In a nutshell

Yummraj was impressed after eating at this shop in a food court – way above average food court standards, intension to sell authentic regional cuisine. Must admit this is a first time experience of rayalseema cuisine.

Address & other details:  rayalseema ruchulu

Meal for 2: Rs. 600 onwards

Cuisine type : Vegetarian & nonvegetarian

Disclaimer: All restaurants / eateries reviewed by YUMMRAJ were visited by YUMMRAJ himself & he has paid for the full Bill & tips also. http://www.yummraj.com does not have even one featured / sponsored reviews. YUMMRAJ believes in going to a restaurant in anonymity, as a normal guest, experience everything & give a honest account of the same to you.

I rate all the food items & then give a final overall rating which is a simple average of the individual item ratings. What the ratings stand for: 5 = Excellent, 4 = Very Good, 3 = Good, 2 = Fair, 1 = Disaster.

Short description – in case u r in a hurry:

When I travel for work, I have just subway salads for lunch. Quick, light and somewhat healthy. Coz it does not feel sleepy after eating this.

Today as I walked into the food court of the new forum mall at Hyderabad, what first caught my attention was ‘subway opening soon’. The second thing that caught my attention was Rayalseema ruchulu express.

I have been hearing about rayalseema food for quite some time but have not really got to taste it so far. All I heard were three words – yumm, hot and spicy.

Jumped on to that option.

The stall in food court was an express version of restaurants by the same name. It was neat and clean and the people manning them seemed different than the usual indifferent people that we see in food court shops most if the time. The guys over the counter knew well about the dishes and helped us make a selection.

The menu card was a one pager. It had quite a few gems. What I loved about the offering was no tendency to dilute the menu / throw in popular dishes even if those r not related to the theme.

Loved the food and wud look forward to trying out more dishes.

I am sure this is not the most rustic version. My search for authentic Rustic rayalseema food starts today…. Maybe someone’s home or some local shack/ Thela in some small town ……

What I can say however is that without any comparison to others, the food was very good on its own.

Detailed description – in case u have the time to Njoying reading:

We ordered Jonna (Jowar) roti. It was a thin, large roti that was kind of crisp. The jowar flour was uneven as expected. Loved eating it.

We also ordered Ragi sangati (a lump of ragi). Our latest experience of ragi ( in addition to regularly eating ragi flour roti at home) was ragi balls at aishwarya fort, chitradurga, Karnataka. That was a pretty rustic version.

This ragi rice at Rayalseema ruchulu express had ragi and normal rice mixed to it and it was served in a bowl that had liquid fragrant ghee at the base. The ghee was actually very good and it made a huge difference to the otherwise bland ragi rice. The texture of this rice was similar to that if the ragi ball but this one was more moist. I liked this one much more and rate it 4.5/5

We ordered Natukodi pulusu – it was country (desi) chicken curry with the skin intact. In Northern , Eastern part of India not too many dishes have chicken skin included. Some dishes in North East however retain the chicken skin. Again came in memories of Nati Koli sambar at aishwarya fort.

The curry was hot, spicy and yumm. It was very good. It had a non – smooth texture. It had two kinds of textures, a little amount of very thin liquid and a thicker liquid. However the gravy at aishwarya fort was way more rustic and robust. Rate the gravy 4.25/5.

The desi chicken pieces were few and very small. They had the skin on them. That resulted in the meat being juicy and soft. Loved the meat. Rate it 4/5

Overall rating of natukodi pulusu averages out to 4.13/5

The next dish we tried was Gongura mamsam – mutton curry with sorrel leaves. This was a very different curry with a distinct flavor of sorrel leaves. The dish had a sour tinge, had a thick gravy and was nice. The leaves made their presence felt in terms of both flavor and taste. For first timers it can take quite a few bites to get used to the ‘different’ flavor sand taste.

The meat was boneless, small pieces ( size of a date). Loved the texture and taste of the meat. Rate the dish 4.5/5

The last item we ordered was

Chepala pulusu. It was a fish curry. It had a Medium thick , uneven gravy that was hot and spicy but not on the face. There was a distinct aftertaste of the hotness.

The fish pieces were awesome. Flaky , soft and somewhat juicy inside. Rate this dish 4.5/5

Overall rating of food at Rayalseema ruchulu express averages out to

I wud surely revisit to try out more. If this cuisine is traditionally cooked at ur home and if u have tasted the food at this restaurant, pls write a few lines at the comments area so that my readers get a perspective. Pls also feel free to write ur comments / review below.