NYSF First Bite: Hyderabad Goat Kacchi Biryani

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Ever tasted Goat Kacchi Biryani? Well, new food carts have been opening up on a pretty regular basis, and the latest we’ve found is Hyderabad. No, it’s not badder than Superbad. Hyderabad is a city of about 7 million people in southern India.

Most vendors serving Indian cuisine seem to specialize in certain dishes. Some do biryani, chicken tikka masala and kati rolls. Others have dosas and uttapam.

The menu at Hyderabad is broad, and includes all of the above, plus chicken karahi and some fish and other dishes.

We always say when a vendor advertises the name of a dish, order that dish first. We couldn’t tell if goat kacchi biryani is part of the cart’s name, but it’s in big letters right over the ordering window.

According to the menu, they only have goat kacchi biryani on Tuesdays & Fridays, and it was a Friday, so that’s what we ordered for $8.

goat biryani

Opening the container, we got a whiff of those aromatic spices used in Indian cooking. We can’t say exactly their spice combo was, but these types of dishes often use cloves, turmeric, cardamom and cinnamon, among other spices.

Unlike the recent curried goat dish we had from Trini Paki Boys, the biryani at Hyderabad had chunks of meat with no bones, a welcome relief.

If you’ve never had it before, goat is a little gamier than beef, more along the lines of lamb. The stronger taste of the meat played off nicely with the lighter spices in the basmati rice. Bites of the goat with the spiced rice were definitely enjoyable.

There was plenty of meat in the dish, which is good because at $8, it was the most expensive dish on the menu. Most other dishes were in the $5-7 range.

They told us the cart parks on 50th St between 6th & 7th Ave on Tues, Wed & Fri.  That 50th St block really typifies New York City. Lined up in a row on the sidewalk were Tuk Tuk Boy, Toast Monster and Hyderabad. Parked in the street were Nuchas, Rickshaw Dumpling and the Crepes Truck. That’s 6 totally different cuisines all within 100 feet of each other. We love New York!

BTW, on Mon & Thurs, Hyderabad is in the Financial District.

Welcome to the neighborhood(s) Hyderabad. Good to have you here. While we were waiting for lunch, the woman in the cart was making a fresh dosa. That’s on our agenda for next time, although we can’t count out the kati rolls.

(credit: NYSF)
(credit: NYSF)