Biryani Guru — Restaurant in Navi Mumbai

Guru means Master ! One who has achieved proficiency in a particular subject . I am a self confessed Biryani Lover & can travel to any part of the country to try exceptionally well prepared Biryani . When I head the name Biryaniguru it really caught my attention & yes I travelled almost 56km to try it .

This relaxed Goa styled relaxed mini restaurant is located very close to Belapur station . The ambiance is heavily inspired by music & has wall paintings of famous singers all over . Rock & roll & Jazz music is continuously playing in the background which instantly makes you forget all the stress & sets you in a happy mood romantic . The wooden tabletops have aqua ocean blues mosaic tiled design with 2 long suede fabric sofas at 2 ends with dark wooden tables & chairs . One side of the resto is entire made of see through clear glass which gives a calming view of large lush green potted plants arranged neatly at the waiting area outside allowing ample sunlight to fall in . The textured white walls with muted colours of scarlet reds , browns & blues along with vintage light holders make you feel as if you have come to a different place altogether away from the loud hustle bustle of city life .

The Chef & owener Mr Jitendra is in the hospitality industry for almost 19 long years , trained at the iconic Taj Hotel .

The staff wear crisp all black uniform & are extremely polite , courteous & quick at serving the guests .

The fresh mint & cucumber detox water placed on all tables is instantly refreshing . There are 3 freshly made chutneys placed on all tables including the green capsicum , chunda (raw mango ) & mint which have very strong & sharp flavours of Indian spices which blend brilliantly with the kebabs & tandoori starters .

I tried the following items :

Kokam Lemonade . The ruby coloured mildly tangy & sweet frizzy chilled drink has kokam , soda , lemon juice , rock salt garnished with lemon slice & fresh mint leaves . Sipping this thirst quenching drink in the cool breeze of the well air conditioned resto the feeling one gets is nothing less than sitting by the beaches of Goa .

In the main course I tried the Amritsari naan which was crisp on the outside & had stuffing of paneer & mashed potato . Along with this I had the paneer tikka butter masala & broccoli babycorn mushroom masala .Both the dishes were outstanding , rich , wholesome & filling .

Now comes the star attraction . Spoilt for choice as to which biryani to choose from I ordered the Istanbul Biryani served with burhani raita . What left me amazed & awestruck was the sheer presentation .I have never seen or heard of such a biryani ever before .

This biryani came in a dome shape having outer cover of wafer thin super crisp phyllo pastery baked to absolute perfection . This was cut wit a knife by the server which had steaming hot long grain rice in 2 colours cooked with babycorn , birista , reisins , paneer , peas , deep fried crisp cashewnuts , american corn & broccoli . The entire experience of relishing this soul satisfying biryani was a memorable one & yes travelling 56kms was definitely worth every penny . The procedure of creating this masterpiece is a complicated one where the outer layer is 1st cooked in a tandoor then stuffed with half cooked rice which is then slowly cooked in a tandoor for 20 minutes .

I had no space left for dessert as I simply wanted to hit the snooze button . But the server insisted I try their famous caramel custard . THIS IS THE BEST CARAMEL CUSTARD I EVER HAD IN MY ENTIRE LIFE ! This dessert cannot be explained in words & you need to personally visit this restaurant to try it yourself . Rich ,creamy , gooey , melt in the mouth smooth as silk , all adjectives are less to define this superlative dish . The caramel sauce is par excellence !

The rates are unbelievably affordable . Please bookmark this place & do visit whenever you come to Navi Mumbai . It will leave a beautiful...

BiriyaniGuru as many Navi Mumbaikars are aware of and its flagship in CBD has been offering delicious kebabs and Biriyani for years now. Over the years this place has gazed up with a lot of improvements and alternation in Menu by adding a couple of new biriyani as the latest they added the “Istanbul Perde Biriyani. Been located in the Corporate sector this restaurant is packed during lunch hours with corporate crowd. The menu is self-descriptive hence you can make your choices additionally the personnel’s there are also aware so you can approach them for making a choice. Located a minute or 2 away from CBD railway station makes it easy to attract the crowd as well. Talking about this place you can easily identify that this place gives you a modern as well rustic look both smartly divided [One wall bearing Picture frames of New Age singers, Harley Davidson Signs and other wall taking you to history] Had gone through the past reviews and there was a see-saw but for Biriyani Guru stood a clear winner.

Started with Jaljeera, which was Bang On..!!! A Perfect welcome drink to ask for. I chose to have the jaljeera at the restaurant and took food as a Parcel. Team Biriyani Guru you have done a splendid job in terms of packaging Have never seen this good packaging, I was taken aback. ZERO LEAKS, ZERO DAMAGE.

NON VEG MEAT PLATTER A little High on price, Priced at 725 INR but when it comes to flavors and tenderness of meat it is spot on. Chose to have the below from the platter • Malai Kebab: Marination of Malai and herbs /Spices. Loved the creaminess and best part the chicken had been marinated for a longer time so that the flavors enter the meat • Seekh Kebab: Chicken Seekh, Chicken minced pounded with spices and seekhed to perfection • Achari Kebab: Perfect in term of being Achari • Tikka: Chicken Tikka marinated and tandoored to perfection They were accompanied with salad and Mint-Coriander Chutney

LASUNI JHEENGA Big fan of Garlic and if it's done well then nothing like that. The prawn Size was decent, marinated with garlic and herb marination. Balance in flavors. And finally tandoored to perfection. The Prawn has been a delicate meat tends to be Chewy/Rubbery if tandoored for a longer time but they had nailed it.

BIRIYANI

ISTANBUL PERDE BIRIYANI Perde/Parda refers to curtain, So they have used the lavash Bread curtains to wrap the entire biriyani The Biriyani comes in Variation of Meat also available in Vegetarian Version, Chose the mutton version and couldn’t be happier. Mutton pieces marinated with dry fruit paste, mixed herbs and saffron along with Basmati Rice which is wrapped or sealed in Lavash Bread and slow cooked. The mutton pieces were surprisingly soft, tender and flavoury This is large portion so please order accordingly.

CHICKEN DUM BIRIYANI Biriyani with Tikka pieces marinated in Yogurt and tandoori masala tandoored to perfection and added along with basmati rice along with fresh herbs and dum cooked and later topped with garnished with caramelized onions accompanied with Raita

KATTE PYAAZ KA MURG 2 words “Chicken“ and “Pickled Onions” Both cooked with onion, tomato gravy with Indian spices, Best with the Roti /Fresh Basil Naan /Amristari Naan or an Onion Kulcha.

Team Biriyani...

A friend brought us a neatly boxed biriyani, similar to a 7-inch pizza box. We were happy with the taste and decided to visit the place sometime soon. Almost two months later, we visited the place. And Bang On! WE were pleasantly surprised, I must say … Your search for VARITIES in BIRIYANI ends here. I counted almost 15 + varieties of non-vegetarian biriyani and more than 7+ varieties of vegetarian biryani. I am sure the count is much more. Yes, very few places will offer the multitude of biriyanis served here. Located in the heart of Belapur, Sector 11 , there is ample parking available if you look around. It’s a hassle-free restaurant with good seating arrangements and hip-hop music playing lightly in the background. The good part is theres a waiting area with seating space available, showing that they do care for their customers. We marched in, Service is very good. The servers are humble, knowledgeable, and non intrusive.. the kind you find in 5-star hotels who are trained on customer service. The guys when asked will give you a pretty detailed description of your choice of biriyani. The walls are lined with trendy yesteryear hero photographs. You will see a lot of families and corporate crowds visiting. They have a regular menu card and also a separate menu card only for the biryanis. So we reached and ordered. We tried the the fish koliwada, Malabar chicken biriyani, chettinad chicken biriyani, bhuna ghost with rotis and gulab jamun. The cucumber water was refreshing and an added variety. Kiddos loved the presentation for the koliwada and the g jamun wich was served in a kind of hi ball glass. TASTE- Very authentic and tasteful. The chettinad biriyani stole our heart being flavourful and accompanied with a mini bowl of cold raita. This was brought packed in a banana leaf and thus added to the authenticity. The Malabar biriyani originating from Kerala, was In kerala itself we have around 5 varieties of biriyani and the Malabar variety uses the KAIMA boiled rice ( short grain rice… can you imagine biriyani without the extra long grains of rice.. but yes that’s what we malabaris use) , which was missing. This was a dampener. In fact we felt that across the tables the varieties of rice used were the same. Maybe the owners must take note. I must say that all the dishes used fresh spices and fresh produce, was really happy to try the bhuna mutton which used fresh, fully cooked mutton, though the gravy could have been worked on more. All in all I will surely rush back to try the few other northern biriyanis,...