Pillai Mess Mutton Biryani Hotel in Hassan

Have you had a chance to taste authentic Karnataka-style Mutton biriyani? Pillai Mess Mutton Biryani Hotel serves you delicious Mutton biriyani which resembles that of a pulao preparation. The restaurant is located in Hassan which belongs to the state of Karnataka. In fact, Hassan is a city on the way to Bangalore. The person who is in charge of the food spot is called by the name Pillai.

The name of the restaurant is derived from the name of his father who started the food spot back in 1976. His father was a descendant of a place called Kottayam in Kerala. Despite being from Kerala, Pillai does not speak Malayalam fluently. In fact, he seems to understand the language when we speak to him. I met his mother Rajamma who seems to know the Malayalam language. The cooking is mainly done by Pillai himself and there are few people available for helping him. A series of traditional firewood stoves are used in making these recipes and that might have a positive influence on the taste of the Biriyani.

We were on our way to Bangalore from Mangalore and we came to know about this restaurant from Google. The food spot has great reviews on Google and that made us visit this place. When we reached the restaurant in Hassan, Pillai was quite busy in the kitchen with the cooking. A large vessel containing water with a mixture of spices and masala is heated to a boil. As it gets heated, cleaned and sliced mutton pieces were added for cooking.

Our vlog at Pillai Mess Mutton Biryani Hotel Hassan

Pillai was eagerly waiting to perform the next move and stayed close to the heat every step of the way. A large metal spatula has been used by him to constantly stir the contents of the vessel. Apart from Biriyani, a few more items like Mutton Kurma, Chicken fry and Pepper chicken were placed over the stove for cooking. Besides the latter recipe, all other dishes were cooked using firewood, which made the kitchen warm. The warm nature and the smoke from the kitchen made my eyes go watery. There is an important piece of information written on the wall towards the entrance, which states that the shop would remain closed on Saturdays and Mondays.

Just like the way the Pulao has been made where all the ingredients were cooked at once, the biriyani rice has also been added to the vessel. This makes the mutton pieces, rice and masala all be cooked together and this gives the mutton flavour to the rice. Pillai is strict with the quantity of rice to be added as he measures it with a long cylindrical glass.

The small biriyani rice variant is used for making the Mutton Biriyani. When the rice was getting cooked, a few cups of milk is poured over for a taste. A small quantity of lemon juice is also added for a slightly sour flavour. As the rice gets fully cooked, the water within the vessel disappears completely and that brings us to the dum cooking. Pillai believes that timing is everything for this preparation and with experience, he knows what to do at the required time.

Hot and steamy Mutton Biriyani will be served on steel plates and it will include a boiled egg. Sliced onion pieces and lemon were also included for an improved flavour. Mutton Sherwa is a kind of mutton gravy also known as Mutton Sambar and it’s also available for customers along with the biriyani. We can also have rasam or buttermilk for a change of taste. As we were having the biriyani, I remembered the Thirunelveli Wedding Biryani which we had sometime back. Pillai Mess Mutton Biryani Hotel is a small eatery which serves delicious food for customers. If you happen to be on your travel to Bangalore through Hassan, you can visit this restaurant for a tasty Mutton biriyani dish.