Mmm....Thalis!

Matt and Meagan Waiting for Thalis

Extremely Delicious Vanilla Ice Cream!

Our Table Mates

south Indian thali before the rice is ladled


I loved the food in Hyderabad. (Surprise, surprise!) It was a cool mix of north and south Indian food and since Hyderabad has a huge Muslim population, there were lots of meat options for Matt. We found a cool little restaurant near our hotel that served vegetarian thalis, and you had the option of "North Indian special thali" or "South Indian special thali". I always got the south Indian thali, because most Indian food in the US is north Indian, so it was fun to try lots of new stuff.



Basically, you walk in the restaurant (which was called "Vegetarian Food") and they seat you at any available seats, which means you may or may not be sitting with another group of people. Our table mates were really nice, their picture is above. When you order your thali, you get a set meal, whatever they have cooked for the day. You start off with a super sweet dessert, then get soup, then you get your "sampler platter", which has little bowls of various sauces and curries, with an empty part in the middle for rice and fried bread things (not sure the name). There are men constantly going around the room with giant pots full of rice, and you can choose between biryani and white rice. You are supposed to eat the biryani with the south Indian thali, but I always got the white rice -- otherwise it is grease overload! After the meal, you get

another dessert (no wonder diabetes is such a problem for Indians!) and then an extremely creamy, delicious vanilla ice cream. All this for 79 rupees (about 2 dollars)!

It is exactly the kind of meal I like... no need to make any menu choices aside
from "north or south", and lots of little bowls of things to taste and try.