The Royal Menu

Long-grain basmati layered with slow-braised mutton, sealed under a charcoal hush of kewra and saffron.

Chicken on the bone, marinated overnight in yoghurt and whole spices, then dum-cooked with mint and fried onions.

Garden-fresh vegetables and paneer in a saffron rice, perfumed with rose and screwpine.

Raw mutton sealed with rice and cooked in one motion — the oldest, hardest, and most rewarded of the biryanis.

Melt-in-the-mouth lamb mince with 32 spices, set on saffron warqi paratha.

Chicken marinated in cream, cashew paste and cardamom, kissed by tandoor heat.

Skewers of finely-pounded mutton with rose petals and mace, charred slowly.

Cottage cheese in a pickle-spiced marinade, blistered in the tandoor with onion and pepper.

Tender mutton in a gravy of cashew, almond and yoghurt; finished with kewra water and a glaze of pure ghee.

Tandoori chicken in a velvet tomato gravy, finished with cream and crushed fenugreek.

Mutton shank stewed eight hours till the marrow lets go — served with ginger, lime and warm sheermal.

Black lentils simmered overnight on a slow tandoor flame, enriched with butter and tomato.

Stuffed paneer parcels in a saffron-tinted nut gravy, garnished with edible silver.

The traditional Hyderabadi accompaniment — chillies in a tamarind, peanut and sesame gravy.

Sweet-tinged saffron flatbread, traditionally served alongside nihari.

Hundred-leaved paratha, pulled and folded by hand until it shatters at first bite.

Handkerchief-thin roti, swung over a domed tawa till translucent.

Saffron-streaked basmati cooked in mutton stock and finished with caramelised onion.

Bread fried to amber, soaked in saffron rabri, crowned with pistachio and edible silver.

Hyderabad's bread pudding — toasted, drowned in cardamom syrup, sweetened with rabri.

Ground basmati set in milk, perfumed with rose water and crowned with pistachio.

Slow-cooked apricot compote with the kernel cracked back in — served with vanilla cream.

Damask rose syrup cut with chilled milk and a pinch of cardamom.

Vetiver root cooler — earthy, herbal, the colour of a monsoon evening.

Slow-churned yoghurt with saffron, cardamom and a slick of malai.

A long-brewed milk tea poured the Hyderabadi way — strong, sweet, and unhurried.