Coffee lovers of Hyderabad unite!

Here is the first in what will hopefully become a regular feature - a food find! Hyderabadis are food lovers and every day I hear about a new restaurant opening up somewhere in the vicinity! To be honest, I am not much of a foodie myself...give me my roti/dal or a peanut butter jelly sandwich and I'm a happy camper. I would rather sit in my pajamas in front of the TV eating one of my fav dishes - Maggi noodles - than dress up and go out for dinner! So be warned - with such an apathetic attitude to food, this may very well end up being the first and last in the series!!!!
But today we decided to check out the new coffee bar/art gallery called "Beyond Coffee"that opened up last week behind our house. In fact, we share the same wall (the wall you see in pic #2 overlooks our backyard), and we have seen the restaurant come up in the last 8-9 months! Our dogs have barked their silly little heads off at the construction people for all 8 months so in all fairness we felt we should at least go check it out! It was also my mom's 70th bithday...so another reason to go.

It was wonderful! The restaurant's architecture itself is very modern - think Robert Venturi and Frank Lloyd Wright! White, clean, simplistic, linear and almost minimalist, it lets the understated interiors and the artwork showcased within do all the talking. The restaurant is the dream child of Vivek Rao, an artist and art conoisseur who believes in combining the age-old connection between food and art - much like what Howard Schulz envisioned with Starbucks.  Beyond Coffee is also an art gallery displaying for sale some stunning and eclectic pieces of art from all over India and the world. They provide an unusual but effective platform for both established and upcoming artists to display their work and talent with minimum fuss and maximum exposure. This month they are presenting the works of one of the most respected artists hailing from Andhra Pradesh- Magunta Dayakar. You can read more about the artist here.

Here are some pictures so you can see for yourself the open spacious interiors that lets you browse the paintings in unobstructed pleasure. The seating is stylish and comfortable, not an easy combination to achieve. All items on the menu are named after famous artists, so while my husband and I munched on Jackson Pollock burgers, my dad ate a Manet sandwich and my mom a Titian pizza! Quirky, but it works! And it is delicious. The burgers and sandwiches were perfectly toasted (the breads are made in-house), the veggies fresh and wholesome, the french fries crisp and light! Its the perfect place to relax with friends over a cup of coffee and some food, or to spend a rainy afternoon - reminiscent again of a Starbucks - sipping one of their exotic teas and surfing the net!  Maybe if I can convince the owner, I'll make an opening in the wall and put in a gate....so I have my own personal access from my backyard to his gallery! So for all you Hyderabadis looking for a great place to hang out, appreciate good art and good food - you've found it!