When I heard that Cafe Goa serves something called Chicken Cafreal Biryani, I was intrigued. Cafreal and biryani are two very different things, so naturally, I had to try this unusual Goan combination.

Cafe Goa is Pune’s very first Goan restaurant, started in 2015, and today it has two branches, in Viman Nagar and Kothrud. Their Chicken Cafreal Biryani is not your conventional biryani. It’s essentially a fusion dish that takes the flavours of Goan chicken Cafreal and combines them with rice cooked using a biryani-style recipe.

For those unfamiliar with Cafreal, it’s a green Goan masala made with fresh coriander, mint and green chillies. It is a deep green masala with a fresh, almost refreshing flavour, but with enough punch from the chillies to keep things interesting.

Here, boneless chicken thigh pieces are pan-grilled until beautifully browned, right in that Cafreal masala. Once the chicken is cooked, short-grain rice along with whole spices is added to the pan, allowing the rice to pick up all those flavours.

And this is where we have to make an important distinction.

Is it actually biryani? Not really.

A proper biryani, at least in our book, should involve the rice and meat being layered and dum cooked. This one is pan-fried and comes together more like a pulav. So while calling it a biryani may make it sound more exciting, technically, we would call this a very good Cafreal chicken pulav.

But here’s the thing: the flavours are fantastic.

The short-grain rice does get slightly wet and mushy because of the Cafreal masala, but it packs a serious punch. Every spoon is loaded with that fresh coriander-mint flavour.

Rice Verdict: 7/10

The chicken, however, is where this dish really shines. The boneless thigh pieces are beautifully browned, incredibly tender and moist, and the Cafreal masala has seeped right into the meat.

Meat & Masala Verdict: 10/10

You get four large boneless thigh pieces, which is quite generous for one plate. The problem is that the chicken is so good that you end up finishing it before the rice. The last few bites can therefore feel a little chicken-less. One extra piece would make this plate even better.

Meat to Rice Ratio: 8/10

So yes, we’d argue with the word biryani. But we certainly won’t argue with the flavours. Call it Cafreal Biryani, Cafreal Pulav or whatever you like—the dish itself is absolutely worth trying.

Address: Cafe Goa, Shop No. 1B, Amber Apartments, Opp. Vidya Niketan School, Sainik Nagar, Clover Park, Viman Nagar, Pune.
Contact: 9820159824