Southern Spice, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad

There are Andhra meals and there are Andhra Meals, then there is The Andhra Meal you get at Southern Spice. When the foodies in the capital city of Andhra Pradesh vouch for the Andhra meal that you get at one restaurant and one restaurant only. You know you are on to something special and you are not disappointed by Southern Spice. Not in one bit. It is also a perfect example of an upmarket Andhra Meal restaurant. It manages to give an upmarket feel while you are digging into rice, ghee, podi and Gongura which to me is a remarkable achievement.
We had meals of course and also ordered some side dishes. The dish that stood out was the Gongura Mutton which was really very tasty. Overall a truly outstanding experience, next time I am there I will sample the Andhra Style chilli chicken as well which is apparently a speciality.
A meal for two without drinks at Southern Spice will cost you approximately Rs 450/-
How to get there: Southern Spice is on Road No 3, in Banjara hills

Nandhini, Jayanagar, Bangalore

Nandhini is an Andhra meal outlet in Jayanagar and Bangalore and like all good Andhra meal restaurants in South India, the restaurant serves outstanding delicious food in surroundings that are hygienic but definitely not elegant. The unique thing about the restaurant is that it is a restaurant and bar and the seating for the two is exclusive although part of the same open floor. The main eating zone has three rows of seating. The centre one for the bar and the other two for the restaurant. If you, as we did sit on the middle row and ask for the regular meal, you will be politely but firmly advised that you will need to move to the restaurant rows. I guess it must mostly work for them but I found it slightly weird.
The food - spicy and delicious Andhra food. Great Podi, Ghee, Pappu, the usual sambhar and curd, unlimited rice obviously and served on banana leaves. As is my wont I complimented the vegetarian meal by ordering a portion of Chilli Chicken Andhra style, which was quite nice, though I realised that ordering something more Sukka would have been better. At these meal joints I love combining the side order with rice and curd. The combination is always great and leaves a lasting impression. Overall I would highly recommend this place for some good Andhra food in Bangalore. To corroborate the same I had a second meal there during the short trip.
A meal for two at Nandhini, without drinks will cost you around Rs 200/-. This will include one additional Non Veg portion.
How to get there: Nandhini is at 27th Cross Road in Jayanagar. It is right at the main signal and cannot be missed.