Hyderabad - Post Report Question and Answers
What typical restaurants, food delivery services, and/or takeout options are popular among expatriates?
Indians love to eat (who doesn’t?), but as with anywhere, non-local cuisine adapts to local tastes, which in Hyderabad means more spice and more oil. Pro tip: curd/raita/yoghurt will put out the fire. Keep some handy and either use as needed or mix with rice. -Indian anything (northern, southern, biryani, dosas, samosas etc.) – as expected, but there’s a lot of nuance to explore -Indian Chinese – really its own thing -There’s a good tex-mex chain, unexpectedly -“Pan-Asian” spots, which can be very nice -Major hotels often have very good restaurants in them -Whatever’s new, since many new restaurants suffer a drop in quality after about six months -Eating at the restaurant is usually better than delivery, but the apps are great (Swiggy/Zomato – get an Amex card!) -Any established restaurant that’s crowded is probably doing something right: Hyderabadis of all backgrounds have opinions about food - Jan 2023
We rarely ate out but constantly ordered food on Zomato. We never had luck with Western food, nor the Thai or Chinese options. The Indian food (Bengali, Keralan, Hyderabadi, Moghul, etc.) was always exceptionally good. Burger King, McDonalds, Subway, and Dominos were all widely available. We got McDonalds Happy Meals for the kids on a regular basis and that was always a hit, as it is in the U.S. - Dec 2020
There are several food-delivery services here (Swiggy, Zomato) that are analogous to UberEats. They are hit and miss as far as their effectiveness. It's very to have the delivery guy call you in the local language, have no idea where he is going, and refuse to turn on his GPS to find you. The actual quality of prepared food here is almost universally very low. There are one or two exceptions at the two Western-brand luxury hotels, but expect lots of very basic local cuisine and poor attempts at others. There is one location in the city that could count as fine dining (the Taj Falaknuma), but even there the food is just about up to par with a "good not great" restaurant in a major Western city. - Jul 2020
Obviously, southern Indian food is where you should be dining, as it's what tastes best and is what people know how to cook. The local food is like 9 chilis out of 10 on the SPICY scale. Even if you ask for less spicy, it is still fire-level spice. This is WONDERFUL if you like spicy! Lots of people end up avoiding the local cuisine because it's too much, but I thought it was phenomenal. International cuisine is mostly a miss, though occasionally it's "fine." We never found authentic Thai, for instance, and Chinese food tasted exactly like the Indian cuisine. Hotels often have the best international cuisine, with Westin offering a Western style buffet breakfast and the Park Hyatt offering the best Italian in the city, and I've heard a good pan-Asian cuisine. Take-out is very common, quite cheap, and usually efficient (~45 minute delivery times), with Swiggy and other apps. - Jul 2019
There are great delivery sites, like Swiggy. Dominos also delivers (under thirty minutes), delivery is very popular in India. As noted earlier, you can also get all of your groceries delivered, fresh milk, eggs, etc. - Jan 2019
Swiggy does food delivery. There's plenty of options on restaurants if you like Indian food. If not, all of the big American chains of hotels have wonderful restaurants with familiar food from home. - Nov 2017
There are very few consistently good restaurants for Westerners. McDonald's, KFC are around, Hard Rock Cafe, Domino's, Pizza Hut, Pappa John's. No beef or pork products are served. Cost is comparable to the U.S - not so much the taste. The large hotels have some decent restaurants - cost is comparable to the US. - Sep 2016
Cheap and cheap. Fast food: KFC, Dominos, Pizza Hut, Subway, Papa John's, and McDonald's. They will deliver to your house in about 30 minutes. The Pizza is better than the States, I find. The cafeteria in the Consulate is super cheap and delicious. We go for a buffet on Friday at the local Chiron Fort Club Palace and it's about US$5 for a full buffet. Sunday brunch at Olive will be US$30 for all you can eat and sangria. Park Hyatt will be US$50 for all you can eat gourmet and mimosas. Cost range for every level, but even a nice dinner will only be about US$15-$30/person. There are American chains like Hard Rock and Chilis, but not quite the same. - Mar 2015
McDonald's and KFC are here, Hard Rock Cafe too. Note McDonald's doesn't serve hamburgers, only chicken and paneer burgers. French fries are about the same. I haven't tried KFC. I prefer to go to the Indian restaurants instead. Our favorites are Paradise for biriyani and Chutneys for vegetarian food. Both are great. Hyderabadi biriyani is famous. We've eaten street food (samosas, dosas, masala tea) without any problem. - Jan 2015
Plenty of both but forget about finding a decent hamburger. Hyderabad is a hidden gym of quality restaurants. Explore widely. - Nov 2014
McDonalds, KFC and Subway (no beef/pork). Some decent vegetarian options at McDonalds. Local speciality is biryani, which is good the first few times, but gets a bit old after a while. Andhra cuisine is very spicy, even within India. The dosas and idlis are decent. Some people like the local cuisine, but most foreigners prefer Punjabi-style Indian food. A handful of very good western restaurants here, but prices aren't cheap. Similar to what you'd pay in the U.S. Brunches are very good -- about $30 per person for a massive spread, including Indian-made booze. - Jul 2014
Quiznos, Subway, Pizza Hut, Dominos, Papa Johns and McDonald's are all here, but none of them serve beef or pork, so it is not the same as U.S. Indian restaurants are very cheap, but anything American is more expensive. - Mar 2012
Western chains include McDonald's, KFC, Subway, Quizno's, Dominoes, Papa John's, TGI Fridays, and Hard Rock Cafe. There are always rumors spreading about Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks opening soon and some of us are anxiously awaiting them! Prices are reasonable. The red meat in burgers or sandwiches might be goat or lamb unless it specifically says "beef" on the menu. - Feb 2012
McDonald's sans beef. Hard Rock, TGIFriday's and Chili's with beef. KFC, Subway and some other Asian chains. There are about a million good Indian restaurants and you'd have to work to spend over $10, even at the nicest places. Besides pizza, there are few other restaurants that serve continental food. Most of it tastes like Indian food, even though they may call it Italian or Chinese or whatever. Try to embrace Indian food! - Jan 2011
