Harahs

The Scene
One way to describe Harahs accurately would be to call it the better of most worlds. No, you won’t find outerworldly nirvana or moksha here. But pleasures from this world you definitely will. And we say most worlds, because of the combination of foods on offer, their quality and their price.

The ambience and the décor is tasteful. After you walk away from this place, you might have this vague conflict with your memory. Was there something which reminded you of something else, on which you now can’t quite place your finger? Ahh, yes... The Yellow Brick Road.

If you’ve ever watched The Wizard Of Oz, you would know that the Black Marble Road inside Harahs is just the modern day edible equivalent of a wonderous cinematic journey, done a long time ago. What’s special about this marble flooring is that they have drilled it with fine holes few and far in between, and inserted multicolored optical fiber lights into them. The result is that the floor glows the way you would expect a starry, starry night to.

The Food
The best thing about this rest-o-bar is that it has something for every one. A traveling North-Indian coming to town, who just does not want to leave his Mutton Lababdar, can find it cooked to perfection here. The meat is succulently tender and tastefully spicy, and will renew your love affair with the dish once again in case you’ve fallen out with it on a date in another restaurant.

Another interesting item is the Tandoori Platter which is an assorted combination of all the starter kebabs. At Rs. 325, it’s a crash course in kebabing.

A Southie will find all the food items ending in vowels that he is used to. The thing about Harahs that strikes you is that although they don’t have too many fancy items, it’s the everyday stuff that is well done.

Lunch time on a weekday will find the typical working populace coming in to get a reasonable meal nicely cooked. However, if you call yourself a connoisseur, then you’d have to go for the full deal. Soups, starters, cocktails, main course and desserts.

For the first, the chef recommends the Lemon Coriander. After that, you could try either of the following: the Hunan Chicken, the Diced Chicken With Red & Green Pepper, Crispy Lamb Pepper, Prawns In Hot Garlic, or the Fish In Konjee Sauce. You would find that not only are all these extremely palatable, they are easily walletable as well.

We’ll leave the drinks to you, move on to the next course. The Roast Lamb In Barbecue Sauce On A Sizzler is another of the chef’s recommendations, and promises to be an entire 7-course meal by itself. The Sliced Chicken In Oyster Sauce and the Chicken In Hong Kong style are also some of the better dishes.

For desserts, we’d make just one recco. The Fried Ice-Cream. Not that we’re going to give it away though. You’d have to land up at Harahs to find out what we’re talking about.

The Verdict
With the kids play-area being more than just for name's sake, with an entire room dedicated to the purpose, the joint gets the dubious distinction of easily being the place to conveniently park your kids and your husband (remember there’s the bar), when you’re out shopping at Nagarjuna Circle. But yeah, never forget the food.