Hotel Kalyana Bhavan — Restaurant in Tamil Nadu

I am a big fan of the Muslim style Shaadi Biryani that is quiet popular in Tamil Nadu. Kalyanam in Tamil means Shaadi and this style of biryani is something that is served in all Tamil Muslim weddings. While the taste of the biryani is one thing that we will talk more about, it is that community feeling of sitting together and sharing a wonderful meal together, that one has to experience in a nikkah.

For small gatherings and parties exceeding 50 pax, father-in-law used to order from a person who has been making our festivities special through his biryani, it used to be out of the world, you can see my Chennai Feel 2020 highlights to see glimpses of that biryani.

But for smaller family lunches our go to place for a Muslim style shaadi biryani would be Kalyana Bhavan Biryani located in Egmore, Chennai. On a recent visit to Chennai, we stopped by Kalyana Bhavan Biryani and picked up Chicken and Mutton biryanis, along with a portion of fish fry, for lunch.

For someone who enjoys cooking, let me tell you how difficult it is for this biryani style to go wrong, one extra tomato, people would pass it off as tomato rice. It is extremely difficult to achieve that fine balance between your biryani tasting like one and getting insulted as tomato rice. The people here at Kalyana Bhavan Biryani have nailed that perfect balance and on a recent visit I tasted both the mutton and chicken 65 biryani and both were fabulous. Hardcore Biryani lovers, know that the flavor of the meat has to be imbibed into the rice, otherwise it is just plain pulao. In fact there is a wider claim that Biryani is always made with mutton and chicken biryani is just pulao. I personally preferred the Mutton biryani more than the chicken, as it had more depth of flavor, with a meaty aroma that you are bound to experience.

Though the fish fry was claimed to be a seer / King fish, family members who tasted it felt it was not seer and might be a different type of fish. Could not connect as I did not try it.

Overall a great place with consistent quality over the years, definitely would recommend Kalyana Bhavan Biryani to anyone who loves a traditional Muslim style...

I recently visited this place specifically to try their biryani. Upon arrival, I discovered that the chicken biryani was already sold out. So, my friends and I ordered mutton biryani. The ordering system requires you to pay first, receive a token, and then hand it to the server, who brings you the biryani.

The only positive aspect of the mutton biryani was its generous quantity for Rs. 330. The mutton pieces were well-cooked, but unfortunately, the rice was dry and burnt. Receiving burnt biryani rice was a significant disappointment, especially for a restaurant that should have the means to avoid such mistakes, as the burnt rice was visibly apparent. From taste to presentation, the dish was a complete waste of money.

The only item we enjoyed was the kesari, served on banana leaves. Overall, I cannot recommend spending your hard-earned money at a place that lacks customer satisfaction. As we hadn't had breakfast, we ate the food because we had already paid for it. Although the server offered to bring more rice to replace the burnt portion, this does not excuse the initial poor service. The owner should train their staff on how to properly serve a Rs. 330 mutton biryani. I suggest avoiding such establishments. The only thing I recommend at this place is...

Worst place you may visit in your experience because of the following reasons;

1. No professional approach
2. They may tell you card facility and phone pay facility not available and insist you to pay through cash!
3. They may tell you mutton biriyani unavailable and push you towards chicken, no matter what day or time you visit them by hiding mutton biryani and serving for some customers while saying no to other customers!
4. Never expect any respect from the cash counter as they treat themselves as boss and you expect a wait time of atleast 10 minutes at cash counter, without any reason!
5. chicken biriyani they say it as special and sell it at Rs 260 and the always-unavailable mutton biryani they say it price as Rs.275!
6. if you could pay a little extra you may get a better biriyani experience at many places in Chennai.
7. please say a big NO to this hotel as they never bother/respect customers.
8. For biriyani to reach your table or for cleaning the table itself totally 20 minutes...