A favourite among the suburban residential crowd in Mount Lavinia, the Gujarati Pot Biriyani does all things biriyani. As the name implies, their biriyani is served from clay pots.
How To Order?
They don't have a restaurant that you can sit down for a meal – only takeaway and delivery. You can call at 0113 666 858 for delivery/preordering, or simply visit the place and grab yourselves a warm pot of biriyani.
The Biriyani
Their portions come in four sizes – small (2 people), medium (4 people), large (6 people) and extra large (8 people). Depending on the number of mouths you have to feed, you can go with any one of them. However, they will happily add another spoonful of rice to the regular portion, on request without charging extra.
In terms of biriyani types, there's four – chicken, veg, mutton and fish.
Clocking in at Rs. 1600, this is the pot of 2-Person Mutton Biriyani we ordered. As you can probably see in this picture, it's a hefty portion – enough to fill up three people at least. It might not be the highest grade Basmati rice that you'd encounter in places like The Biriyani Restaurant – but this isn't so bad either.
That being said, let me get into its flavours. Each and every grain in this biriyani was fused with spices to make every bite rich. We found quite a bit of coriander, caramelised onions, and a tinge of pepper which seemed to have an effect in spiking up its flavours. The raisins did a good job complimenting the whole meal, while the handful of fried karapincha, bell pepper, and roast cashew nuts on top made for the extra flavour. Anyway, it's not the full-on authentic North Indian touch, more like a biriyani incorporated with a Lankan twist.
Wrapped in chock full of spices, the mutton was cooked really well. It had only a couple of mutton pieces, which makes sense, considering that this pot is meant to be shared with two people. But, those pieces were massive, absolutely meaty, and not at all bony.
This portion of Chicken Biriyani (Rs. 1000) is a 3-people portion as we asked for an extra spoonful of rice. It's the same aforementioned rice, with a few roast chicken pieces in it. We hope if they had put more effort into the chicken though – instead of serving up the generic roast chicken with minimal seasoning. In terms of portion size, this one was quite generous too. Four of us shared this.
However, if you want extra meat or eggs to go with your rice, you can purchase them here. A roast chicken piece is priced at Rs. 100, while the boiled eggs are sold for Rs. 50 each.
Each biriyani was accompanied with three sides – kadala parippu curry, raita and a veg sambol.
Service
The staff here is super friendly and quite helpful. We wanted to take the pictures of the food while we are inside the restaurant, and he happily accommodated.
They have an open kitchen, which you can observe how everything is being made. Every staff member who was handling food was wearing disposable kitchen gloves as a part of maintaining the hygiene aspect.
Conclusion
If you live around Mount Lavinia and planning a sawan party, or simply looking for a family lunch, Gujarati Pot Biriyani is a solid option. No preordering required, so drop by, grab your steaming hot pot and be on your merry way!
