HYDERABAD: If you are an Indian, it doesn’t matter which part of the country you reside, you know your paan and how delightful it is. India is synonymous with paan as you can find it literally everywhere. The humble betel leaf is stuffed with a variety of ingredients and is a much-recognised mouth freshener across the world. For the uninitiated, the City of Nizam’s’s tryst with paan goes back to days of the seventh Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan. He was said to be quite fond of it.
Hyderabad’s love for paan comes right after their love for biryani. Spread from old to the Financial District paan shops rule the heart of the paan-lovers. One such paan shop is Dimmy’s Pan Palace in Sindhi Colony — who serves over 75 varieties of paan-with 30 varieties for sweet-toothed paan lovers. The decades-old place has carved a place for itself in the city for ‘best’ paans.
The shop has many branches around the city and their specialty is the Calcutta Meenakshi paan which has a minty flavour and is filled with elaichi (cardamom), extra gulkand (rose sugar), saunf (fennel), elaichi, laung (clove) and kesar (saffron) and rampiyari as well and do not forget to ask for soft supari (bhuna hua chaliya) in your paan if you are not too keen on teeth-grinding.
Sathvik P, who started off as a part time food blogger and is very keen on experimenting with different kinds of food says, “They are the perfect mix of an authentic olden days feel paan shop with unique varieties of flavours to add a newer twist. I tried the chocolate paan and meetha paan, both offer so much flavour in just one bite.”
His first priority is hygiene and taste, says Srinivas working at one of Dimmy’s shops. “In our shops, the paan leaf is selected under watchful eyes and washed twice. Every ingredient and quality is controlled personally by us after tasting and passing through every step for making different types of paan,” he says, “We also deliver our paan online with the help of various platforms, making the business profitable and more accessible.” Other unique paans at the outlet are kulfi paan, ice cream paan, mitha laddu paan, khajur paan and ice paan. The other popular paan shop who has created a niche market for themselves is Mayur Paan House at Abids.
“They have strawberry paan, chandan paan, blueberry paan, rose chutney paan, dilkush paan, pineapple paan and the one not to forget is oreo paan. Whenever I am in Abids or this part of the city, I make a point to stop at Mayur Paan House,” says Niveditha Natraj, MNC employee.