Kaale Pehlwan's Biriyani...

Exactly when I reached the small purple door opening onto a dingy passage leading to an earth-laden pit, a Good Samaritan, perhaps noticing my dazed look, walked up to ask – “Sir, are you lost?”. I rejoined – “No Sir. I’m Abhik. Thanks.”

By then I was standing right before the door that had stood long between me and my elusive love – Biriyani. I was at Ustad Pehlwan Kaale Bhai Gardi near Elgin Talkies in Shibajinagar, Bangalore – a traditional akhara [gymnasium] that magically doubles up as a bestselling Biriyani joint every afternoon [except Sunday]. When with time in the world without the Persian style of wrestling yielded to the nimbler Greco-Roman, at Kaale Bhai's akhara the pristine and the old-fashioned found a caring sanctuary. No woman has ever been let inside during the morning training hours.

To dodge the resolute crowd a ‘seeker’ of Biriyani is advised to reach the modest eatery well before noon and wait for the door to open. The Mutton Biryani here, teeming with tender chunks of meat, is cooked slow with short yellow rice. Soon after the first round of flavoured rice with Rasam/ Biriyani was served, a shrill call came from inside asking for which meat one would prefer on side. That was crudely classic! Savouring traditional Moghal-styled Biriyani, strictly cooked in wood-fire, sitting next to a live wrestling pit was the most surreal feast that then I could have asked for. Came close on the heels the succulent Shami Kebab – juicy patty made of minced meat tenderly cooked with exotic spices, garlic, mint and green chillies – and truly vanishing in mouth. No wonder it was an invention to sate a gluttonous toothless Nawab!

A humble visit to this small slip of a joint is sure to turn your next humdrum trip to Bangalore to an unusual one – are you game to muscle in?