Hyderabad: home of the biryani

by Dermot Davitt |


The Moodie Report’s all-too-brief tour of India has moved on to Mumbai after a very enjoyable stay in Hyderabad, capital of the state of Andhra Pradesh and one of India’s boom towns. It’s also the venue for December’s Power of India event, hosted by GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd, operator of one of India’s newest and most impressive airports.

The GMR Hyderabad team – Head Retail & F&B Avik Basu, Head Commercial Services Manish, Head Duty Free Dharmesh Rathod and Manager, Marketing Communications VV Sundar – proved most congenial and engaging company. But, as we had lunch at the landside food court at the airport, did they really think I would believe them when they assured me that the “biryani” was one of Hyderabad’s most famous culinary specialities?

As any curry fan in the UK will tell you, the biryani is one of the finest dishes that Britain has to offer. It ranks alongside Chicken Tikka Masala, Lamb Rogan Josh and – of course – the Vindaloo in the Hall of Fame of British cuisine. These dishes are the birthright of every Englishman. And now the Indians are claiming them as their own!

One of the joys of travel is, of course, sampling the local cuisine, and visitors to Hyderabad in December will not be disappointed in that regard. India is rightly proud of its culinary heritage and that is now being reflected in the F&B offer at its airports – an airside example at Hyderabad is pictured above. The potential for F&B in both domestic and international terminals in India is huge, and we’ll seek to explore that opportunity at the Power of India event.

Over a plate of delicious Hyderabadi biryani, naturally.