Karachi Bakery

Karachi Bakery is Hyderabad's best-known bakery, famed for its fruit biscuits, and the shop at Mozamjahi Market in Abids, Hyderabad, Telangana, India, is the original. The bakery was founded in 1953 by the Khanchand Ramnani family, and it has since grown into a well-known brand with outlets across the city, but the Mozamjahi Market shop is the one many visitors seek out for its heritage. Mozamjahi Market is a historic market building in the centre of Abids, close to shopping streets and the Gandhi statue, so the shop is easy to reach on foot from nearby sights. The bakery is not a restaurant in the usual sense. It is a small shop counter at street level where customers choose from trays of biscuits and baked goods, have them weighed and boxed, and take them away. The signature items are the fruit biscuits, which are butter biscuits studded with dried fruit, and Osmania biscuits, the lightly sweet and salty tea biscuit of Hyderabad. Dilkush, a pastry filled with sweetened coconut, and plum cake are also popular, and the assortment of cookies makes it easy to assemble a mixed box. The atmosphere is a compact retail counter with fast service, moderate noise and no dress code; there are no reservations, and there is no dining room, so purchases are eaten on the move or taken home. Prices are low, at about ₹100-500 per person, roughly $1-5, depending on how many boxes are bought. The shop is open daily from about 9AM to 10PM. The counter is at street level and small, so it is generally accessible, though it can be crowded. The bakery is a good stop for souvenirs, since the biscuits keep well and travel easily in luggage, and boxes are a common gift for friends and family in India. Visitors can pair it with a visit to the market building itself and the surrounding Abids streets, or with a chai stop at an Irani cafe.