FRIDAY DOUBLE POST- POST NO. 1- No chai in Paradise

Sometime after the Bahar restaurant at Begumpet became Paradise restaurant after the takeover by the Paradise people I dropped in there to check out the chai section. I found the tea was as good as that served at the original Paradise Cafe at the Paradise circle. For many people ‘Paradise’ means biryani only and I cannot blame them but for the likes of me it means a good cup of chai and Osmania biscuits/samosas etc. So I was glad the Paradise was spreading out to all corners of Hyderabad. Needless to say I was under the impression that I’d get chai at every outlet of Paradise but turns out it isn’t the case.

Last week I was in Begumpet and dropped in at the Paradise there with the idea of having a quick cup of chai. When the guy at the bakery section told me that chai isn’t on the menu I got a minor shock. I did not want to ask him why it wasn’t being served and other questions I had in mind and just walked out heart filled with disappointment and some kind of resentment with the Paradise people. Don’t the people in Begumpet like to drink chai? It looks like it since this Paradise branch looks all geared up to cater to that crowd that likes to eat biryani with fork and spoon along while swigging Coke and stuff like that. No true biryani lover would ever have anything else other than chai after his favourite dish unless he had a screw loose somewhere in his head. I haven’t checked up if this is the case with the other outlets at Kukatpally and the one near Prasad Imax. Maybe they have realized it isn’t worth serving chai at these places. Whatever their decision it sure filled me with a bit of resentment at the way the Paradise folks treats chai and the people who like to drink it.

Anyway, I soon got over this minor disappointment when I ended up at the famous Red Rose Restaurant at Errum Manzil. This is an unpretentious cafe which offers some good stuff. I had an egg puff, two chota samosas that were fresh, crispy and very tasty. I topped off these with a cup of wonderful chai that washed out the experience I had at the ‘Paradise’ cafe in Begumpet.
As if this is not enough, things have changed at the original ‘Paradise’ cafe at Paradise circle. They still continue to serve tea there but not in cups. Since a couple of months they have been serving chai in Paradise in paper cups. Drinking tea in paper cups isn’t exactly the same as drinking it in proper cups. It makes me feel like taking ‘Paradise’ off my list of favourite chai joints.