Meander along the Bank Street in Abids, and Grand Hotel is an unmissable sight. With its constant flow of customers, every one of them sporting a full belly, the restaurant is one of the favourite places in Hyderabad’s Old City.
The rush inside the restaurant is just as crazed as it is outside, where you’ll find virtually no parking, so it’s best to travel to Grand in an auto. Observe the goings-on at Grand and it very quickly starts to look like a well-oiled machine, what with the calm and collected servers darting between tables, orders being shouted out and customers filling up free tables, ultimately redefining ‘organised chaos.’ On a weekday afternoon, it’s almost routine to find queues of people waiting for their fixes of biryani and kebabs .
HYDERABAD, TELANGANA, 23-10-2017: Star chicken Grand Hotel, Abids, Hyderabad. Photo: K.V.S. Giri
Grand’s interiors are nothing to write home about, but the upper floor does feature an array of old photographs of the Old City; one stand-out image being a calm and almost empty Charminar — far from what we see now. The photographs are worth an observation as you dive into your meal.
Two floors of dining halls separate two types of eating crowds; the lower is more for those looking for a quick chai , while the upper air-conditioned floor houses the more lounge-while-you-eat crowds.
The place is all about functionality, rather than grandeur.
Make no mistake, the servings at Grand are heartily generous. The family-sized biryani , costing around ₹250, lives up to its portion sizes, easily feeding up to five people — and it’s freshly made in intermittent batches, according to the staff and biryani enthusiasts alike. The affordable prices with the large dishes seem like the place is running on a fluke, but it’s more than that; the eternally faithful crowd is a perpetual variable too. The biryani here is an acquired taste for some though even though most clamour for this.
HYDERABAD, TELANGANA, 23-10-2017: Grand Hotel, Abids, Hyderabad. Photo: K.V.S. Giri
A mandatory ritual for many after they have indulged their appetite is to order the in-house chai , which is different from the usual cuppas around the area. Its after-taste is pleasant and, unlike other Irani chais , this variety holds little body but plenty of flavour. The formulation is clearly different, but it still holds true to the makings of a delicious cutting chai .
Enduring history
Abids, being one of the city’s oldest commercial areas, has unofficially assigned Grand Hotel as its eatery, making it a popular watering hole for people from all walks of life. Having opened its doors in 1935, the restaurant has seen a couple of revisions, interior-wise, to keep up with the times, but has never compromised on its means of preparation, proving to hordes of Hyderabadis that they are all about the heritage dishes. Q Rahmaan chats about his frequent visits to the eatery for the past 20 years, as he spoons heaps of mutton biryani onto his son’s plate. The boy of eight or nine immediately digs in, professing a childlike love for the rice dish through silent yet gleeful expressions. “We do plenty of shopping in the area,” he explains, “then we like to come here because the servings are hearty and the food is consistent to us. We know what we will be getting every time!” He starts to dig into his own helping of biryani , the steam still wafting off the tender pieces of mutton.
HYDERABAD, TELANGANA, 23-10-2017: Chicken Biryani at Grand Hotel, Abids, Hyderabad. Photo: K.V.S. Giri
Two students from the University of Hyderabad enjoy a pre-lecture lunch of roti and subzi , explaining, “The food has a good flavour and is very affordable. To us, they don’t seem to compromise on ingredients, and I feel that’s why the place is always busy!”
On a usual day, Grand is perpetually buzzing. But come Ramzan, and the eatery takes on a different personality altogether.
HYDERABAD, TELANGANA, 23-10-2017: Grand Hotel, Abids, Hyderabad. Photo: K.V.S. Giri
H Uddin, a 77-year-old who has observed Grand’s growth since in its early days, describes, “This place is now my grandson’s favourite for haleem . Yes, there are other places and we recently moved further away, but we always come back here during the festival because it reminds us to be traditional.” And that’s what embodies an iconic restaurant; one that has endured time and trend. Grand is sticking around for the foreseeable future, thanks to its staunchly loyal crowds and its timeless dishes.
In this weekly column, we take a peek at the histories of some of the country’s most iconic restaurants.
