The reusable circular tin arrived neatly wedged on a cardboard tray, ensuring no spillage. The Bai Veetu Kalyanam (BVK) Biryani also promises delivery across Chennai within 99 minutes of placing the order on their website or their app. Our food was on our table within 30! “The plan of 99-min delivery was there two years ago at the start, but we never wanted to fly without wings — hence we wanted to setup the base and foundation stronger and we were safely playing with pre-orders. It took almost two years for us to ensure a uniform standard of food quality and service to provide for a 99-minute delivery now. We have setup multiple hubs across Chennai, maintaining the same kitchen (to have better control over consistency),” informs the founder and CEO Faheem S who along with Hanuma Nagendran (CBO), the co-founder, started BVK on a sweltering Sunday in January 2020 and confirms that lockdown saw a surge in business.
We start with the mutton biryani and soon are digging into a meal of long-grained fragrant rice with succulent mutton pieces that have the meat delightfully falling off the bone. As we savour the flavours, Faheem’s explanation makes sense: “The recipes are authentic wedding recipes, that are followed only at Muslim weddings as it’s made lavishly with top notch ingredients for that one special day,” he tells us, adding that the mutton biryani happens to be their favourite too and they have it for lunch, thrice a week!
Farm to kitchen
As a side dish we pick the Kozhi Varuthadu for a change instead of the usual Chicken 65 and we are not disappointed. The pieces are juicy and spicy and have an endearing homely taste. “It’s just that we religiously follow the rule of serving meat slaughtered on the same day. Farm-to-kitchen time is four hours. We are proud to say that we are the only food delivery brand that does meat slaughtered on the same day! Besides, the ingredients are ground in-house and not instant mixes — and strictly no MSG or vanaspati which is majorly the reason — our food tastes homely and light,” says Faheem.
Elaneer love
We then try few sips of their BVK Arabian Pulpy Grape Juice and are refreshed with the thick and sweet drink that is all fruit and no essence. While we are purists and believe that beyond mutton there is no biryani — the BVK Chicken Biryani has our attention next. The gently spiced dish has our approval and the chicken pieces are perfectly cooked and delicious. For that sweet tooth craving, we sip on some delicious BVK Elaneer Pulpy Payasam that has delectable bits of tender coconut in the mix and once we try the Bread Halwa we are happily satiated. Battling the urge for a siesta on a weekday, we promise to
re-order next Sunday! We concede with Faheem that BVK “is not about fulfilling your hunger, it’s about creating an experience!”
Biryani priced from INR 199 onwards.
Place your orders on thebvkbiryani.com
— Sabrina Rajan