#blahvsfood: Theta Theta Telugu is the best restaurant Hyderabad has ever seen.

I first went to Hyderabad in 2002. In the last 24 years, I’ve been there well over a hundred times. I’ve built companies there. I’ve made friends. I’ve earned the sobriquet of Blah garu. I’ve eaten more great meals than I can count or remember. 

But in all these years of eating in Hyderabad, I’ve never had a meal as good as the one I ate this month at Theta Theta Telugu. In fact nothing has even come close. And I’ll tell you why…

Carrot and tender coconut Iguru

The best Hyderabad restaurants over the years have either been mid market local joints serving traditional food (Spicy Venue, Pista House, Palle Vindhu etc). Or they have been more upscale offerings serving non-Indian cuisine* that are good but not as good as what one got in other cities (the likes of N Grill, Treforni and Sanctuary).

I had never eaten a single meal in Hyderabad that that took its rich regional traditions but interpreted them in a way that that felt completely original in conception.. a modern, contemporary interpretation of what that traditional cuisine can be. And I don’t mean by adding the frills and tropes of “modern Indian” cuisine, because that is just shallow gimmickry, something that plays with form without understanding the essence of the dish or the cuisine. I mean something more real and more original, the kind of work that India’s greatest chefs like Manish Mehrotra and Prateek Sadhu do, where they don’t just change the way a dish is presented, they find a way to reimagine it in a way that’s even better than the original. 

Grilled Ghee Upma

Tetha Tetha Telugu is built on a foundation of home flavours and ingredients. Some of the dishes come straight from the home kitchen..  like the ghee Upma, taking the Telugu breakfast staple but serving in an almost polenta like form, redolent with ghee, slightly crispy on one side, with crunch from a cashew and curry leaf crumble.  

Muddapappu Hummus with Kalamanta Urugaya 

The Telugu obsession with Gongura is recreated in a humble dal and roti with Gongura pickle.. but the dal is a toor dal hummus, the gongura is pickled in onion and it’s all served with a no-frills jowar roti. This was the first dish I ate, and despite not having the cultural memory of Gongura in my DNA, the dish still felt comforting and nostalgic. Its intense flavours felt like they unleashed a torrent of feeling, something sensory that went beyond taste, and that made me sit up immediately and realise this was not going to be a regular meal. 

This intensity of flavour is a hallmark of Theta Theta Telugu. Telugu food is characterised by its boldness but as a consequence, the food often comes across as lacking nuance or layers to people unfamiliar with the cuisine. What Chef Vignesh does brilliantly is substitute boldness with intensity, taking a specific flavour that he wants to highlight or focus on (like the Gongura in this case), and distill it into its purest essence, startling in its depth and clarity. 

Chintapandu Ghee Prawns

One of the best dishes was the Chintapandu Ghee Prawns, a take on Gambas Al Ajillo. Prawns to celebrate the seafood traditions of the Andhra coast, lots of garlic like you would find in a good Telugu home, Guntur Chilli instead of red pepper flakes or dried chilli, soaked in Tamarind & Ghee instead of olive oil,  served with Curry Leaf & Confit Garlic Brioche. Such a deceptively simple idea, but only because the clarity and cohesion mean that you don’t really think of the technique and thought behind it. 

This is of my favourite things about the restaurant… that the technique is in the kitchen rather than on the plate. So there’s a remarkably meaty and juicy chicken Sheekh kebab flavoured like a Telugu chicken fry, served with Curry Leaf & Cashewnut Pachadi. That juiciness isn’t normal in a chicken Sheekh and there’s clearly some amount of fat that has gone into binding it and enhancing the mouthfeel and flavour compared to any other chicken Sheekh you can find. This is the kind of technique that I like.. simple and thoughtful, but improving the actual taste of the dish rather than showing up as smoke or foam on a plate.

Shahi keema biryani 

The Sheekh kebab is one of the dishes that showcase Telugu street and market food, dishes which are very different from the predominantly home inspired dishes on the menu. There is also a white biryani inspired by the Hyderabadi Sofiyani Biryani, with yoghurt, milk, green chilli, keema and mutton… a deeply aromatic riposte to those who claim that Hyderabad doesn’t have a biryani with the subtlety and nuance of its Awadhi counterparts. 

Tamarind fish curry 

This biryani isn’t hugely different from the version you’ll find with a caterer and that’s another thing that struck me. Most of the dishes in the menu that are interpretive in nature. But chef Vignesh also has enough confidence to sometimes let the dishes stay true to their original recipe if he feels they can’t or don’t need to be improved. The tamarind fish curry with ghee idli is a recipe that comes from his mother and it transports you to his childhood, eating dish the way it has been cooked for decades in his family home.

Mutton chops and Seena roast

This restraint and respect also shows in two dishes where he turns the spotlight on the ingredient. This tamarind fish curry is usually made with a locally caught Snake head murrel fish, but the predominant flavour in the dish is the curry. The fish is just a receptacle for its lip-smacking tanginess. Chef Vignesh has created a dish where the same fish is just steamed and served with a tamarind chilli chutney and mango-ginger herbed slaw, so you can understand what this staple fish actually tastes like and how it’s a star in its own right. He does something similar with his mutton chop, cooking it in the traditional manner but using superior cuts of meat to do justice to the recipes. 

Ghee podi crab meat rice 

The two most memorable meals for me so far this year have been Chef Amninder’s Palaash and Chef Avi and Koyel’s Rannaghor at Sienna. What both meals had in common were that they went deeper rather than wider, seeking to understand the essence of the dish and then interpreting it, reimagining it, trying to find an expression of it that elevated it, all while being true to what it is. Theta Theta Telugu may be an à la carte restaurant but it comes from the same philosophy. Unlike most modern Indian places, it’s not about using your brain to alter the form of the dish. It’s about understanding the soul of a cuisine, hearing its song, and translating that into a new language. This is an incredibly hard act to pull off and I feel there are only a handful of restaurants in the country that are able to thread the needle. Theta Theta Telugu is one of the few that do, and that’s what makes it the best restaurant Hyderabad has ever seen.

Kobbari rasmalai

I ate: 

• Muddapappu Hummus  with Kalamata Urugaya: Toor Dal Hummus served with Kalamata Pickle, Gongura Pickled Onion & Jonna(Jowar) Roti

• Carrot & Tender Coconut Iguru: Carrot & Tender Coconut Salad served with Carrot Puree & dressed in an Iguru Tamarind Vinaigrette served with Rava Dosa Crisps

• Grilled Ghee Upma: Ghee Grilled Upma Served with Tomato & Peanut Chutney and Cashewnut Curry Leaf Crumble

• Kodi Vepudu Seekh: Telugu Chicken Fry flavoured Chicken Seekh Kebab served with Curry Leaf & Cashewnut Pachadi

• Steamed Korameenu: Snake head murrel fish steamed and served with a tamarind chilli chutney & Mango Ginger Herb Slaw

• Mutton Chops & Seena Roast: Slow Roasted Mutton Chops, Seena & Nalli finished with Curry Leaf & Green Chilli

• Chintapandu Ghee Prawns: Our take on Gambas Al Ajillo. Garlic, Guntur Chilli, Tamarind & Ghee flavoured prawns served with Curry Leaf & Confit Garlic Brioche

• Tamarind Fish Curry: Korameenu stewed in a tamarind based fish curry flavoured with Shallots and Garlic. Served with Ghee Idli

• Ghee Podi Crab Meat Rice: Rice Tossed with Ghee, Green Chilli Podi & Red Chilli Pickled served with Butter Garlic Crab Meat

• Shahi Kheema Biryani: Inspired from the Sofiyani Biryani from Hyderabad, Yoghurt, Milk & Green Chilli flavoured Lamb Mince Biryani

• Kobbari Rasmalai: Tender Coconut Rasmalai served with Coconut Water Jelly, tender Coconut flesh, Brown Butter Coconut powder and Pistachio

• Baked Milk Halwa: Channa Dal, Badam and Khova Halwa baked till charred and caramelized served with a Jaggery Espuma

(*Telugu Medium is the one exception, an upscale regional place but it also serves traditional Telugu food)