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 is kalyana bhavan biryani located in egmore, chennai. on a recent visit to chennai, we stopped by the egmore branch of kalyana bhavan biryani and took a takeaway of the chicken and mutton biryanis, along with a portion of fish fry.
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 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 tasted 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 most 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 can expect.
though the fish fry was claimed to be a seer / king fish, the family who tasted it felt it might be a different kind of fish. i could not say, because i did not try it.
the bread halwa that comes along is just out if the world, it’s a must try, infact for us it’s a key differentiator in choosing this place to dine.
overall a great place with consistent quality over the years, definitely would kalyana bhavan biryani to anyone who loves a traditional muslim style shaadi biryani.