In a nutshell:

Very courteous & caring staff, good ambience, my favorite music Qawwalis playin in the background, but very average food that I wud not order twice even at a food court.

Address & other details: Golconda Bowl

Cuisine Type: Predominantly Nonvegetarian , Vegetarian options also available

Meal for 2: Rs. 700 onwards

Short Description – In case u r in a hurry:

Everything other than the food was good. The Gosht Shorba was refreshing (after adding salt), the Patthar ka Gosht was more sour than what u wud like ur lassi to be / lemonade to be – no balancing of tastes & flavors, Kacchey Gosht ka Biryani was very average (U will like it only if u have not had the real one at Hyderabad), the Saalan served with it was good though. Khumani ka Meetha was good but not excellent. Overall, very average……………… not worth a second visit.

Detailed Description – In case u have the time to read on:

Last time I was in Hyderabad I had too much Biryani but that never reached a point of satiation. For dinner we ate sophisticated Gosht Biryani at the restaurant of Hotel Minerva Grand, had a rustic Gosht Biryani at Basera Pride, Banjara Hills & also went to the fabled ‘best in city’ Paradise. All these biryanis had their own differences but what was common was the melt in the mouth flavorful Biryani with long strands of rice & super soft melt in the mouth chunks of mutton…………..I still fondly remember those two days of eating endless Biryanis. So, on hearing about Hyderabadi Biryani in Delhi, thought of heading for Golconda bowl.

Finding the place can be a bit tricky as there are few signboards of the restaurant here & there but none of them have arrows!!!! You have to invariably take help of Indian GPRS – ‘Bhaisahib, how to reach Golkonda bowl”

As we entered the restaurant, we were wondering why there were so very few guests when we walked into this place – In the other neighboring non vegetarian South Indian joint GUNPOWDER, one has to queue up & at times call a day or two in advance to get a seat. We had got our answer post the meal………………. Brilliant marketing but poor product.

The staff was very well trained & was coming in again & again to make sure we had a good experience.

We started off with a Gosht ka Shorba – traditional mutton thin soup with tiny chunks of boneless mutton. We were surprised that the salt was less. We tried pouring salt from the salt & pepper case. That did not work due to moisture in the salt case. So we had to ask for it separately. The soup was refreshing after a 50 minutes drive from Gurgaon (tasted good after adding salt) – nice mild flavor of the meat & spices.

For Starters we ordered Patthar ka Gosht. For the uninitiated, Patthar ka Gosht is thin flat strips of goat meat marinated in curd & miscellaneous spices, cooked on granite like stone plate (patthar). This was surely not the first time we ever had this dish & unlike before, the experience was horrifying. It was so sour that the mutton strips tasted like we were having lemon pickle with meat. Again salt was an issue & the overall balance of the dish was severely disrupted by the extent of sourness.

The most awaited Kacchey Gosht ki Biryani did not melt in the mouth, it had long independent strands of rice but they were not flavorful, the smell of fried onions was overpowering the aroma of the meat & rice, flavor of a good ghee was absent & the meat was soft but not melt in the mouth. It also had the streak of sourness that we found in the patthar ka gosht. If I were to have this in a Rajdhani train, I wud have praised it but it is nowhere to the standard of a sit in restaurant.

Post the meal the Manager came to take our feedback & on hearing our comments said ‘…but we  have got in 8 chefs from Hyderabad’ & I said ‘Does not matter till the Biryani tastes as good as in Hyderabad’. He then told me ‘We r sorry, Pls come again & it will be better’……. One shud learn Hospitality from these Gentlemen & their Chefs should learn more about food from the master chefs of the best Restaurants in Hyderabad.

The disappointment was more coz we had read good review about it in the media review – Now we understand that it was good PR. I do not think I will ever go back even if I get a free invite. It’s up to u to take a call.