Photo: Courtesy of Biryani Bol
This golden age for delivery apps makes eating convenient — and usually bad. Food gets soggy within 15 minutes of leaving a kitchen, and drivers face grueling, sometimes dangerous conditions on top of exploitation. App fees add up, and it’s never entirely clear where the additional money is going. During these past few months of stay-indoors season, I’ve been hunting for the better option while sticking to my two main delivery rules: Avoid ordering during inclement weather and always keep cash on hand to tip in person.
The best I’ve found is Biryani Bol, the single-focus offshoot of Unapologetic Foods (the same people behind Dhamaka, Semma, Adda, and more) that was built from the ground up to be a delivery and pickup-only operation. Like several delivery innovations, Biryani Bol started out as a pandemic pivot. At one of its early restaurants, “our biryani was served the traditional way — sealed in a clay pot,” says chef Chintan Pandya. “Guests constantly asked if they could take the pot home with them.” A few months of R&D ensued “and frankly a lot of biryani consumed by everyone around us,” Pandaya adds. Eventually, they landed on a technique to handle most of the cooking in their kitchen, while customers take it over the finish line at home by popping each of the biryanis — chicken, goat, and vegetable are all available — in a 350-degree oven for about 45 minutes (in clay pots that, yes, you can keep and reuse).
After baking and breaking away the bread seal on top, the aroma of saffron and caramelized onion filled my kitchen. As instructed, I scooped all the way to the bottom to grab a large chunk of bone-in goat alongside the fluffy rice. A generous two-person serving costs $40, or you can do a $99 four-person bundle that includes two biryanis and two tikas. Everything is delivered (via the courier service Relay) from one of five hubs spread across the city, or it can be picked up at any of Unapologetic’s restaurants. The short menu also includes dal and a red, ghee-slicked butter chicken that Pandya says is not the same as what is served within his dining rooms. “It’s designed to travel and reheat well, with a balance that works for the at-home format,” he says, noting that Biryani Bol will be expanding its lineup with more delivery-friendly dishes later this year.
See All
