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Did you know that biryani was once the food of royalty? So when I came across images online of a Pakistani biryani fit for a king tucked away in Subang, I couldn’t resist. And so I headed down to Liza’s Biryani located in SS15, Subang Jaya.
Liza herself greeted me at the door and took me into the kitchen. Cooked in a big stainless steel pot— you can absolutely smell the whiff of aromatic spices mixed with fried onions, shallots, coriander and chilli coming from the pot.
She showed me two pots, one filled to the brim with rice and eggs: the chicken biryani, and the other, like a two toned colour palette, was the mutton biryani. Next to these pots was another pot of chicken which would be for the second pot of chicken biryani— this is to ensure every customer gets a packet of piping hot, freshly-cooked biryani.
Just as the clock was about to strike 11am, I witnessed a queue of customers eagerly waiting.
My curiosity was piqued even further— just how good was this biryani?
What I tried at Liza’s Biryani
After inhaling the spices, I was practically weak in my knees for a plate of the biryani. Stomach growling, I got both: the Mutton Biryani (RM15) and Chicken Biryani (RM11) or as Rana, Liza’s husband cheekily adds “the best of both worlds”.
I first started with the Chicken Biryani, which was accompanied with an egg, a chicken drumstick, and a generous sprinkling of fried onions. It comes with pappadam, a mix of crunchy vegetable, and bitter gourd.
I was fortunate enough to try the freshly fried bitter gourd just as it came out of the wok. Crunchy and not greasy, I could easily finish a whole bottle of it. Liza explained that her customers would even place an order for a jar of her fried bitter gourd. No surprise there as, this crispy snack would go hand-hand with a steaming cup of tea.
Before you ask, where’s the gravy that goes on top of the biryani? Stop right there and first take a bite of the biryani. The rice is so perfectly spiced and flavourful that it would be considered a sin to pour gravy on top of it. I pierced my fork into the chicken and took a bite– tender and well-marinated, it paired harmoniously with the rice. The bits of fried onions were sweet and crunchy. Now I understood why Liza said they used a whopping 20 kilos of onions a week for their biryani!
Thoughts of biryani were still swirling around in my head as I licked the plate clean before moving on to the Mutton Biryani. I’ll be honest, I’ve always been rather wary of mutton biryani. This dish has let me down many times in several restaurants— the meat is usually not tender, the rice is just average, so I went in with zero expectations.
I took a bite of the rice and instantly felt like I was transported back in time and was seated at the royal table in the famed mughal court. The rice itself was infused with the juice of the mutton and it felt like I was eating the meat along with the rice. I later discovered that the process of cooking in dum style enables the aroma and flavour imbued into the rice grains, which makes every bite blissful. It has no smell of mutton because it has the fragrance and aroma of all the spices that make it taste oh-so good.
Final Thoughts
When you swing by Liza’s Biryani, try to find the catchy sign that says “Without tasting never will you know we serve d’errmm biryani in town”. There’s no dining area, you just rock up to their house in SS15 and you’ll find a makeshift stall on their front porch. You’ll have to take away your biryani.
Trust me, you’ll be salivating as you watch the freshly-cooked biryani being scooped up directly from the huge silver pot. After all, where can you get fresh-off-the-stove biryani?
Expected damage: RM11 – RM15 per pax
Top Lucky Cafe: Queue-worthy RM4 wan tan mee by Penang auntie below Georgetown residential flats
