Nawab's Indian Cuisine

At Nawab's Indian Cuisine, biryani is a section, not a dish. The kitchen lays out Gongura Chicken Dum Biryani with its spicy-sour green-leaf edge, Avakai Chicken Dum carrying the bite of mango pickle, Pachi Mirchi Chicken built on green-chilli heat, a Hyderabad Mutton Keema of spiced minced meat, and a Bezawada boneless version of marinated chicken, mint, and basmati — each one a different regional argument for what dum-style rice can be. Even the house namesake, Nawab's Chicken Dum Biryani, is only one entry among many. This is a Hyderabadi kitchen in the Clifton Hill and Falls Avenue district of Niagara Falls, and it cooks like one, treating biryani as a map of southern India rather than a single recipe carried under a single name.

The range holds up well past the rice. Andhra ghee-roast runs deep — a Mutton Ghee Roast Curry of fresh baby goat finished dry with seasoned spice, a bone-in version of the same, and a Mutton Pepper Roast tossed with pepper, green chillies, and curry leaves. The South Indian dosa section carries the Masala Dosa and a Guntur Karam Dosa built on that region's chilli profile, with a chef's special dosa rounding it out. Starters lean on cashew, curry leaf, and chilli: Paneer Hyderabadi (65), the deep-fried Andhra Karam Kodi, Guntur Gobi, and a Chicken RRR tossed in red chillies and curry leaves. The tandoor adds its own accents, an Achari Chicken Tikka and a Gongura Chicken Tikka that pulls the same spicy-sour leaf into the marinade. And an Indo-Chinese run — Gobi Manchurian, Chilli Paneer, Street Side Noodles, Chilli Paneer Fried Rice — shares the same page as Butter Chicken, Chicken Tikka Masala, and Garlic Naan.