Seven years after being shut down, Zubair Babar is determined to continue his grandfather’s legacy with lukmi, kebabs and delicacies.
Hyderabad House, which first popularized take away food in the city, is back in business after a hiatus of more than seven years. The outlet is also remembered for introducing another quirky concept: sales-by-weight.
Forced to close shop in 2014 due to operational and financial issues, the chain has reopened with a single outlet – for now – in Begumpet. Offering Hyderabadi favorites like lukmi, shikampuri kebabs and of course biryani, the menu now has an extensive vegetarian menu that also includes khatti dal, bagara brinjal and deewani handi.
Third generation owner Mir Zubair Ahmed is relaunching the brand with his friend Aditya Rao Lingala. In keeping with tradition, he plans to run it the same way his father Mazharuddin Babar did, who, in turn, took over the catering business run by his father Mir Babar Ali and turned it into a takeaway had changed.
Zubair is assisted by his brother Mir Umair Ahmed.
A travel enthusiast, Zubair’s father learned about the sell-by-weight restaurant model overseas. Zubair elaborates, “My Father”R Had a charming personality and loved traveling abroad. There he found a new way of eating out; Cooked food was sold by weight rather than portion size. Thrilled, my dad decided to introduce this model to Hyderabad. We were the first to sell curries according to the weight of the meat and not the gravy. Gravy is an add-on. Although we closed, I knew I would start it again because our food and food business is one of a kind. ,
As he holds up a plate of freshly made, crispy Lukmi, Zubair talks about how his grandfather got into the food business in 1975. “A friend of his, NN Reddy, a steward of the Hyderabad Race Club, suggested that my grandfather set up a non-vegetarian food counter at a racecourse. He started with Lukmi and Kebab. In no time, they found regulars who started placing orders for private parties. As word spread, his catering business flourished and soon my grandfather was handling canteens in companies such as VST, Allwine and Coromandel Cement.
Hyderabad House was born in 1999 in Masab Tank with a 350 sq ft room, of which only 150 sq ft was usable. The rest was the corner of the ladder and was unusable. So when they started selling curries by weight, customers could see how many pieces of meat would be in their biryani or curry. The second most important factor was the taste of the food. At that time, we were the only food vendors selling Deccani food. Zubair remembers that he grew up on the ground floor of his house, wrapped in the smell of spices and steam being cooked in a large handi every day.
Zubair says he and his partners will make sure that old customers who come back to him for nostalgia won’t be disappointed. Aditya further adds, “Knowing and understanding how the business flourished initially when my father started it, we plan to follow the same basic rule – good quality ingredients and money. value for.”
Zubair adds, “We want to continue the catering of Hyderabadi Dawati Khana, as the brand had started.”
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