At Sainikpuri’s first Indo-fusion restaurant, Anna Native, it is the balance that one notices — a balance between vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes on the menu as well as between the food and its presentation . So, if the kodi bonda soup comes with a couple of cherry tomato-sized meatballs for garnish, the tomato shorba is served with bite-sized corn samosa. The mutton shorba for lamb lovers comes with meat chunks.
Here, it is not just the tandoori chicken that is eagerly relished, the gongura and Guntur chilli paneer also enjoys a share of fame among the diners. If the gongura dish opens up a debate on combining tangy gongura with a milk product like paneer, chef Imran is open to discuss the doability of the combination and gives a tip or two on ways to make paneer a fun starter.
The other most ordered veg dishes include sabudana vada, mokka jonna sheek kebab (sweet corn kebab) and chilli lotus stem. I prefer the crispy sabudana vada and cashew and curry leaf paneer tikka. Also appreciable is the chef’s focus on keeping the dips native. He says his idea of a dip is not ‘anything green that should taste like mint.’ So, there are a lot oftraditional chutneys for the dip.
In non-veg, the kodi chips (small chicken fillet mildly dusted with spice mix), konaseema kodi vepudu (an almost dry chicken fry — the masala and steamed rice combination makes it must try) and the Guntur chilli prawns are the flavourful choices.
Being a family restaurant, Anna Native is drawing a lot of Secunderabad crowd, especially from places like Kapra, Malkajgiri and Alwal. The team also demonstrates how presentation and taste should go hand in hand and the chef calls it a modern look to traditional Indian dishes. The gutti vankaya with ghee rice in the main course scores well on the presentation. Deep-fried stuffed whole eggplants are placed on a bed of gravy without actually letting it simmer too long.
Indian eateries in Hyderabad cannot skip biryani on the menu. Anna Native too lists a couple of them like potlam biryani, bilal mamsam biryani, but it is the nalli biryani that walks away with the crown. This comes with a gravy with the nalli that comes with meat falling off the bone. It is fragrant but doesn’t get overpowered by the spices and can be handled by anyone with medium spice tolerance.
The restaurant has also launched thalis for lunch. They prefer to keep the thali veg and basic as that is how traditional thalis are served. Chef says every accompaniment in the thali is cooked in basic homestyle masalas.
