Hyderabad House – Spiciest Dish in Columbus Series

Nestled into the Trinethra Super Market on Sancus, the Polaris location of Hyderabad House is unassuming, which makes it the perfect hole in the wall location for a spiciest dish. A menu with Chettinad delicacies and an almost endless list of Biryani, a majority of the dishes come from Mild to Extra Spicy and as you’ll find out below, they hold up their end of the spicy bargain.

So many spicy things

The Lady of the Farm procured a Biryani, Medium spicy, while I went with the Karaikudi Chicken and Chicken 65, both at Extra Spicy. Each dish is blasted with flavor, but the Medium was a bit too far into the spicy deep end for The Lady of the Farm. She set it down, with nose sweat glistening, and threw in the towel. This will likely become a training dish for her spicy tolerance though as the rest of the night she kept talking about the flavor profile and wanting to hop back in.

Look at that chili just sitting there, taunting you.

Chicken 65 is Deep fried chicken tempered with curry leaves, green chilies and sauteed in hot red sauce and is essentially just chunks of fiery red chicken. That’s the level of seed you get with Extra Spicy and while we’re not rating this dish in particular, it would have landed in the 30s. Continuing on our spicy journey, it was time to move to the main event.

Admittedly this looks a little gross, but once mixed with rice it’s much better, promise.

The Extra Spicy Karaikudi Chicken is an authentic Chettinad dish with chicken, some veggies, and a thick sauce that’s oozing with redness.

Taking my first bite, it was a grouping of familiar flavors with (assumed) turmeric, coriander, cumin, and mustard. From what we know, this is a common spice blend from some regional Indian cuisines and is also a spice base for the Last Dab line of sauces from Heatonist. While the spices were swirling around, the heat began to grow. Distant first, but quickly ramping up in the middle of my mouth, the spiciness was ready to go a few rounds.

The heat sits like a ball on your tongue, only progressing elsewhere as you swallow. At that point, the heat slides on back and hangs out again. It’s got nowhere to be, so it wants to chill. Each bite starts the process over again, spice blend first, heat second, but the continuation of eating this dish further increases the intensity of the spiciness, adding extra oily spicy layers all over. The pepper flavor is similar to the chilis in the Bamboo Thai Kitchen Green Curry, but the intensity goes up a few more notches.

Mixed, still a thick sawce.

To a certain degree it feels like eating a flavorful cactus, with a tasty beginning and then a spicy, prickly end. Similar to some ramens we’ve had, the Karaikudi Chicken gives an overall body warmth as it continues its heat journey, and similar to the Lady of the Farm’s Chicken Biryani, there’s an addictive quality that keeps you diving back in.

Nearing the end of the dish, my nose was in full drip mode, and it took a few tissues to calm things down. I sat with the linger (roughly five minutes) and full-body warmth, noticing my cheeks felt flush and some under-eye sweat had accumulated. The peppers in this dish are strong and dense, but don’t overpower the other flavors. Definitely a dish I would revisit.

So it’s a spicy dish, but where does it sit on the list? After some reflection, and some more tissues, we’re placing the Extra Spicy Karaikudi Chicken from Hyderabad House at #13 on our list. It’s a solid heat, lingers for a bit, and has that addictive heat quality we enjoy. It bumps Hoggy’s: XXX Inferno Wings (the regular) down and sits just below the Intercontinental Restaurant’s Warrior Platter. Lots of vegetarian options here as well and all go from Mild to Extra Spicy. The Lady of the Farm’s Medium Biryani produced a decent amount of nose sweat and she had to eat it over a couple of sittings. Solid spices overall.

You can find Hyderabad House in Polaris at 8481 Sancus Blvd or in Dublin at 6395 Perimeter Dr.

Look below for more in our spiciest dish in Columbus series and hit us up if you have any suggestions that are not already on our list!

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