On a short southern sojourn

Soul of South, a South Indian restaurant serves select dishes from various parts of South India

Soul of South at Jubilee Hills has its thoughts clearly mapped out. No matter what the decor or interiors are, every time a diner comes here, it should be an experience in tasting different flavours from South India. 

It is a fine dining restaurant that befits a date night place; cosy interiors, tastefully done decor and elegant wooden furniture. Various corners highlight traditional Indian cookware. Also on display are brass utensils, traditional kettles, Idli makers, tiffin carriers etc. A wall pays tribute to Kondapalli toys. The restaurant is an ode of various flavours and ingredients from South India, such as kokum, tamarind, spices and chillies.

The menu has dishes from Andhra, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. A little from each region. In the Andhra section, nalla karam kodi vepudu and jeelakarra kodi vepudu are good choices unless you want to switch to mutton roast from the Karnataka section. They are quite liberal with the use of ghee and spice here, so if that is not up to your palate, just specify your preferences early. 

Among the vegetarian starters, I enjoyed, and so will all potato lovers, the uralai 65, deep fried and lightly dusted with a finger-licking masala powder. If you are down under the weather, a bowl of thakkali poondu rasam will cheer you up.

For the main course, the restaurant staff recommended the vegetarian thali. Like all Indian thalis, this one too comes with an array of dishes. Yet, to be honest, you can skip the thali here and go for the chicken donne biryani, or the udikaya curry (spicy potato fry) with appam or paratha. When appam is here, can Kerala chicken curry be far behind? This combination too is a winner here. 

Do not stuff yourself on one day, you can come back here for the dalcha and gongura mamsam (gongura mutton).  

If you want an easy way to try different dishes check SoS’ list of specials; the chicken biryani and special mutton pulao win hands down. Also listed as special are semiya payasam and a malai custard delight. Try them.