Sort Your Late Night Shawarma & Grilled Chicken Cravings With This Restaurant

Hygienic, well-balanced shawarmas, and kick ass grilled chicken are yours for the eating at Istah Sizzling Shawarmas. Go here for Hyderabad’s favourite, easy-to-get, late night, comfort food.

With five outlets dotted around the city, Istah is primarily a delivery-only service at the moment. We hung out at their Gachibowli outlet, to see how they fare against the competition. The shawarma here is a far cry from the best that you can get in the city, but their promise of 100 per cent chicken breast meat, good portion sizes, in-house mayo, and sauces is a step in the right direction. Our Special Chicken Khubus Shawarma arrived wrapped neatly in aluminum foil, a slight sweetness apparent in the first bite. The chicken had a consistent softness all through and worked well with the garlic, mayo and jalapeño flavour profile. It isn’t as spicy as its competition, but that’s a welcome relief. When we were described the Chicken Sabah in Rumali, we had to check it out for ourselves. For the uninitiated, a Sabah is very much like the shawarma, but with extra bits of the awesome inside. Grilled meat, boiled eggs, French fries, jalapeños, black olives and onions — pep, crunch, and umami goodness. It’s the same size as the shawarma, but a lot more filling — so take note.

After a brief interval, we were handed the Grilled Chicken Salad — your diet’s new frenemy. There are all the usual suspects in there, namely, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, olives, jalapeños, green and yellow peppers. While the hummus dressing is technically good for you (in moderation), we think they may have gone a little overboard with it. You can always ask for less.

Istah saved the best for last. Served with hummus, mayo, chaat masala, onions and a wedge of lime, the Grilled Chicken is our definite favourite here. Chicken that’s retained its juiciness, breaking down easily on your tongue and a crispy skin evenly seasoned —  kudos guys! We’d recommend the hummus dip over the mayo, and ask you to exercise caution with the chaat masala (it’ll burn a hole through your tongue).

They've got more outlets in the city and the timings might vary. We recommend checking the outlet that's closer to you.