Feast On Biryani, Barbeques And More At Abid’s

With a tad too many options in town for a decent non-vegetarian meal, Abid’s at Chetpet manages to stand apart from the crowd with their brilliant food made in the most authentic of ways. The humble exterior belies the scrumptious feast that’s in store for us inside. The ground floor buzzing with preparations for the Iftar season contrasts with the peaceful ambiance on the first floor which immediately puts us in a relaxed state.

Abid was once a part of the franchise that educated the people of Chennai on the now-popular Iftar delicacy – the Haleem. Having successfully completed two years, Abid’s is now a popular haunt for seafood-lovers, meat-lovers and the like. They are also a successful franchise in the corporate catering arena having catered for some of the biggies in the city. The courteous staff guide us to our seats and hand us a tall glass of watermelon juice to keep us occupied until the food arrives. How thoughtful!

The Hawaiian Chicken and Cheese Salad was so delicious we found ourselves thanking our stars for having started our meal with it. One of the creamiest salads we’ve ever tasted, the dish was a brilliant concoction of chicken, cheese, capsicum and pineapple garnished with fresh parsley. The salad became a favorite right from the first bite and we had to exercise quite a bit of our will to stop ourselves from devouring all of it.

How can we be at Abid’s without trying their famed seafood? Our starters were all about that. The Tawa Fish Fry was a dish of tawa-fried seer darne marinated in a spicy cashew-based masala. The fillets were cooked just right and reminded us of home-cooked fried fish from childhood.

The Prawns in Oyster Sauce was another dish we’d be coming back to Abid’s for. Meaty prawns fried in a savory oyster sauce and garnished with spring onions is what food dreams are made up of. The prawns were cooked to perfection and the oyster sauce does wonders in bringing out their taste. This is one dish that we’d definitely recommend.

If you love barbequed meat, the Barbequed Chicken Chops is a must-try. Made in the authentic barbequing technique, the chicken is soft enough to pull apart with a fork. If that’s not well-cooked, we don’t know what is! Along with the mayo on the side, the chops tasted yummy.

The Malabar Parotta with Mutton Nihari, our next dish for the day was a delight in itself. The parotta was as flaky as it can get, the mutton tender and the stew bursting with flavors. The dish was a complete desi experience.

One of the most-awaited dishes, the Hyderabadi Dum Biryani was everything we imagined it would be. Much detail goes into the preparation of the biryani and no stones are left unturned when it comes to maintaining the authenticity of the technique which shows in the dish’s taste, flavor and aroma. Every spoonful is a treat to the tastebuds, making it another of our favorites at Abid’s.

After such a fantastic meal, we were a little apprehensive of the dessert falling short in comparison to its predecessors but the Khubani Ka Meetha that arrived blew apart our insecurities. A rich Hyderabadi dessert made of apricots cooked in sugar syrup and topped with fresh cream, the dish was, to put it mildly, sinfully delicious. We couldn’t have hoped for a better ending to our fabulous meal.

Abid’s took us on a scrumptious ride with its binge-worthy seafood, barbeques, grills, and desserts and we left the place with a promise to ourselves that we’d be back for more.