Hotel Paradise Persis at the Paradise circle in Secunderabad (forms part of Hyderabad - north of Tank Bund lake) is the best restaurant to relish the
Biryani in Hyderabad. Offering a rare combination of authentic hyderabadi biryani served in a place with good ambience with good service from the staff. Plus, the rest rooms are very well maintained. Also, the restaurant is centrally located so it is easy to find both public tranportation or an auto / taxi. If there is only one place you can go for
Biryani in Hyderabad, then go to Paradise Persis Restaurant.
There are a lot of restaurants in Hyderabad that get the
authentic biryani part right - however, they fall short on either ambience, hygiene or hospitality.
One thing to remember; this is a very large restaurant - that caters to many segments of customers. One section handles mostly blue collared and construction worker kind of people. There is also another section that caters to beverages and snacks. Then there is the Garden - which used to be great place earlier. But due to the pollution around this area, you should avoid it. Finally, they have Persis Gold and Persis Platinum that are more upscale.
At one time, this place was not as big, so the experience was much better. However, after they constructed a gigantic new building - things can be very impersonal sometimes. It is likely that everytime you come, you may have a different experience.
Plus remember, restaurants in Hyderabad like big group of people. So if you turn up alone or with another person, you may feel a bit neglected.
If you are caucasian you are fine. If not, dress well - they have some staff who will classify you and direct you to an appropriate section of the restaurant based on their 'profiling'. You are better off dressing sharp.
They serve good biryani both chicken and mutton. They have a variety of kebabs(chicken and lamb) which are delicious. Some popular entrees (dishes) are dumkha chicken, butter chicken, and kadai chicken. They serve an assortment of Indian breads - tandoori roti, naan and roomali roti. Overall, stay with the standard dishes. For desserts the authentic desert is Qubani ka meeta (made from Apricots) and Double ka meeta (made from bread fried in oil, then sweetened along with Indian cheese). They are good and the taste is gold standard. This is not a place to try novel dishes - rather a place where you get to taste the authentic moghlai food.
The food is spicy with many Indian spices. However, the use of hot chilli pepper is a little mild compared to other restaurants in town. However, sample the food and make sure you can handle the spice. Most of the dishes are cooked in large volume - the ability to serve with lesser spice will be limited (even if you ask for low or medium spice).
Despite its small quirks - Paradise Persis is hands down the best place in
Hyderabad for Biryani and Moghlai cuisine. This restaurant has been in business for over 50 years, so they are not in to pinch a few extra rupees from a meal. If you are new to Hyderabad hire a taxi or an auto and just say "Paradise hotel - Paradise circle, Secunderabad". Go for it and hope you like the food!
