Everything at TheySee makes your eyes pop. Match-box installations, nazar battus, glass-blown chandeliers and a sculpture of Raja Ravi Verma’s quintessential muse playing the guitar on a bench. The latest entrant on Jubilee Hills in Hyderabad cocoons a 22-seater speakeasy cocktail room under its arm, all drenched in red.
It’s envisioned by an under-30 trio of founders: Art-head Niharika Gollapalli, Darshan Ramchandani who once ran the service at London’s Michelin-recognised The Hero in Maida Vale, and Chef Suryansh Singh Kanwar – erstwhile private chef to Hardik Pandya, Nagarjuna, Mahesh Babu, Nikhil Kamath, Ranbir Kapoor, and Alia Bhatt.
The 26-year-old chef started at The Bombay Canteen and later joined Chef Harsh Dixit who runs The Private Chef’s Club. In 2022, Kanwar joined Pandya as his private chef during his IPL association with Gujarat Titans and later Mumbai Indians. “We sit with each client and note allergies and food habits. It is important to understand their body type and nutrition demands,” says Kanwar, explaining, “Hardik has a high metabolism, so carbs were a central part of his meal, while Surya Kumar Yadav ate a Keto diet. We tweaked it for Ranbir, who turned vegetarian during the shooting of Ramayana.”
Born in Hyderabad to a Rajput family from Haryana, he started cooking at a young age. “My mum was not a very good cook. I was making my snacks early on. Meanwhile, I gained a lot of food knowledge from my father who is a rice research scientist.” says Kanwar.
At TheySee, Kanwar is a traveller returning home with experience and ideas. “We are serving the same food that our parents’ generation ate, but presented in a new-age format. A GenZ menu must have tacos. It’s a new normal, just like how a croissant has replaced the role of the humble bread-butter,” Kanwar explains.
Got Personality spotlights local Chitti Royyala prawns slathered in Andhra-style Iguru masala and served with freshly baked poee. Roz Khao Ande is a slow-cooked sous vide for a velvety yolk and smooth egg white blanket, served on a thick pancake of diberotti drizzled with avakai mango pickled hollandaise and podi kimchi. Both show Kanwar’s hold on a hyper local pulse.
The menu at See, the cocktail room, is tapas style, reimagined bar bites. Your favourite chips packet is ripped open and upcycled with kachumbar and a drizzle of sweet-spicy chutneys. Aloo tuk is reimagined into a smashed and fried Broccoli chaat. Fried Chix is a karaage fried chicken that you can dunk into a three-chilli hot sauce, garlic aioli, and podi that packs in the punch.
Golden Pallav comes with paella-style saffron rice Socarrat, flavoured with kasundi mayo and rasa. It’s a classic after-party fried rice with chicken and topped with a cured yolk. The chef uses a variety of rice on the menu, including the fragrant Jawa phool rice sourced from Raipur. Look out for Pandya’s cheat day Butter Chicken and Suneil Shetty’s favourite Chicken Mangalorean Gassi with Brun Pav.
We end the night on a sweet note, with Not So Chilli Cheese Toast that mimics a Shahi Tukda. The fried milk bread is drenched in white chocolate rabdi with a shaving of Norwegian style Brunost cheese. The dessert leaves a delicate savoury-forward finish.
Drink Up
If your morning routine includes overnight soaked methi fenugreek, Masala Magic, a methi shrub carbonated with turmeric gin, is delightful. Fancy the sharp vegetal notes getting a spirited lift. Laura Lassan, a cocktail smoked with oakwood chips, cacao bitters, black garlic pickle tequila and mezcal, stands out with notes of campfire and caramel. Wait for the smoke to settle before your first sip to allow the pungent notes to unfurl.
Under the watchful eye of the nazar battu, bar mixologist Pradyumna Shanker aka Prady pours us a Kaala Jaadu, tequila spiced with Guntur chilli and zest of gongura. The ice block comes with colourful butter hearts. The strength of the cocktail programme lies in unique flavour pairings, but could do with one more push to perfect its sip.
TheySee and its speakeasy bar, See, make a solid first impression. The food, mostly well executed, precariously dips into the already established culinary language of modern Indian cuisine. Kanwar is conscious of comparisons and honest to the city’s demand. “We are in a city that hopes to have an F&B scene as vibrant as Mumbai or Delhi. I see no harm in serving that craving. Guests today come with high expectations and we are listening; they want gold on a plate,” he signs off.
Address: Plot No. 8-2, 293/82/A/161,
Road Number 13, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad
Reservations: +91 8885019091
