Biryani Near Me on Brick Lane: Aladin's Persian Biriyani and Mixed Grill Pot

Aladin Indian Restaurant at 132 Brick Lane, Spitalfields, London E1 6RU, prints fourteen biriyani dishes on its menu, more than most curry houses on the street. The cheapest is Vegetable Biriyani at £12.95, the house Special Biriyani with chicken, meat and a fried egg is £16.95, and the Tandoori Mixed Grill Biriyani reaches £19.95. For anyone searching biryani near me at the northern end of Brick Lane, that list is the reason to pick this door over its neighbours.

The list splits into three families. The plain versions are Vegetable at £12.95, Chicken and Lamb at £13.95 each, Prawn at £14.95 and King Prawn at £15.95. Then come the tandoor versions, where the meat or seafood is marinated overnight and grilled in the clay oven before it meets the rice: Chicken Tikka and Lamb Tikka Biriyani at £15.95, and Tandoori King Prawn Biriyani at £16.95.

The third family is the one most visitors miss. Aladin serves four Persian biriyanis, each topped with a fried egg: Persian Vegetable at £13.95, Persian Chicken and Persian Lamb at £14.95, and Persian Prawn at £15.95. The runny yolk works as a sauce of its own, so these are a good pick for anyone who finds a dry rice dish hard going without a curry on the side.

The showpiece is the Tandoori Mixed Grill Biriyani at £19.95. The menu lists chicken tikka, meat tikka, sheek kebab, tandoori chicken and tandoori king prawn all piled over the rice, which makes it closer to a sharing platter than a single main. Two people who order it with a raita and a bread will not need much else.

Starters here are cheap enough to try several. Plain or spicy papadoms cost £0.75 each, Onion Bhaji and Aloo Chop are £3.95, and Seekh Kebab and Reshmi Kebab are £4.95. The Aloo Chop deserves a mention because few Brick Lane menus still carry it: smashed potato mixed with spices, wrapped in breadcrumbs and fried, a Bangladeshi snack that sits nicely beside a plate of rice.

For a cooling side, Cucumber Raita and Onion Raita are £2.50 each, and a Mango Lassi is £2.95. Lamb Chops are £6.95 as a starter and arrive straight from the tandoor, but if you are already ordering a mixed grill biriyani they repeat what is on the rice, so pick one or the other rather than both.

Diners who cannot decide can sidestep the biriyani altogether with a thali, served one per person. The Non Vegetarian Thali at £21.95 brings tandoori chicken, lamb samosa, chicken tikka masala, lamb madras, pilau rice, nan and raitha, while the Vegetarian Thali at £19.95 swaps in onion bhaji, vegetable samosa, sag paneer bhaji and chana masala.

Finish with kulfi rather than anything heavier. Aladin sells it at £3.95 in four flavours, Mango, Pistachio, Malai and Almond, and a dense, slow-melting slice is the right size after a plate of rice. Pistachio is the one to pick if the table has been eating naga curry, because its nutty sweetness settles the heat faster than a cold drink does.

Spice seekers should look at the chef's special section rather than the biriyani page. Chicken Naga and Lamb Naga are £13.95 each and are cooked with naga chilli, which the menu describes as originating from India and Bangladesh and calls the best dish for spice lovers. Ordering one of these alongside a mild Persian biriyani gives a table both ends of the heat scale.

The Bengali dishes are the other place to look for regional character. King Prawn Bengali at £15.95 is described as a special Bangladeshi dish cooked with bay leaves, cinnamon and cardamom, and there are chicken, lamb and vegetable versions too. They are gentler than the naga curries and carry the whole-spice perfume that also runs through a good biriyani.

Aladin's website lists wins at the European Curry Awards, the London Curry Awards, the Taste Brick Lane Curry Awards, the ARTA Curry Awards, the British Bengal Curry Awards and the Southern Curry Awards. It also quotes a BBC listing naming it one of the world's best curry houses and a five star rating from the London Evening Standard, and says King Charles praised the restaurant when he visited the East End.

Plenty of Brick Lane restaurants hang award certificates in the window, so treat those claims as the house talking. What sets Aladin apart in practice is the sheer length of its rice menu and the Persian egg-topped biriyanis, which are hard to find elsewhere on the street.

Aladin takes table reservations through its website and by phone, and that matters on Friday and Saturday nights when the Brick Lane pavement turns into a gauntlet of menu holders. A booked table spares you the negotiation at the door. Weekday lunches are the calmer option if you would rather not book at all.

For a group of four, a sensible order is two different biriyanis, one tandoor dish and one vegetable curry, plus papadoms while you wait. Mixing a Persian biriyani with a tikka version shows off both styles the kitchen does well, and splitting plates keeps the bill lower than four separate thalis would.

Number 132 sits near the northern stretch of Brick Lane, close to the Old Truman Brewery, whose yards host weekend markets and food stalls. Walk north toward Bethnal Green Road and you reach Brick Lane Beigel Bake, where a salt beef bagel makes a late snack after dinner, and Cheshire Street just off Brick Lane is lined with vintage and homeware shops for an afternoon browse.

Address: 132 Brick Lane, Spitalfields, London E1 6RU. Nearest stations: Shoreditch High Street on the Overground is the closest, and Aldgate East on the District and Hammersmith and City lines is a longer walk from the southern end of Brick Lane. Collection and delivery can be ordered through the website.

All prices in this guide come from the menu published on Aladin's own website. If Aladin is full, Bengal Village further south on Brick Lane also lists a long biriany section, and the Karpo APP can point you to whichever table is free and plan a walk to Spitalfields Market afterwards.