Street Food of Hyderabad: The Bandis and Their Delicious Tiffins




Guest Post by : Raj Vuppala

Raj Vuppala is an enthusiastic food addict based in Hyderabad. He has huge interest in occidental cuisine, as well as the local food from Andhra Pradesh. A database expert by profession he is usually one of the first persons to visit a newly opened food outlet in the city.




Part 1 | Part 2

Hyderabad has a decent list of roadside Tiffin stalls (bandis) spread all over the city. Over the years I have been frequenting a large number of them. In this post, we talk about some of the street food joints (or bandis as they are called) that are definitely worth visiting.

Laxman Bandi

Dosa Hyderabad Laxman Bandi
Dosa being Prepared at Laxman Bandi

Located at Gyanbhag colony, near Gosha Mahal (behind Nampally) this bandi is normally very crowded, and they do not have a token system, so you will need to push your way in to ensure you are served. Laxman does not keep track of what you eat so he bills you for what you said you had.

Hyderabad  Laxman Bandi
Dosa at Laxman Bandi

Coming to food, they mainly offer idli, dosas and upma. The USP of this place is their green chutney. I have not had this chutney anywhere else in Hyderabad. Though you might not be floored with the chutney during the first visit, it grows on you with each visit and soon you will be extremely addicted to the chutney.

The idlis here are very soft and are topped with gunpowder when served (like Guntur idli). Coming to dosas, the most popular dosa they offer is called the chatpat dosa. The chatpat dosa is topped with upma, tomatoes, onions, gun powder and lots of ghee. Though it might scare the health conscious, it is a delight to your taste buds.

Purna Tiffins

Hyderabad d Purna Tiffins
Purna Tiffins

This tiffin center is located in Krishna Nagar (near Srinagar Colony). The ambience of this place is not great, yet I keep frequenting this place for the yummy food! This place use to be very crowded until one of their former employees started his own tiffin center in the vicinity, offering the exact same items for a better price. Now the crowd here is more manageable. They provide for a token system for dealing with the crowds; you need to buy a token before you are served food. They also offer service to your car (provided you can find a place to park).

Hyderabad street food Purna Tiffins
Idlis at Purna Tiffins

They offer idlis, dosas, poori, pessarattu, mysorebonda, etc. The USP of this place are their butter idlis. They serve one of the best idlis in Hyderabad and combined with red chutney, the taste is divine! The dosas at this place are nothing to rave about. They also serve delicious poori – subji.

Govind Bandi

Hyderabad street food Govind Bandi
Dosas at Govind Bandi

This is one of the most popular bandis in Hyderabad which is located near Charminar. The first time I visited this place, I was surprised to notice that the crowd here was more manageable unlike some of the other bandis.

Hyderabad street food Govind Bandi
Idlis at Govind Bandi

The USP of this place is there butter dosa. The butter dosas are topped with upma, tomatoes, onions and real cubes of Amul butter. The taste is truly outstanding and justifies all the hype about this place. This bandi is much more hygenic compared to other bandis. They also offer idlis and tawa idlis which are just mediocre and nothing special.

Iyer Tiffins


Hyderabad street food Iyer Tiffins
Idli at Iyer Tiffins

This restaurant is located in DK Road, Ameerpet. Run by a team from Tamil Nadu, they offer some great tiffins Tamil style. As it is run from a small room, it can get cramped at times owing to the huge inflow of the crowd which causes most of their items to be sold out by 9:00 AM.

The tiffins here are served in a cone made from banana leaf. Their coconut chutney makes an awesome combo with idlis and vadas. They also serve decent upma and pongal here.

Read Part 2 of this post The Hyderabad Bandis and Their Delicious Tiffins  - Part 2

Addresses:

Laxman Bandi: Near Mangalhat Road, Gyanbagh Colony, Begumbazar
Phone: 9866687835

Purna Tiffins: 8-3-231/158, Sri Krishna Nagar, Yousufguda, Hyderabad
Phone: 9949809980

Govind Bandi: Near GulzarHouz, Ghansi Bazar, Hyderabad
Telephone: 9246522078

Iyer Tiffins: DharamKaram Road, Opp MCH Ground, Ameerpet

Also See: Street food around Charminar

13 comments:

  1. Nice! Keep reading of this dosa/upma combo, also keen to try the MLA pessarattu!

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  2. try Reddy tiffins opposite st. anns women's college, mehedipatnam

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  3. Hi Sir.. great to see the List... Also cover tiffin centres near Pragathi Mahavidyalaya Ram koti ... and near Mayur Pan shop..[ these are open in evenings...] , a specific tiffin centre near mallepally where they servr only idli and vada, chatni is very very tasty here...

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  4. I did not know about these joints. i only remember one mud built tin roofed one near kwality. They used to serve Biryanis in the evening but one of the best hyd. biryani i ever tasted. the taste of others are ordinary, except the one near secndrabad rly.stn. You know kol. can boast of it's street foods near office areas. The taste of all the items are excellent. The raw materials as well as cooked items are fresh and not at least bad quality. Possibly you tried them.

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  5. hello other superb place u missed that is lingayya tiffins at seetharambagh near to nampally idly chutney are famous over there i bet u wud love that

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  6. @Vamsi. I am not a fan of Pragathi tiffins. I found them just OK. We have covered Ram bandi in the next post.

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  7. Hyderabad has been on our 'to visit' list for a while now. Now I have one more reason to make it sooner. On my earlier visit I had no idea of street food there. Absolutely love the look of the dosas and the idlis.
    Do you have a post on some good biryani joints there? Of course, I'll look through your blog too.

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  8. It's really like this blog.Thanks for sharing with us great blog.

    Best Restaurants in Noida

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  9. very nice compilation. try poorna tiffins in lakdikapul opposite to telephone bhavan. very good idli and chutneys. puri sabji is also good

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  10. Also make a visit to 'Pragathi' tiffins at Koti,its very famous for Butter dosa..

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  11. you missed mahalakshmi tiffin centre in punjagutta opposite Ethames Degree College. pretty good vadai for sure.. apart from that good collection of dosas..

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    Replies
    1. Check http://www.foodaholix.in/2014/03/the-hyderabad-bandis-and-their.html

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