Eyebrows in Hyderabad were raised when President of Singapore S R Nathan who was visiting the city in March last year, ordered a takeout of 50 packets of biryani from ‘Paradise’ to carry home. Eyebrows touched hairlines when Rahul Gandhi dropped in to eat at Paradise. Eyeballs popped when the entire Indian cricket team descended on a rambling four-storey complex of restaurants called Paradise Food Court to gorge on dum biryani, kebabs, haleem, qubani ka meetha and Irani chai. “No occasion is complete without Paradise biryani,” says city designer. Asmita Marwa.
Biriyaniphiles are split into three puritan tribes, each maintaining theirs is the best—Lucknowi, Hyderabadi and Moppilah. Syrian Christian biryani, another esoteric, fragrant version that has echoes of Jewish and Arab palates is another contender.
Paradise has meant different things at different times in the city’s history. Old Hyderabadis remember it as the place where the famed Paradise cinema stood, with a quaint Irani cafe next door that served over-boiled tea, Osmania biscuits and samosas. Paradise has been a part of the city’s culinary life even before Andhra Pradesh was formed in 1956. On September 1, 1953, Ghulam Hussain started a small cafe attached to the Paradise theatre. On the same day was born his nephew, Ali Hemati, the elder of the two brothers who today run the establishment. “My uncle broke off to start the Alpha Hotel in Secunderabad and my family took over Paradise. I started running it in 1978,” says Ali, who owns the complex along with his brother Kazim.
“In 1982, I realised that what the area lacked was a good family restaurant. A year later, Ali started a restaurant named Persis after his Persian roots. “I hired a German architect Ditmar Frank to do the interiors. It was he who suggested that the restaurant be billed as “the family restaurant”. Over the years, it grew to a restaurant complex with many levels. “I love their biryani, especially the spicy Andhra prawn biryani,” says popular actor Sanjjanaa. “My friends send it to the sets wherever I am shooting in the city.
‘Kacchi’ biryani served at Paradise is different from the ‘pakki’ biryani of Awadh—in which meat and rice are cooked separately. Paradise biryani is made by cooking meat—marinated with curd and spices and layered with rice on dum (pressure). Dum biryani came to India from Persia, but has been Indianised. “Biryani in the Middle East is blander,” says Ali.
All three outlets of Paradise in the city have a signature taste. “We control the flavour from the base kitchen in Secunderabad,” says Ali. “The marinated meat is transported daily to other outlets.” No wonder Paradise is Hyderabad’s biryani heaven.