The Mughal by Buhari hotel in Chennai brings Persian fine dining to the table

Try Persian delicacies including kebabs, curries and stew at The Mughal by Buhari Hotel, first started in 1958, which has reopened 18 years. Also learn the secret to their mildly flavoured biryani. (Online) Feast on Persian delicacies as Chennai’s Buhari reopens The Mughal from 1958(Print) 

“Every other shop today is making biryani but do you know what the secret to a really good one is? Onions and cardamom,” says Nawaz Buhari.

This third generation restaurateur from the Buhari Hotel on Mount Road is clear that the dish must be laden with the freshest cuts of meat, the best quality of the seven spices mix (including ingredients like cloves, nutmeg and paprika) and the right amount of ghee. The onions must be fried well. The cardamom should be added in small spoonfuls. It should, most of all, not be overwhelmed by the flavour of garlic.

“Garlic makes the dish pungent and not everyone enjoys this. A biryani should leave the tongue feeling full,” he says, between spoonfuls of tomato soup at The Mughal, Buhari’s latest refurbished fine-dining offering.

Located in the same complex as the original restaurant on Mount Road, The Mughal was first opened in 1958 by Nawaz’s grandfather and founder of this chain of restaurants, AM Buhari. He says this was among the first fine-dining restaurants in Madras, and the restaurant quickly began drawing several high-profile patrons requesting privacy.

“Film stars, politicians and senior bureaucrats from around the world would regularly come to Buhari late at night. We opened The Mughal because there was a clear demand. Back then, we sold continental and Mughlai food. Our tagline was ‘Menus from many lands’. It had to unfortunately close down after my grandfather’s death in 2004,” Nawaz says.

It took 16 years and an additional two-year pandemic induced delay for the restaurant to reopen in December 2022. Today, The Mughal with its turquoise and silver interiors promises a palatial experience. While the tagline remains the same, the menu, the staff and the colour on the sofas indicates a change of guard. The focus is now on Persian food besides their Asian and continental menu.

A meal at the new space begins with a variety of kebabs including chicken, lamb and paneer on a bed of saffron rice. While the chicken and paneer skewers are well-marinated, the smoky lamb feels tough. Soft kuboos though, makes up for it. A rich Asian coconut chicken broth serves as an appetiser.