From Butter Chicken to Brahmaputra: A Punjabi Binger Discovers Aakhol, Hyderabad's First Assamese Restaurant

Being a proud North Indian who migrated down South, my culinary comfort zone is pretty predictable. Give me a mountain of butter chicken, a naan the size of a steering wheel, or a Hyderabadi biryani spicy enough to make me question my life choices, and I am a happy woman. So when an invitation landed in my lap to try out Aakhol — An Assamese Restaurant, the first of its kind in Hyderabad, my first thought was: wait, do we even have a big Assamese population in Hyderabad?

A quick Google search later, I stood corrected. Turns out there is a massive, thriving Assamese community right here in the City of Pearls. And you know how it goes — wherever a community lives far from its roots, there is an unspoken, deep-rooted craving for the comfort food of back home. So when the invite landed in my inbox, I jumped at the chance. Armed with absolutely zero experience with Assamese cuisine, I went in completely blind, driven entirely by a food blogger's curiosity and an empty stomach.

Because let's be real: there is no greater joy than tucking into a hearty comfort meal you did not have to sweat over a stove for. But if that meal happens to be authentically Assamese, and you are an expat living in Hyderabad, a place like this hits completely differently. While I walked in as a reviewer, I could instantly see how Aakhol serves as a warm culinary embrace for the homesick community — the kind of place that quietly says to anyone missing the Northeast, "this will remind you of home."

Aakhol, which translates to "kitchen" in Assamese, is here to bring authentic, homestyle Northeast comfort straight to the plates of Hyderabadis. And it has a story to tell.

Three Generations, Eight Decades, One Story

As soon as you walk in, you are greeted by a massive wall mural detailing the restaurant's lineage. Coming from a traditional background myself, I love a good family legacy, and Aakhol's history spans generations.

The story began in 1942 with Late Bhupen Chandra Mahanta, a freedom fighter, community leader, and the founder's grandfather. He established the famous Laxmi Cabin in the heart of Guwahati, known for its Saah (Assam tea) and Singora (samosa), and a gathering hub for students, thinkers and activists.

In 2016, the legacy moved to the next generation, when his daughter, Ar. Alpana Sarma, along with Ar. Ritul Sarma, created the Aarian Woods Resort back home in Assam to bring people closer to nature.

And in 2026, the third generation carries the torch forward. Aakhol is founded by Dr. Alpaxee Kashyap — granddaughter of Late Bhupen — along with Akhil Vinod, using cherished family recipes passed down from her grandmothers, Jyotirmoyee Mahanta and Anubala Devi.

The Homepreneur Connection

Yes, you read that right — the founder holds a PhD in Gender Studies. As a Punjabi, if I told my parents I was putting a PhD on hold to open a restaurant, there would be a family intervention. But post-COVID, Alpaxee decided to test the waters by starting a quiet cloud kitchen with her nanny-turned-cook.

This part of her story really resonated with me. Back in 2012, I started Pink Cupcakes as a home baker, one of the earliest fondant cake makers in Hyderabad. I know exactly what it takes to build a dream from your own kitchen. It takes a homepreneur to recognise another, and seeing her cloud-kitchen experiment blossom into this full-scale dining space was genuinely inspiring.

Architecture That Feels Like Home

Before we even get to the food, I have to talk about the vibe. The interiors at Aakhol are incredibly soothing — nothing loud or flashy, just classy, understated elegance that wraps you in an at-home feeling. Alpaxee mentioned both her parents are architects, and you can see their stamp all over the space. It sets exactly the right tone for a soul-satisfying meal.

The Menu of Aakhol

The Aakhol menu is where the authenticity really shows. Traditional Assamese cuisine is famous for its pork and fish dishes, but to stay true to the region, the menu skips rotis, naans and commercial biryanis entirely — Assam is a heavily rice-eating state, and Aakhol doesn't dilute that for a Hyderabad crowd.

Alpaxee walked us through the whole card, explaining the stories and ingredients behind almost every dish. A few things that stood out about how seriously they take sourcing:

• Straight from the source: they lean on their connections with the family's resort back home to bring authentic ingredients directly from Assam — nearly 2,000 kilometres, just to keep the flavours untouched.
• The great fish dilemma: back home, life revolves around the Brahmaputra, so Assamese cooking is loyal to river-water fish. In Hyderabad, with Andhra Pradesh next door, sea-water fish dominates the market — but Aakhol works out the logistics to make sure only genuine river fish makes it to the thali.

If you keep a running list of every new opening in the city, bookmark my Hyderabad food guide too — Aakhol is easily one of the more interesting additions this year.

When a Clueless Punjabi Meets an Assamese Host

I have to talk about the sheer warmth of Alpaxee. As a group of loud North Indians who think "subtle flavours" means someone forgot to add the garam masala, we were completely out of our depth — and she sat with us patiently through all of it.

We couldn't sample the pork and fish dishes on this visit, partly because I don't eat pork, and partly because we were already dangerously full by the time we thought about ordering the fish. But what we did eat was a genuine revelation for my very Punjabi palate.

The Welcome Drink: Thekera Pani

We were served a cooling infusion made from wild thekera fruit (commonly known as Garcinia). To say the least, it was very, very different. Apparently it's packed with health benefits, but it just didn't work for me — I eventually ordered a Goli Soda to rescue my confused taste buds. No judgment, clearly my palate needs some adjusting to authentic Assamese refreshments.

Starters and Mains

• Til Chicken (sesame chicken): this chicken curry flavoured with roasted sesame was absolutely fantastic — a distinct flavour profile I really liked.
• Street-style chicken roll: I don't think I've had a chicken roll that tasted this good. The best part — very little oil was used. For once I felt light and energised after a street-style roll instead of slipping into a food coma.
• Homestyle mutton curry (₹649): the undisputed star of the table. Finger-licking good, deeply flavourful, without being masked by heavy commercial spices.
• Chicken curry thali: comforting, wholesome, and perfectly executed.

The Sweet Finish

We wrapped up with a trio of traditional desserts: Payokh, a slow-cooked milk and rice pudding; black rice payokh, made with vibrant black rice; and pati septa pitha, a traditional rice-flour pancake filled with jaggery and coconut. The black rice pudding and the pitha were unique and interesting to try, but it was the classic Payokh that worked best for us — at the end of the day, it's a beautifully rich, comforting kheer, and you can never go wrong with kheer.

The Verdict

If you are in Hyderabad and looking to break out of your usual food routine, Aakhol is an absolute must-visit. It's soulful, it's authentic, and it gives you a taste of a beautiful culture right from the heart of a home kitchen. Go for the food, stay for the stories.

*This was an invited menu tasting at Aakhol.

Frequently Asked Questions