Straight from the Saucer- Chai at 'Irani Chai'

Two Sundays ago I was with Kumar, my landscape designer friend in his car, driving to the house of a politician in upscale Jubilee Hills. It was that time of the day when I needed an infusion of Irani tea into my circulatory system. Jubilee Hills was the unlikeliest place to find an Irani hotel and I had wondered very often about what anyone who lived there felt when he craved for some Irani tea. A couple of weeks ago I had read somewhere about a new hotel named ‘Irani Chai’ being opened in the area. But I did not know the address. Then, in one of those mystifying coincidences that happen we were driving right before it. He was puzzled when I told him we might get some Irani tea at ‘Irani Chai.’

I was right. There was Irani tea available in ‘Irani Chai’, perhaps the only Irani restaurant in all of Jubilee Hills. It was a quiet place, neat and elegantly furnished. There was a large hall and two rooms on either side. We went inside one that had a television screen. The waiter got us a typed menu from which we ordered the Irani tea and onion samosas, which it turned out, were nothing but chota samosas. The Irani tea came with a complimentary plate of Osmania biscuits which was a pleasant surprise.

Only the hustle bustle of the normal Irani restaurant was missing in ‘Irani Chai’ where the Irani tea tasted exactly like it did for me in other Iranis. It was authentic Irani tea without any Jubilee Hills pretentiousness about it if you exclude the price which had the Jubilee Hills touch to it. The tea was forty five rupees a cup, which was ten times that of the normal Irani restaurants. But then you don’t get valet parking there, do we?

There was also ‘Haleem’ and 'Maraq' on the menu, and available only during the weekends. This is one of the few places where it is available round the year. ‘Irani Chai’ offers the authentic Irani experience combined with a café atmosphere and the usual fare that goes with it, coffee, ice-cream and cakes.

Jubilee Hills or no Jubilee Hills, and not minding the crowd in ‘Irani Chai’, I sipped my chai in true Hyderabadi style - straight from the saucer.