Rahul Gandhi at Chutney’s on Friday and (below) at a rally in Vijayawada earlier in the day. (Vijayalakshmi and PTI)

Hyderabad, April 11: Try offering Rahul Gandhi Hyderabadi biryani when he’s on a vote-catching spree, and he’ll serve you some food for thought.

“Too rich and heavy for me if I have to be up and running tomorrow morning,” the Amethi MP, on a night stopover in the city on Friday, declared. “How about idli-dosa, instead?”

As his poll team, already surprised that he had opted to eat out, hemmed and hawed and wondered where to take him, Rahul announced that he wanted to go to Chutney’s.

“Chalo, let’s make it fast, I want to get some good sleep and be ready for tomorrow,” a source quoted him as telling Gopala Raju, a techie from a micro-finance NGO who was doubling as his escort.

The drive from the guesthouse to the popular vegetarian joint near Punjagutta didn’t take too long. Once there, Rahul strode straight in and sat at one of the middle tables.

Sensing that the management had no inkling who they were hosting, one of his aides whispered something to a waiter. Within minutes, a steward walked up to him, presented him a bouquet and asked if everything was fine.

“Everything is all right except my stomach. It’s hungry,” Rahul quipped, probably trying to lighten the atmosphere a little.

The steward, Guruprasad, immediately suggested he could try their rava idli, the speciality babai idli and steamed dosa. “Two items will do. If I feel hungry after that, I will order the third,” Rahul said.

He ordered the same fare — babai idli and steamed dosa — for his five-member team as well.

“Idlis at Chutney’s melt in your mouth — they are so soft,” a source quoted Raju as telling Rahul.

Babai idli is served with ghee and masala powders instead of just sambar and coconut chutney. Steamed dosa is served with a mixed vegetable curry of the eater’s choice.

The source said Rahul enjoyed the meal, then sent for the cook and asked him how the items were made.

“I have tasted masala dosa and rava dosa, but not a steamed dosa,” he told the cook, adding he would tell his mother Sonia and sister Priyanka to try the joint when they visited Hyderabad.

After rounding up his meal with a sweet lassi, Rahul footed the Rs 539 bill, ignoring Raju’s protests.

He also gave autographs at the restaurant.

Last October, Rahul and his friends had landed up at Paradise, the famous biryani joint, and gorged on mutton dum ka biryani for dinner.

But this time around, he placed Renuka Chowdhury before the biryani, opting for idlis ahead of the next leg of campaigning in her Khammam constituency.