India, Sept. 19 -- I don't really agree with Michelin's hotel keys for India. The idea is to replicate the famous star system used for rating restaurants to judge hotels. Only, instead of stars the ratings are called keys. It's a very good idea and has worked very well in Europe. Unfortunately it is less reliable when it comes to the two Asian destinations I know well. The keys for Thailand make little sense and I have yet to meet anyone who understands the logic behind the keys awarded to Indian hotels. Only two Indian hotels have three keys, which makes no sense because hoteliering is something Indians do well. (London alone has eight hotels with three keys.) On the other hand, there's no doubt the two Indian hotels with three keys are outstanding. Udaipur's Lake Palace is spectacular and Hyderabad's Falaknuma Palace is a real gem. Between the two, Falaknuma is the lesser-known property. This is because it isn't located in Rajasthan, where you expect to find palaces. It's in Hyderabad, and was never the primary residence of the ruler. Falaknuma is a late-19th-century building constructed by a Hyderabadi noble who sold it to the Nizam for a token sum of Rs 20 lakh in 1897. The Nizam used it as a guest house for visiting royalty: the Prince of Wales, the Grand Duke of Russia etc. In the post Independence era and especially after the princes were derecognised by Indira Gandhi's government, it fell into a state of disrepair. Princess Esra, the Turkish wife of the Nizam, began talks with the Taj to restore it and run it as a hotel, in the 1980s. In 2010 the Taj finally opened it, after years of restoration. Hyderabad has grown in a different direction since, so Falaknuma is quite far from the tech district (where the ITC Kohenur is king), but for anyone who loves great hoteliering and historical splendour, Falaknuma is one of Asia's finest hotels. It is extremely well run by Anmol Pancholy and his team. With each passing year the Hyderabad of the Nizam seems further and further away. One reason why I love Falaknuma is because it lovingly recreates that bygone era. When I shot here a decade ago the hotel found me a master perfumer to interview about the city's dying fragrance tradition. This time they found me a tailor who made a nawabi achkan in just 24 hours. An expert on pearls was on standby to offer a tutorial. This is a vanishing (if not already vanished) Hyderabad. In food terms alone the city's tastes change with remarkable speed. Twenty years ago I came to shoot a program on Nizami food and found it at private homes; restaurants served a hybrid cuisine. I came back a few years later and found that Gobhi Manchurian was easier to find than good biryani. I came back again some years later to check out restaurants for the Culinary Culture ratings and discovered that many vast new places had opened but a) very few had any interest in Nizami food; and b) most were not very good. The biryani tradition was fading. Instead there was a tilt towards the food of the Middle East. As Arabian food is a second-rate cuisine compared to Hyderabadi, I found this surprising. But all over the city, restaurants specialised in Mandi which is a Middle Eastern dish of meat and rice and tastes like it was made by a semi-skilled cook who lacked the talent to make biryani. Shawarma places abounded and restaurants had names like 'Istanbul.' Obviously I am not the only one to feel this way because India's top restaurateurs are all opening branches here. The big boys are all here and the biggest of the big boys, Rohit Khattar has taken Hyderabad by storm. I went to Hosa, his modern South Indian restaurant, twice, and not only was it packed but there was a queue outside the door. Hosa is a quality operation headed by chef Harish Rao (who was part of the opening team at the original Avartana in Chennai) and I would happily queue for his food too. But Rohit has also introduced authentic Thai food to Hyderabad, at Fireback. The cuisine is overseen by the great David Thompson so there are no compromises on quality. Fireback was jam packed too. (If you do go, order the Massaman Curry.) There is more to come. A week or so after you read this Rohit will resurrect the All American Diner, his legendary original Delhi restaurant in the space next to Hosa. I am a sucker for hot dogs, hamburgers etc so I loved the food. My guess is that Hyderabad will too. And there is still a huge new Comorin to come. Hyderabad is on target to become Rohit's biggest operation: Bigger than Mumbai or Delhi. If it all works out then Hyderabad will finally get the restaurants it deserves. Which is great; Though it still puzzles me how any city can abandon one of India's great culinary traditions to eat shawarma and Mandi instead!...