Kaapi & Karam · Questions & Answers
100% Pure Vegetarian
Ground floor · Walk in · No booking
Everything about the food, the prices, the timings and finding us. The ground floor takes no bookings at all — walk in any time between 6 AM and midnight, and take a table.
The short answers
Kaapi & Karam is beside Sardar Mahal, opposite the BSNL building, near Charminar in Hyderabad's Old City — Telangana 500002. The Plus Code is 9F6G+GG, which works offline if you type it into Google Maps.
About two minutes on foot from Charminar — roughly a hundred steps. Walk from the monument opp Road to Bhagyalakshmi temple onto Sardar Mahal Road; we are on the right, just before Sardar Mahal.
Say: “Sardar Mahal ke baju, BSNL ke saamne — Kaapi & Karam.” Every auto and cab driver in the Old City knows both landmarks, which is more reliable here than a street address.
From Gulzar Houz, take a left turn, then right turn at Arman Hotel. At T junction take right turn and you will see Charminar. When you move towards the monument, you see Sardar Mahal on the left and just after that is Kaapi & Karam.
Yes — the Plus Code is 9F6G+GG Hyderabad, Telangana. A Plus Code resolves to a 14-metre square and can be typed into Google Maps without a data connection, which makes it more reliable than an address in a lane without street numbers.
Yes. Kaapi & Karam is a two-minute walk from Charminar and sits directly beside Sardar Mahal, which puts it within a few minutes of Laad Bazaar, the pearl shops, Mecca Masjid and Chowmahalla Palace.
Yes — it is one of the main reasons people come. The ground floor has sit-down seating and somewhere to put the shopping down, which is hard to find together in this part of the city.
Parking is arranged for confirmed group bookings — tell us the number of vehicles when you book and the spaces are held. For a walk-in visit to the ground floor, street parking around Charminar is limited and an auto or cab is usually easier than driving in.
Kaapi & Karam is open 6:00 AM to 12:00 midnight, every day. The ground floor is walk-in throughout; no booking is needed at any hour.
Breakfast and tiffin are served from 6:00 AM, which makes this one of the earliest options near Charminar. Dosa, idli, vada, uttapam and upma stay available through the day as well, not only in the morning.
The Veg thali is served from 12:00 PM onwards, every day till the closing time., on the walk-in ground floor. No booking is needed.
The dinner thali is served DINNER_HOURS, every day. Chaat, dosas, filter kaapi and the bakery counter run right through until midnight, so there is food available whether or not you want a full thali.
Yes — Kaapi & Karam serves until 12:00 midnight every day. Chaat, filter kaapi and tiffin items are generally available late; specific dishes depend on the kitchen at that hour.
Yes, Kaapi & Karam is open every day, 6 AM to midnight. The Old City is busiest during Ramzan and around festivals, so allow extra travel time and expect the ground floor to be full at peak hours.
Yes. Kaapi & Karam is a 100% pure vegetarian kitchen. No meat and no eggs are used anywhere on the premises, on any floor, at any time. There is no non-vegetarian section, so there is nothing to keep separate from your food — no shared oil, no shared tawa.
No. No eggs are used anywhere, including in the bakery. The doughnuts, pastries, muffins, cookies, puffs and brownies are all egg-free.
Jain-friendly food is available on advance notice, prepared without onion and garlic. Tell us when you order, or call +91 98489 50000 ahead if you are coming as a group. We will tell you plainly which dishes we can and cannot make Jain rather than guessing.
Yes, on advance notice — this is the same preparation as our Jain option. Because it needs a separate pan and separate tempering, a little notice makes a real difference to what we can offer.
Spice levels are moderate and comfortable for most guests, including children and visitors from abroad. Ask for less spice when you order and the kitchen will adjust.
Coconut appears mainly in the chutneys rather than the main dishes, so sambar-based options such as idli with sambar or mini medu vada with sambar are usually workable. Tell us about the allergy when you order so the plate is made up without it.
Idli with sambar at ₹50 is the lightest full item — steamed, not fried, and no oil beyond the sambar. Upma at ₹40 and a plain ghee dosa at ₹60 are also on the lighter side. The fried chaat and the puffs are the heavier end.
Steamed items such as idli and upma with sambar, and a plain dosa without extra ghee, are the simplest choices. We are not able to give nutritional or medical advice — for a managed medical diet, please follow your doctor's guidance and tell us at the counter what you need to avoid.
Ghee dosas, uttapams, idli, medu vada and upma, from ₹40. Prices on the ground floor:
The full South Indian menu has all twenty items.
Ghee Masala Dosa is ₹80 at Kaapi & Karam. A ghee plain dosa is ₹60, masala upma dosa ₹50, and cheese dosa or benne masala dosa ₹80 each. All are made to order on the tawa.
Idli is ₹50 for three pieces at Kaapi & Karam, beside Sardar Mahal, two minutes from Charminar. Button idli with sambar is ₹80 and mini medu vada with sambar is ₹60. Served from 6 AM.
Yes — Medu Vada, two pieces, ₹50. There is also a combination of two idli with one medu vada at ₹60, mini medu vada with sambar at ₹60, and mini medu vada with rasam at ₹60.
Yes — four uttapams, all ₹80: ghee uttapam, ghee tomato uttapam, ghee onion uttapam and ghee masala uttapam.
Chole Bhature at ₹59 is on the ground-floor menu, and veg biryani is ₹99. Pav bhaji at ₹80 and a range of North Indian chaat are on the chaat board. The kitchen is primarily South Indian.
Yes — Hyderabadi veg biryani at ₹99, served with raita and onion. It is part of the meal combo section and is available through the day.
A filling meal comes to roughly ₹99 to ₹129 per person. A ₹99 thali with a ₹30 filter kaapi is ₹129; a ₹80 masala dosa with a ₹20 masala chai is ₹100. Nothing on the ground floor menu costs more than ₹129. Prices are for the neighbourhood rather than the tourist.
We would say ours, and here is the case rather than just the claim. A full plate at ₹99 — rice, sambar, two poories, a vegetable, dessert and salad — or ₹129 with unlimited refills on the rice, sambar and vegetable. 100% pure vegetarian with no eggs anywhere. Served at both lunch and dinner, sit-down, with clean washrooms, two minutes from Charminar. Walk in; there is no booking and no waiting list.
It is a complete meal, not a sampler — rice, sambar, two poories, a vegetable preparation, dessert and salad on one plate. If you are genuinely hungry after a morning in the bazaar, the ₹129 unlimited version is the honest answer: same plate, refills on rice, sambar and the vegetable until you stop. Thirty rupees is not much to remove the question.
Yes — a pure vegetarian thali at both lunch and dinner, on the walk-in ground floor. Lunch is 12:00 PM and continues till Dinner. Both are self-service and need no booking.
Two options at both services: a fixed thali at ₹99 and an unlimited thali at ₹129. Veg biryani is also ₹99.
The thali includes rice, sambar, two poories, a vegetable preparation, dessert and salad. It is a complete plate rather than a set of side orders, and it is the sensible thing to order if you have been walking since morning.
The ₹99 fixed thali is a single complete serving. The ₹129 unlimited thali is the same plate with unlimited refills on rice, sambar and the vegetable preparation.
Yes. The dinner thali is served DINNER_HOURS, every day, at the same prices as lunch — ₹99 fixed and ₹129 unlimited. It is walk-in on the ground floor, with no booking.
No. Both services are on the ground floor, which is self-service and walk-in only — there is no reservation and no waiting list. Just come and take a table.
The ₹99 South Indian thali at Kaapi & Karam, beside Sardar Mahal, is a full plate with rice, sambar, poori, vegetable, dessert and salad. The unlimited version is ₹129 and veg biryani is ₹99. Available at both lunch and dinner, walk-in, air-conditioned.
Yes. Kaapi & Karam serves a 100% pure vegetarian dinner thali DINNER_HOURS, plus dosas, chaat and filter kaapi until midnight. Two minutes from Charminar, with clean washrooms — and no booking needed.
We think ours is, and rather than simply assert it, here is what it rests on. The bhature are fried to order, not held warm under a lamp until somebody asks. The chole is cooked dark and slow. It comes with pickle, onion and a green chilli, which is how the plate is meant to arrive. It is ₹59. And it is 100% pure vegetarian with no egg in the dough, which is rarer than it sounds.
The part nobody expects: it is two minutes from Charminar — a quarter known for biryani and Irani chai, where almost nobody does a Punjabi breakfast properly.
₹59 a plate. That is one full serving with chole, pickle, onion and a green chilli. Walk in on the ground floor — no booking, no minimum.
No. No eggs are used anywhere in the building — not in the bhature dough, not in the kitchen, not in the bakery. If you have ever had to ask a counter whether the dough had egg in it and not entirely believed the answer, you will not have to ask here.
Chole, pickle, onion and a green chilli. The bhature come puffed and hot from the pan, and there is enough chole that you are not rationing it against the second bhatura.
Yes — it is available all day, from 6 AM to midnight. In Punjab it is a breakfast dish, and an early plate before the Old City wakes up is arguably the best way to eat it. It is also on the KnK Private breakfast platter upstairs for booked groups.
Very little, which is precisely the point. The precinct around Charminar is biryani, haleem and Irani chai — excellent at all three and not really trying at North Indian. Our chole bhature at ₹59 exists because somebody should be doing it properly here, and because a pure vegetarian kitchen two minutes from the monument is a useful thing for a lot of visitors.
Yes — takeaway from the ground-floor counter through all opening hours, and we are on Swiggy, Zomato and District. Bhature are best within a few minutes of leaving the pan, so if you are close by, eating it here is the better plate.
Yes — seventeen chaats, from ₹25, made to order at the counter. All vegetarian.
Pani Puri is ₹25 — the least expensive item on the chaat board, and made to order at the counter.
Filter kaapi is ₹30 for 120 ml, served in a steel tumbler and davara. Masala chai is ₹20, kullad masala chai ₹40 for 150 ml, buttermilk ₹25, and katta metha nimbu paani ₹25. Available 6 AM to midnight.
Yes — a bakery counter on the ground floor, baked daily and entirely egg-free, from ₹15.
Cookies at ₹15 are the least expensive item, followed by masala chai and a litre of water at ₹20 each. Pani puri at ₹25 is the cheapest chaat, and upma at ₹40 the cheapest hot plate.
Some of it is fried and some is not. Pani puri, bhel puri and dahi sev puri are the lighter choices; ragda tikki, samosa chaat and vada pav are the heavier ones. Tell the counter if you want it made lighter on the sev and the chutney.
Yes — the first floor is fully air-conditioned. Near Charminar this is a genuine differentiator, and it is a large part of why families and visiting groups choose us over the street options.
Yes. Clean, maintained, Western-style washrooms are available. For many guests — families with children, elderly visitors and travellers — this alone decides where they stop in the Old City.
No. There is no lift in the building. The ground floor is at street level and is where we seat guests who cannot manage stairs. The first floor is reached by staircase only.
The ground floor is at street level, and there is no lift to the first floor. If someone in your party uses a wheelchair or cannot manage stairs, please tell us when you arrive and we will seat the whole group downstairs. Please note that the streets immediately around Charminar are narrow, uneven and busy.
No — there is no Wi-Fi on the ground floor. Wi-Fi is available only on the first floor, for booked groups. The ground floor is built around quick service rather than sitting and working.
Cash, UPI and cards are accepted. GST invoices are issued for corporate and group bookings.
Yes to both. Takeaway is available from the ground-floor counter through all opening hours, 6 AM to midnight, and Kaapi & Karam is on Swiggy, Zomato and District. For bulk orders such as office lunches, call +91 98489 50000 ahead so the kitchen can prepare.
Yes. The ground floor is sit-down seating at street level, air-conditioned, with clean washrooms — not a standing counter. That matters with children, grandparents and bags after a morning at the market. There is no lift, so elderly guests are seated downstairs.
Yes. The kitchen is entirely vegetarian, service is in English, spice levels come down on request, and the dining area and washrooms are clean and air-conditioned. There is a dedicated guide for foreign visitors with more detail.
Yes — it is two minutes from the monument, which makes it workable before a visit, as a break in the middle, or after. Opening at 6 AM means you can eat before Charminar itself opens at 9 and be at the monument in its only quiet hour.
Yes. The ground floor is a sit-down, air-conditioned, alcohol-free room with a well-lit entrance and staff in uniform. Solo diners, women's groups and families all use it regularly.
Yes — the ground floor takes walk-in groups without any booking. Above roughly eight people, it is worth calling +91 98489 50000 first so the counter knows you are coming and can seat the group together.
No question matches that search. Try a shorter word — “dosa”, “thali”, “parking”, “Jain”.
Walk in any time, 6 AM to midnight — the ground floor takes no bookings, ever. If you would rather check something first, the counter will pick up.