PARADISE – Biryani at its Best

Paradise as the name says is heaven for Biryani lovers. Not much intro needed to describe this exquisite place. Chicken Biryani is the best here and it is the care of address for Hyderabad Cuisine. Other mouth watering dishes include Double-Ka-Meeta, Mutton Biryani, Keema Egg and et al.

Located near Secunderabad near an area called paradise, understandably named after the restaurant. It was started a few decades ago and never lost its taste throughout the journey. There are couple of other branches each at Madhapur (Hi-tech City) and Masab tank (only take away).

The restaurant at paradise is huge and offers various sections of your choice. To elaborate, there is an outdoor restaurant, non-AC, couple of floors with AC restaurant. As the floor number increases, so as the rates and ambience. One cannot forget the combination of Chicken Biryani and Coke, and will never get bored even if eaten repetitively. Nothing much to add, great place to taste Hyderabadi Cuisine. Though other vegetarian and non-Hyderabadi cuisine items are not that great.

Family running the business can survive for generations to come by maintaining the same quality. You will be amazed at the scale of business these people do.

Stars Earned: (Out of 5)

Ambience: *** and a half

Food: **** (five for Chicken Biryani)

Price: *** and a half (more stars more price)

Location:  

http://maps.google.com/maps/place?q=Hotel+Paradise&hl=en&cid=17053978826336648071

One the Rocks – Literally on the Rocks aka Outdoors

On the Rocks offers very limited menu and there are only certain standard items that are meant to be ordered. Not that the other items doesn’t taste good, but actually ‘not available’ is the response you get when you try to order them. But the so called ‘Standard Items’ are infact good and can be tried out. But my personal opinion is, I wouldn’t like to visit it again due to other factors like ambience and neatness.

On the Rocks is located at CBI Colony, Kavuri Hills, Madhapur and is beside ‘Sweet Nirvana’ restaurant near Madhapur police station. I visited the place at night and it was quite difficult to find the exact location of the restaurant. It is hosted inside ‘State Gallery of Fine Arts’.

The Standard items that I had mentioned earlier include Chicken 65, Chicken Majestic, Butter Chicken, Paneer 65, Roti et al. These taste quite good but what makes me avoid is the ambience. The restaurant’s indoors are very bad and it looks like they are going to shutdown the place soon. The outdoors are decent but not that tempting to revisit. The place is not that near and neither do the surroundings.

If one likes the standard items on the menu and doesn’t bother about the ambience, this place can be visited. But I am not sure whether this place is gonna be shut soon. Very few people visit this place and very few are actually aware that this place exist.

Stars Earned: (Out of 5)

Ambience: * and a half

Food: **

Price: ** (more stars more price)

Location: http://maps.google.co.in/maps/place?q=On+the+Rocks,Madhapur,+Hyderabad&hl=en&cid=426566602253057178

Thai Express – Definitely Different

Wanna try out original Thai or wanna try out something different, then this is definitely on your Radar. I am not sure whether this is original Thai because I have not eaten that earlier, so am going just with that belief. It wasn’t exactly like the perfect food, but I liked it for the suspense. I couldn’t understand a bit on the menu, so just went out and tried whatever I felt like ordering. Surprisingly I kind of liked it but not thoroughly. It’s just like a kind of movie you might wanna watch once in a while but not so often.

Thai Express, Orange Elephant as its mascot is located on Banjara Hills Road Number 2 opposite to Hyderabad House on the way from Check Post to Panjagutta. It offers a decent view from the 4^th floor of the building. The ambience is good though not that different and not worth to mention in detail. But seats offering road view are good to have.

Weirdest in this place is its menu. I bet you won’t understand a single item on  the menu by just reading the Item names. The person designing the menu is also aware of that provided the menu with a code for each item. So ordering food is done through numbers and not names. That’s kind of different. One has to take the help of the waiter to understand the ingredients of each item and order carefully. In my case, we wanted to have the suspense factor and have ordered anything that looked different. Kaeng Jeut Luk Ngaw, Pad Si Ew Gae, Thau Chendol. Don’t worry, am not teasing you. Just to give you an idea about the Items on  the menu. The first one is the soup, last being Desert and the other being Noodles.

Worth trying it out but no guarantee given because this is totally out of routine. One of my vegetarian friend was hoping to forget the experience soon. But must for explorers like us.

Stars Earned: (Out of 5)

Ambience: ***

Food: ***

Price: *** and a half (more stars more price)

Location:

http://maps.google.com/maps/place?q=Thai+Express,+Banjara+Hills,+Road+Number+2,+Hyderabad&hl=en&cid=11743208889257931119

InOrbit – Mother of all malls

InOrbit mall at Hi-Tech city is kind of biggest mall in Hyderabad for now. If you happened to read this by chance and were wondering why this figured in the list of restaurants, well this mall has numerous eat outs at the top floor. If you are staying nearby, this would be your ‘ADDA’ for the weekends.

Pizza Hut, KFC, McDonalds, Subway, Baskin & Robbins, Pizza Corner, Bowl-o-China, Jalapenos, Cream Stone, Bakers Inn, 4 Seasons, Madras Mail, Juice shops, Donut shops and what not. Not Dominos. Only Dominos is yet to raise a flag here. These brands doesn’t need special introduction and anyone would go after them. Few things to try out include ice cream at ‘Cream Stone’, few Mexican varieties at Jalapenos and whatever looks unfamiliar is worth a try.

There’s lot of space to eat and there’s outdoor as well on the same floor. Self-Serve yourself, grab the tray and sit wherever you want. The outdoor has a view of ‘Durgamma Cheruvu’ and cool breeze keeps kissing you. If you are going on a weekend, watch out for the crowd though there are lots of tables available. You may need ‘Musical Chairs’ kind of skill to get a table for eating.

Just to brief you up on other floors of the mall. There is this Hyper City mall at the Ground floor, Reliance Digital, all known apparel shops, branded showrooms shopper stop, Life style, home town, Apple Showroom, News Café Bar,  Coffee Day, Ice Cream Parlors, hff and now I am tired. Just too many. Cinemax is on its way, sometime soon. Come and kill your day here. Even if you are a spinster, you won’t be disappointed. You will enjoy the posh atmosphere and lot more to look around(you know what!!).

You will definitely want to revisit.

Stars earned: (out of 5)                          

Ambience: **** (neat)

Food: Can’t Rate (definitely around 4)

Price: Can’t Rate (too many options)

Location: http://maps.google.com/maps/place?q=InOrbit+Mall,+Vittal+Rao+Nagar,+Hitech+City,+Hyderabad,+Andhra+Pradesh,+India&hl=en&cid=1682092275122500235

Barbeque Nation – Tikkas at their Unlimited best

Barbeque Nation, undoubtedly competitor for the best Buffet in the city. Though a bit expensive, it is known for its unlimited starters. When I say starters, they are not regular ones that you find at any other corporate-attracting restaurants. They are solid tikka style, otherwise called Bar-B-Que. You have your hot coal to heat your tikkas. For a person new to the concept of heating your tikkas, its going to be interesting for the first few times atleast.

Located near ‘City Centre’ mall in Banjara hills, the Buffet would cost you around 650 bucks on any day. Starters include Chicken, Mutton, Fish, Prawn and other veg items like Paneer, corn and so. If you are lucky on a particular day, Crab would also be available. Alcohol is available and people who drink can have a blast(Munching part). There are other routine items on the buffet that taste just fine. You won’t get disappointed with the finishing touch as well. Few Deserts are too good, I can’t mention the names as they keep changing. One common favourite would be Gulab Jamoon with Ice Cream.

One of the best buffets in the city and you will definitely enjoy it. In my case, I happened to sit at 2nd floor once and by my surprise, there’s a guy singing live. Definitely different experience.

Stars Earned: (Out of 5)

Ambience: *** and a half (slightly packed)

Food: ****

Price: **** (Expensive. Ard 650+ bucks per plate)

Location: http://maps.google.com/maps/place?q=Barbeque+Nation,+Road+No+10,+Banjara+Hills,+Hyderabad,+Andhra+Pradesh,+India&hl=en&cid=4746117034355407179

New Kritunga – as SUPER-SPICY as it can get

For all those spicy food lovers, this is the apex, summit, zenith or whatever. It has multiple branches and I have tried out Madhapur(Just beside Madhapur Petrol Pump). Rayalaseema food is supposed to be its tag, but sometimes ‘Spicy’ overrides it. One can find all varieties cooked in Rayalseema like Raagi Sankati, Jawar Roti and Gongura Mutton and some unheard-before recipes. For those confused with what is Rayalseema, its enough to know that it’s one of 3 virtual parts of Andhra Pradesh, the other two being Coasta and Telangana. (Now you can relate after mentioning the ‘T’ word).

Coming to Food, as already mentioned its super SPICY. I almost got my throat burned, literally. I had a Thumps-up immlediately to nullify the effet, but it made things worse. Things to try out include Raagi Sankati with Gongura Mutton, Jawar Roti and other combinations. Raagi Sankati and Jawar Roti are supposed to be healthy foods. There are other items in menu which I didn’t dare to try that include Mutton Brain and balls.

Ambience is not good, only reason you want to visit would be food. If you cannot handle Spice, avoid it. Vegetarian is too bad and too spicy. Some of my veggie friends just hate it.

One good thing is, it comes cheap. After all the hot food you had, you will cool down looking at the Cheque.

Stars Earned: (Out of 5)

Ambience: **

Food: **  (May be more for Spice lovers)

Price: ** (Quite Cheap)

http://maps.google.com/maps/place?q=New+Kritunga&hl=en&cid=6337952362889726260

Nautanki Gali – Ideal Buffet and Beautiful Ambience

Nautanki Gali is a branch of the highly popular ‘Ohri’s’ restaurant chain. And it only increases the reputation of the chain. Located at Hi-tech City, it is normally thronged by IT professionals. Buffet is served for around 250 bucks in the afternoon and around 350 bucks in the night. Lower rates in the afternoon can be to attract IT pro’s. Not to forget the Ala-Carte, its as good as the Buffet but a bit costlier compared to Buffet.

Ambience is too good and worth describing a few details. As you enter, ‘Rajasthani folk’ music and dance welcomes you. So you can enjoy even while you wait for your turn to munch. These Folks seem to be from Rajasthan sincerely and they perform sound tracks including remix’s from various Bollywood songs in their style.

Now, on your turn to enter the Gali, you will be amazed to see how simple yet beautifully the area has been decorated. You will find cycle rims aligned vertically to separate tables. You will find that the whole place is decorated with the theme of a ‘Gali’(meaning STREET), that being you will find a barber shop, tailor shop, auto-rickshaws and so on. Obviously not real, just resemblimg them. So you can grab you bite and have food in an auto. One should visit the place to enjoy the atmosphere, and you enjoy as much when its busy. But again, its always busy.

Buffet here is one of the biggest, so as they claim is true. It displays Soups, starters including fish, Dim Sums, 3 coolers, multiple chaat varieties, salads, main course including pulkas, dosas, mutton curry, pizza(not so grt), noodles and lot more. Not to forget the finishing touch, deserts. Deserts include couple of sweets, couple of ice cream flavors, cakes and as already said, lot more.

Stars Earned: (Out of 5)

Ambience: ****

Food: *** and a half (Though huge no. of varieties)

Price: *** (Buffet)

Price: *** and a half (Ala-carte)

Tag line: First couple of times, you will enjoy it thoroughly. Later, you won’t be disappointed.

Chutneys - South Indian Veggie Delight

Chutneys, the name says it all. You have 6 different varieties of chutneys including 2 kinds of Ginger , tomato, 2 kinds of coconut and groundnut. People who love any of these will be in love with ‘Chutneys’. Though one can find quiet a range of food available here, it is best known for south Indian tiffins and Thali.

It boasts of having ‘Babai Hotel Idli’, MLA Dosa, MLA Pesarattu among many others. Thali is one more thing you can try when you are hungry and it will satisfy your appetite. If you are planning to visit multiple times, of course you will if you are a vegetarian, you must try out all of the South Indian Tiffins atleast once. And needless to say, the taste is just next to what you get at home.

Quality doesn’t come cheap, as they say. Two ‘Babai Hotel Idlis’ will cost you around 60 bucks and that tells the story. But people staying away from home can just rely on this for the taste factor.

One thing that welcomes you first is ‘Waiting’. Considering its fame in hyderabad, you need to wait whether you like it or not. May be its just another technique to increase you appetite.

Stars Earned:(Out of 5)

Ambience: ** and a half (for the waiting)

Food: **** (Purely Veg)

Price: *** and a half (More Starts, more expensive)

De Banyan Restaurant - Only if no other option

De Banyan, located at Madinaguda, Hyderabad looks good from outside but doesn't boast the same from inside. One can find De Banyan with rocky facade opposite to A-Lounge when travelling from Miyapur to Lingampally. The Rocky Natural facade attracts and welcomes you making you think its going to be same from inside.

Now, the inside story. There's an huge artificial Banyan tree inside and now you wonder from where the name came from. The artificial tree has all animal toys hanging that makes it look more artificial. Coming to business, food is pretty average.

We started with Soup that is quiet bad, starters that taste a day older and Non-Veg biryani tastes good and can be finished.

Bottomline, if you are looking to explore something new, don't go for it. Other case, if you don't have any option and if you are nearby the place, you can risk to go once in a while.

Stars Earned:(out of 5)
Ambience: **
Food: ** and a half
Price: *** (More Stars, more expensive)

And forgot to mention, there's Banyan's special for every cuisine available. But you can't Order. No kidding, its only on the menu, not in the kitchen.