Hyderabad: I was looking to buy idly one evening and I remembered a friend telling me about Coffee Sangham, a new South Indian (and fusion) eatery that opened up at Jubilee Hills a month ago. Since I was in the area, I walked in the place and asked for a plate of idly. However, to my surprise, there wasn’t any. Instead they had ‘Pistachio Idly’ on the menu. “No way I am getting that” said my brain, pretty averse to even what it could be, and I left.
Classic case of judging a book by its cover. Plus, when it comes to food, keeping an open mind is certainly important.
A few days later I turned up at Coffee Sangham for a review and this time I was ready. I guess you could say that I am sometimes as conventionally South Indian as one could be. Like the ‘don’t mess with my tiffins please’ type of person, you know? But I went with an open mind the second time, and it was exciting because there was Poori with mutton kheema on the menu as well.
Coffee shops are a dime a dozen now in Hyderabad, especially in the Jubilee Hills area, so I was expecting fusion food, because at this point everyone needs to set themselves apart. I ended up trying the entire tiffin section and I was genuinely pleasantly surprised.
After finishing a plate of Poori with mutton kheema and the dosa (which is a nice cross between the crispy Tamil and thick Karnataka style), I decided to go for the Pistachio Idly. And boy oh boy I was surprised. I take back my snobby “not at all” and I would highly recommend anyone going there to try it. Even my Telugu friend who accompanied me made a face when I told her to try it, until she finally had a bite and ended up eating a whole plate by herself.
For the purists however, the place has kept its filter coffee as good as anyone can expect it to be. I ended up having two. “We did not want to keep it expensive as well, so it is affordable as well. The idea here is that you get the same classic Telugu food flavours but with a new twist,” says chef Vignesh Ramachandran, who launched Coffee Sangham along with other partners.
Of course by this I had asked him the question that I am sure even the reader is thinking – why and how did pistachio idlies come about? “Well, why not? There’s peanut idly, so why not pista? We wanted to do slightly elevated Telugu food here, instead of a snack place,” said chef Ramachanran. Hence, convinced by chef, I did try the Bobbatlu croissant. To my surprise again, it is something I would ask anyone to try.
While I didn’t have the bandwidth to try the entire menu, I’ll give Coffee Sangham a thumbs up for not disappointing me, especially with the dosa and filter coffee.
