We went to Paradise Briyani Pointe in New Brunswick for lunch yesterday. We are already big fans of Paradise because their briyani is one of the best briyanis we have ever tasted in any restaurant in the US and since their opening about two years ago, we have always gone there whenever we felt like having briyani.

I have heard of Paradise Briyani in Hyderabad, which is supposed to be the best briyani there. Though we are not sure if Paradise Briyani Point is tied up with the Hyderabadi chain, we love their taste. After opening in North Bruswick, now they have been well received and now they have opened in three more places in NJ, Oak Tree Road (Edison), Princeton (Hamilton) and Jersey City. I also found out that they have one branch each in Dallas, Raleigh and Virginia.

Yesterday we decided to go to Hoysala for lunch, as my son loves their Chicken 65. As soon as we reached Hoysala, we realized that there was a long wait for atleast 15 to 30 minutes. Little do they know that even after they seat us, I usually request them to bring something to eat, while we are getting ready to order. Since it was a long wait, we decided to go to Paradise as it was a long time since we went to the North Brunswick location (we have been going to the Oak Tree Road one more often now).

Yesterday was the first time we went to Paradise for lunch and were surprised to see they had ‘Independence Day Special Lunch Buffet’. Yes, their chicken and vegetable briyanis were a part of their lunch buffet. Surprisingly there was not much crowd – contrary to what we saw at Hoysala. In any case, I was really happy as I could start eating right away.

There were quite a few items in the buffet.

They had mullighatany soup which I did not try as I was told is very spicy, but very tasty. We had masala vada and an aaloo item for appetizer. They also had chicken 65 so my son was quite happy with that.

For main course, they had paneer tikka masala and chickpeas vegetarian dishes that were very tasty along with the hot naans that they served us. There was also shrimp masala, along with goat curry and also chicken curry. Besides this they had their famous chicken briyani and also vegetable briyani.

They had rasmalai for dessert, which was actually tasting like something else (I think rasagulla) in rasmalai syrup. They also had a vague tasting dish, which they call some burfi, while I call it ‘Mysore Pak on diet’ as it was tasting like Mysore Pak without any sweet or ghee in it.

Overall it was a good experience and I will definitely recommend Briyani Pointe to any one wanting to have tasty Indian briyani at any time.