa Clara, which is a biryani from the Dindigul region of Tamil Nadu. This biryani used the Seeraga samba rice instead of basmati in biryanis from other states. This rice is the most expensive variety of rice grown in the state, and has the smallest grain.
The rice they used in this dish had small grains for sure, though some looked like Vietnamese broken rice. Perhaps a lower cost source for the Seeraga samba? Another observation about the rice is that it is not fluffy and loose. A little mushy, in fact.
The dish was well seasoned. As with anything from Tamil Nadu, it was hot, and it was certainly the hottest biryani encountered in recent memory. The marsala added some extra spiciness/ fragrance to the rice and was highly welcomed.
Interested in trying their other biryanis. Bawarchi Santa Clara is located near the Levi’s Stadium.
Other places that serve Thalapakattu biryani in the Bay Area. Anyone tried these?
Chennai Grill, Sunnyvale, Dublin
Himalayan Kitchen, Mountain View
Lotus Indian Express, Fremont
Hyderabadi Biryani Pointe, Cupertino
Little Delhi, SF
Gulzaar Halal Restaurant, SJ
I just had a really good well spiced fish biryani (a special) from vik’s over the weekend. They were very generous with the fish portion. Their lamb biryani is also quite good, and that is available most weekends
The Indian community is either in love of or crucifying (generally for service) this Milpitas, and first US outlet of a Chennai chain Thalappakatti Restaurant. They have dindigul biryani, made with their grandma’s recipe.
A profile of their Milpitas branch from a newspaper from Chennai:
Anyone been?
My wife and I had a good chuckle about their web site’s soothing music, which sounds like a cross between Indian and K/J-Pop…
ETA: which may not be the type of music I associate with a fiery Dindigul biryani, but perhaps I should put that track on next time I have this biryani to cool down the fire.
The other place where I had the Thalapakattu Dindigul biryani, the Bawarchi branch near Levi’s Stadium, is no more and is now replaced by a place called Golkonda Indian Cuisine, which serves some different biryanis of its own.
They didn’t have the Hyderabad biryani so the amaravathi it was. I just couldn’t get past the unpleasantly dry and starchy texture of the rice. The chicken at the bottom was coated with a spicy sauce. I don’t recall the Vijayawada biryani from their Milpitas branch had the same type of rice texture. My suspicion is that they used lower cost basmati.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
