Meghana Foods has been around for a while now. I heard it had a branch in Koramangala somewhere, and then a neighbor told me that they had a branch in Jayanagar as well. And so, as is customary when we hear of such additions to the eating trail, we paid it a visit. Meghana Foods shares a wall with La Casa in Jayanagar and is pretty close to Jayanagar 4th block bus stand. Its on the first floor of the building. The first impression you get of the place is that it is much brighter and cleaner looking than the other Andhra food joints of the same type like the Nagarjunas and Nandhinis. This review is spread over a couple of visits so am just going to go ahead and comment on each of the photos. 

The first time we went there, we decided to go in for the biryanis. We were told these were not to miss. So Sudhakar had the Fish biryani and I opted for the Chicken Lollipop Biryani only because it sounded different. The fish biryani came with boneless fish covering the top of the biryani dish. The fish was well done and soft and the masala perfect for the biryani. The chicken lollipop on the other hand was exactly that (I don't really know what else I expected). The top of the dish was covered with chicken lollipops which were a bit tough but ok nevertheless. In both cases, the first few bites go down really well with the raita and the gravy... but after a while your tongue will start sending distress signals to your brain. The spice factor is pretty high and sets in pretty fast. You will need more than just glasses of water to put out the fire alarms clanging in your mouth. 

On most of our subsequent visits, we decided not to put our taste buds through such scorching pain and settled in for the meals with a side dish of chicken. The meals have more in terms of variety compared to the Nagarjunas and Nandhinis. For one, you get a chapathi a head. There are two vegetables side dishes compared to one by the others. And there is also a sweet dish. You do get curds, which each time I have found fresh and not sour or watery like in the others. There is no buttermilk however. The food is good and you will pack a decent amount each time.  

We had the the Chicken Hyderabadi the first time, spicy, nice and went well with the meal. The quantities are much more substantial than the other places. The second time we had the Lemon Chicken - while there was lemon alright in the chicken, it was also offset by a generous helping of sliced chillis. Again, it was a great spicy accompaniment to a vegetarian meal.  

And the last picture you see was the doing a friend Bhavya, whom I took the place for the first time. She decided to order Chilli chicken. Am sure she did not expect it to be chicken cooked with green chillis and precious little else. When I first saw the dish, I wasn't too sure I wanted to risk it. When we picked off the chillis, there were literally miniature hills of them at the corner of our leaves. In the end we decided to eat it like we would do pickle with the meal (it wasn't too far from being that) and believe it or not we really liked the combo with the dal and sambar. 

I have started to prefer Meghana Foods to the other Andhra places for that quick fix veggie lunch/dinner. The place is cleaner, brighter and home delivers with much less restrictions on pricing than the rest of them. The service is fast and the loo is fairly clean. Be careful with the lock though - you can be fooled into thinking that you have actually locked it when you have not.