NAGARJUNA RESIDENCY was formed in the year 1982. Nagarjuna group's first
outlet began operations on residency road serving authentic Andhra delicacies,
the restaurant has several firsts to its credit all its recipes are from the
traditional kitchen, were spices are ground by hand daily for that freshness
in flavour and cooked in mud vessels that leaves a indelible stamp of satisfaction,
the entire krishna reddy house hold have a flair for cooking.
The menu at residency offers a wide range of varieties in chicken,
mutton, fish and veg delicacies along with acclaimed biryani's, the restaurant
was the first to introduce "perugu polussu" a Andhra curry made of
curds and vegetables which has become a trend in the business today.
The other famed delicacies are the Chicken Nagarjuna a spicy
dish with gravy, Chicken Biryani,Chicken Sixer an appetizer with six pieces
of chicken cooked semi dry, Chicken 65 and Chicken 88.
Amongst the mutton delicacies on offer are the Mutton pepper
- boneless, Mutton fry and Mutton chops. Nagarjuna Meals are the most favored
for its variety of Andhra fare, from Vepudu,Avakai and Perugu Pulusu toUppu
Merapakai and Gongura.
The Andhra speciality restaurant in Bangalore started out as
something of an spicy contraption. Make your mouth water. And then make your
eyes water. The Andhras themselves hold a rating for this. On a scale of 10,
the hottest food is from the Guntur region. Vijayawada rates an 8 on the spicy
scale. Nellore, for instance, comes in with a 6. And Andhra restaurant in Bangalore
pulls in a tame 3. So you can imagine my plight one Vijayawada afternoon - a
cool 5 in the shade-having bravely emptied about 10grams of Gongoora chutney
into a digestive tract that complains even about diluted Rasam.
But here I go an have lunch at the NAGARJUNA SAVOY.
I warn the personable captain Harish about my wimpish alimentary canal. He smiles.
An serves up a most delight selection of Andhra's best. If I had any problem
with the rest of the afternoon, it was that I was almost lulled into the slumber
of a child.
Because the food was more tangy than it was hot. Or spicy.
I didn't know it before, but there is a difference between 'spicy' and 'hot'.
'Spicy' is when they fill the preparation with masalas, and
spices like pepper, paste the thing together with oil and stick it into a chicken
curry which then proceeds to give you indigestion. Hot is what makes your eyes
water. Andhra cuisine is hot.
In the early 80s, Krishna Reddy, an farmer from Nellore came
into Bangalore and ate at one of Bangalore's andhra-style restaurants. And balked.
Krishna Reddy was born into his mother's kitchen, helping her with the traditional
Andhra feast where chilies form the diet of small children.
