Aha Emi Ruchi! We're Loving The Andhra Meals At This Iconic Restaurant From Kakinada

No trip to Kakinada is ever complete without eating at Subbayya Gari Hotel — a 63-year-old iconic hotel. And now that it has opened in Kukatpally, we queued up for our share of Andhra meals. 

At around 12.30pm, we braced ourselves for a gastronomical experience, but only after skipping breakfast. As we walked towards the restaurant, we spotted a large crowd of food lovers waiting in a queue for Butta Bhojanam where the food is packed in a butta or basket. Yup, you heard that right. Hot rice is first stacked at the bottom and covered with banana leaves, and then, curries are packed in banana leaves too. These leaves add a delicious flavour and aroma to the food. Along with these, desserts, chutney, dal, sambar, and curd are packed too. Making this meal even more exciting, the hotel gives you a set of banana leaves. 

Luckily for us, there was no queue for dining, and we paid INR 200 for a plate meal and headed to a table, which we had to share with strangers. In no time, a banana leaf was placed on our table, which was filled with Kakinada Kaja (a famous Kakinada sweet), poornam boore, boondi, tomato rice, pulav, pulihora, papad, and cut mirchi bajji. While we were devouring these delicacies, the curries of the day were served — we thoroughly enjoyed our gutti vankaya (stuffed brinjal), bhendi, and paneer korma. What followed quickly were morsels of rice, dal, sambar, and rasam. Mix your sambar and rasam together, with your palms, and savour it with a side of gongura pickle and two other chutneys. And then, podi (coconut/curry leaf or any spicy powder that is mixed with rice, ghee, and eaten), and buttermilk were served. Punugula Curry, which is their specialty left us craving more, and even after two helpings, we couldn't get enough. In the end, arrived perugu vada, but if you like to end your meal with a dessert, ask for another kaja. The restaurant is generous with its quantities, and the staff is warm and urge you to try every dish. The ambience is simple but festive because of the constant banter. In fact, eating a meal here is a wonderful experience as we are served more than 20 varieties like a Pelli Bhojanam (Wedding food). So, if you haven't been to Kakinada but always wanted to eat this iconic meal, get here! 

Since the waiting queue for Butta Bhojanam is way too long, people stand on the streets. It would be nice to have a waiting room for them. 

If you want to avoid waiting in a queue, we strongly recommend getting to the restaurant before 12 pm.