Biriyani Wars- Bawarchi VS Paradise - Hyderabad !

What comes to your mind first , when I say Hyderabad ? Is it the mughal splendor associated with Nizams from long ago , the soulful qawwaalis , the endless trinket shopping in Choodi bazaar or  flavorsome Hyderabadi biriyani . Im sure for most people esp guys ;) it must be the biriyanis this place is famous for.
Last month , we got a chance to visit this beautiful place with family . Almost every person I talked to would mention ' Please dont forget to try the biriyani from Paradise hotel / Bawarchi! ' . So obviously we decided to try both.
First evening we reached , we immediately headed out to locate our first target - Bawarchi  and bought parcels back to the hotel.

Note- they have no other branches

We started off with chicken tikka . Must mention, its packed pretty well, well insulated and the heat is retained for atleast a couple of hours.

Chicken Tikka

The tikka was juicy and succulent , spicy as well. The usual accompaniments of onion rings ,lime wedges and mint chutney just added to the flavours.
Of course the main item was the Mutton biriyani . We had our first taste and reliased why this place was so so popular.

Mutton biriyani - Bawarchi

It was absolutely delicious - The rice long grained and fragrant with the aroma of subtle spices. The meat was so tender ,it was just melting in our mouths . It had the accompaniments of raita and mirchi ka salan, but I preferred it just as it is with nothing to mask that goodness.
We finished our meal with another local delicacy - Qubaani ka meetha - which is a concentrated sweet made of apricots.

Qubaani ka meetha

Now this is a tad tooo sweet for my taste, but S loved it - and Baby A couldn't get enough of it .Needless to say it was a very hearty meal.
Next day, our plan was to hit Paradise Hotel and try the biriyani there for lunch - but after roaming in the burning heat in choodi bazaar, we just decided to take a parcel n head back to the comfortable ac interiors of our hotel :) . We managed to lose our way and it was getting late ,so we settled for takeaway from another place - called Golden Bawarchi. Don't be fooled into thinking this is a branch of the original Bawarchi , if you had noticed before in the plastic bag , they have mentioned they dint have any other branches.

Chicken biriyani - Golden Bawarchi

 But this biriyani ( chicken this time) was to die for - absolutely amazing - in fact, i still drool thinking about that biriyani.And check out the size of that chicken - it was a whole one! Talk about quantity.
Finally at night , we managed to find the Paradise hotel .

We started the meal with some Nan , malai chicken tikka kababs and mutton seekhs.Yum yummy ! All the kababs marinated very well and juicy .

Mutton seekh, Malai chicken tikka and nan

The mutton biriyani here is delicious as well - but more on the spicy side , the rice is just so perfectly coated with the masalas.

Mutton biriyani - Paradise Hotel

 By now we were pretty much bursting at the seams, but just couldnt stop eating .

Overall, Hyderabad is a city meant for foodies, each and everything I've tasted here was awesome,and the quantity is just unbelievable -3 people can easily share one plate of biriyani .Also price wise - its much cheaper than Bangalore, so totally easy on the pocket .
If you ask me, my favorite biriyani was the one i had from Golden Bawarchi :) , mainly cos it was the right kind of spicy for me , but take my word , each of the biriyanis were just unique in flavor and totally worth trying .

Leaving you with some shots of the beautiful city .

Chaarminar

Bustling choodi bazaar

Freshly made Nan sold in choodi bazaar - tastes like pita bread/khubuz

Chaarminar at night - isnt it lovely?

Hussain sagar lake

Qutub Shahi tombs

Golconda fort

Yum-O-Meter - definitely 5/5