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naraburns  nihil supernum  7d ago (text post)   4554 thread views

Quality Contributions Report for April 2026

This is the Quality Contributions Roundup. It showcases interesting and well-written comments and posts from the period covered. If you want to get an idea of what this community is about or how we want you to participate, look no further (except the rules maybe--those might be important too).

As a reminder, you can nominate Quality Contributions by hitting the report button and selecting the "Actually A Quality Contribution!" option. Additionally, links to all of the roundups can be found in the wiki of /r/theThread which can be found here. For a list of other great community content, see here.

These are mostly chronologically ordered, but I have in some cases tried to cluster comments by topic so if there is something you are looking for (or trying to avoid), this might be helpful.

Quality Contributions to the Main Motte

@naraburns:

@TitaniumButterfly:

@orthoxerox:

@charlesf:

@solowingpixy:

@OliveTapenade:

Contributions for the week of March 30, 2026

@Amadan:

@thejdizzler:

Contributions for the week of April 6, 2026

@birb_cromble:

@Rov_Scam:

@RandomRanger:

@BigObjectPermanenceShill:

@EverythingIsFine:

@OliveTapenade:

@ControlsFreak:

@IdiocyInAction:

@CrispyFriedBarnacles:

@SpringFish:

@Shakes:

Contributions for the week of April 13, 2026

@cjet79:

@faceh:

@RandomRanger:

Contributions for the week of April 20, 2026

@self_made_human:

@Rov_Scam:

@Bombadil:

@Amadan:

@CrispyFriedBarnacles:

@urquan:

Contributions for the week of April 27, 2026

@RandomRanger:

@MonkeyWithAMachinegun:

@AmrikeeAkbar:

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Many cultures have a 'brothy meaty rice' dish that needs a ton of effort to get right. When done right, that dish is the best. When done wrong, it is crappy fried rice.

Eg:

  • Hainanese Chicken rice
  • Paella valenciana
  • Biryani

Each dish is labor intensive and needs experience to get right. I've had the privilege of trying some of the best versions of each dish. If your Biryani tastes like crappy fried rice, it is crappy Biryani. Same for Paella and Chicken Rice.

Mutton Biryani no, one of the GREATEST fooD eveR IvEnTeD in the worlD

Amen

I got sick of bad Biryani in the US and made it myself (alt link). No humility for this one. Took a ton of effort, and I bet it was the best Biryani in the city that day.

I now understand why restaurant Biryani sucks. Unless you're a dedicated Biryani shop (which only happens in India), you can't justify the effort it takes to make good Biryani. It took me about 2 days, start to finish.

And then the "Indian" restaurant I ordered from yesterday served it with peas.

@self_made_human , that's a war crime.

there's regional variation. Pakistani biryani is different, so is the Afghan kind. There's like half a dozen other variants from India

This variation is meaningful.

Lucknowi Biryani (Canonical North Indian Biryani) is meant to be aromatic, umami and fragrant. Hyderabadi Biryani (Canonical South Indian Biryani) is meant to be spicy, indulgent and saucier. I made Hyderabadi Biryani, it is my favorite. The other variations involve different types of rice (Kerala), adding potatoes (Bengali), and raisins (Karachi. This is haram).

Unfortunately, Indian restaurants in the west are mostly run by Punjabi & Bangla people. Neither regions are good at Biryani.

We have loads of biryani shops in the Bay Area, fwiw. I don't go to them because as a rule they look absolutely filthy, but we do have them.

Nope. Havent had great biryani in the Bay area. I'm an expert on the matter.

Great udipi food (madhurai idli). Good Pakistani food (zareens). Good experimental Indian (copra). Surprisingly acceptable marathi food (pav bhaji food truck, puranpoli) acceptable indo-chinese (inchins bamboo garden).

There are a few schizo places that are a 8/10 or 2/10 and no in-between. Highly unreliable, but pretty good on a good day. Eg- Aaha in Mission for Telugu/chettinad food. They make the least bad biryani in SF on a good day. Let's just say their sanitation standards are in line with the rest of the mission.

No standout north Indian or mughlai places that I know of.

P.s: while I'm talking about Indian places in the Bay. Fuck Rooh. Bad food and expensive.

I'm talking San Jose specifically, but regardless I'm not suggesting it's any good. Only that we do have dedicated biryani shops.

The lamb biryani at Dish & Dash used to be pretty good but has declined over the years

That looks like some pretty legit biryani. Could I trouble you to write up a recipe?

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