Oudh 1590, Sector 18, Noida Mughlai & Biryani Restaurant

Restaurant Name: Oudh 1590
Phone: +918100862120, +918100862121
Address: Oudh 1590 – C-26, C-27 & C-126, C-127, Ground & First Floor, Sector 18, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India
Time: 11:00 PM – 11:00 AM
Meals for two: Rs. 1,700
Cuisines: North Indian, Mughlai, Biryani, Seafood, Awadhi, Beverages
Facilities: Home Delivery, Takeaway Available, Indoor Seating, Family Friendly

Oudh 1590, Sector 18, Noida: Overview

This is a Kolkata-based chain where the owner has done a supremely inspired job of recreating the food of Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah, who was exiled from Lucknow and sent with an entourage to Kolkata, where, in Metiaburj, he spent his last years. You cannot put an aesthete down just by incarcerating him far away from his kingdom, and the last nawab lost no time in trying to recreate the flavours of Lucknow in his new home, with astonishing success, though he had, perforce, to work with downgraded ingredients: short-grain rice, potatoes instead of mutton and the absence of kewra (screw pine) essence and fragrant spices. In the long game, Lucknavi cuisine continued onwards in Metiaburj, despite its tribulations. The restaurant is a modest-sized ground floor space superbly done up with a life sized statue of Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah, paintings and carved niches and cornices in the artistry for which West Bengal is famous.

Food:

The management of this chain has several branches with the first one in the NCR in Noida. It is an inspired attempt to recreate the food and the mood at down-to-earth prices. The kakori kebab (₹395) was where the flavour of the meat and that of the (judiciously used) spices were in harmony. Your throat will not be scorched by the overuse of garam masalas as is so often the case elsewhere. Oudh special raan biryani (₹525) went easy on the spices and it was easy to see that appropriate cuts of meat take precedence here, as it should; the subtle spicing nudges the biryani into the spotlight. Even the meat is carefully cut: no splintered bones in Oudh. Most noticeable was the rice that had been cooked optimally by unseen masters in the kitchen and the savoury flavour of coriander seed made its delightful, if surprising, appearance in the biryani. Had he but known it, Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah was a lucky fellow with a Midas touch for partially substituting potatoes for meat in biryani, because the spud absorbs the flavour of the spices and meat stock to become a much sought after part of the biryani.

Plus & Minus:

Nothing is overly spicy: it is a superb recreation of an impoverished nawab’s life in exile.