House of Biryani, 5151 Lee Highway, Arlington, 703-532-4104, 11 to 10
A hole in the wall biryani house, quite authentic, quite good. All halal, the owner is from Bangladesh. They will make it spicy if you ask. The haleem is quite soupy though still yummy. Biryani is the thing to get, goat too. This is not a perfect high quality restaurant, but if I lived nearby I would go all the time.
I really like the family ambiance and the food is rather good, but I have the feeling that they are dumbing down the spice for westerners. I have had the goat and one other biryani and they were both served piled high with the standard little salad sort of side, but they were both just a little understrength, albeit oversized. I live around the corner so when I go back next time, I will have to ask to have it spiced up a bit. We’ll see how it goes.
Had their lunch buffet today. Not bad — excellent paneer saag and tandoori chicken; the beef though, was a bit fatty. Butter chicken was also good, as was the pullao.