Around India In 80 Trains

After holding off on biriyani until we got to Hyderabad, we finally checked with friends and family who still named Paradise as the best spot for proper Hyderabadi biriyani. The building looks like an eighties shopping mall so don't be put off, as once you hop into the lift to the first floor the restaurant opens out into an enormous stretch of tables, all full mid-week with local diners. A variety of rather dapper waiters brought the first round of honey prawns - succulent and crispy - and then heaped large mounds of zingy chicken 65, dry-fried morsels with a good kick at the end.

The mutton biriyani arrived in large clay pots: soft golden yellow rice with tender hunks of marinated meat, sprinkled with a sweet and crispy layer of fried onions that gave the chillis a nice balance. A separate dish of biriyani gravy arrived for pouring over the rice and really, the only way to eat it properly is with fingers - and god, did it taste good. Two large pots were enough for four people and we still had space to squeeze in a couple of excellent creamy kulfis. There are the usual mutterings that Paradise isn't that great anymore and that there are other spots with better biriyani, but having sampled many in my time, I'd rank it up there as one of the best.