Dum Biryani Hyderabad Brunch

If you ask for recommendations for an Indian Brunch in London, I guarantee you that 99% of the responses will say Dishoom. I would wholeheartedly agree with that response, in fact, that would be the recommendation that would come to mind. Yes, the breakfast/brunch offering there is pretty amazing… (drooling now thinking about that bacon naan), but I don’t think there have ever been any contenders to take that crown…. Well, that is until Dum Biryani launched their Hyderabad Brunch offering two weeks ago.

The secluded basement Dum opened about two years ago and they specialise in one thing dum dum dum. the biryani. I’ve been there a couple of times and thoroughly loved it. Loved the darkened vibe that made you feel like you were in a moody Indian Café, great for atmosphere, not so great for photos of food without blinding fellow diners with spotlights to get the shot (seriously food bloggers, stop that please). For the summer months, they thought they would try out a brunch menu on the weekend developed by Chef/Founder Dhruv Mittal.  The menu serves up dishes that showcase regional flavours of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana heavy with coconut, tamarind, and red chillies. The afternoon is soundtracked by their signature hip-hop playlist

The menu starts with Eggs (Can you have a brunch without eggs? The answer is resounded NO!) The highlights were the Masala cheese omelette and the Shredded Lamb Fry with Masala Quails egg both served on sourdough. I know you are scratching your head with the sourdough… it really works. 

Then moving on to the small plate Chota and Pav buns. Loved the tamarind drizzled potato and paneer stuffed banana chilli with the puffed rice. The Hyderabad chorizo stuffed brioche was delicious. Next time I’ll order a couple more pavs. But the surprise of the small plates was the soft-shell crab in butter garlic. Not typically a fan of soft shell crab, but it was the perfect vehicle for that garlic butter.

Rounded off the brunch with a seafood biriyani to share, because how can you come here and not get one of their signature dishes. This was not one of the long cooking affairs like the other biryanis. This was a quick tossing of prawns, squids and tilapia in that oh-so-delicious basmati rice.

If you follow along with my brunch rants I typically do not go for the bottomless options. Because I generally think that they are bad value and if I drink too much fizz I get a terrible headache. Seeing that the bottomless option was not fizz based I went out on a limb and ordered it. So glad I did as it pairs perfectly with the food helping to temper a few of the high notes of heat. The guava and pineapple punch kind of reminded me of a grown-up version of Hawaiian Punch. Yep, that’s a good thing.

Not that we needed dessert, actually felt too full to eat one we were persuaded to try the pistachio kulfi and watermelon chaat. Very clever desserts there. They were both cooling and refreshing and made for the perfect lift after the meal.

I wish there was some sort of Feast Brunch offering that encouraged you to order more dishes to share out with the table like they do at several other of my favourite brunch haunts. Then that would be perfect and give people to take a chance on other menu items that they might not order from the get-go.

I cannot recommend this brunch more. There is no crazy queue (well at least at the time of writing) and they take and encourage bookings. Bottomless brunch would average out to £50 per person based on two small plates and a large plate per person.

I need to disclose that i was Invited by the restaurant, but I would happily spend my own money here.