If you are looking for a lawyer who has just won a case or got a stay order for his client from the Lahore High Court (LHC), you don’t need to make a call; simply cross over to the other side of the road and enter the building facing you from the entry gate on the back side. It is most likely that you will find the lawyer celebrating success with his colleagues and clients over sumptuous food at a restaurant setup(!) in the courtyard of the building.

Enter Paradise -- the restaurant that is known for offering the best mutton joint aside from its delectable mutton qeema and murgh musallam. It is situated in the centre of the Nursing Das building that houses Bundu Khan Restaurant and Zaidis (the photographer’s) on the side facing the Mall.

The restaurant has been there since 1952 when its owner Seth Sagheer Ahmed set up a tea stall. But there is no name or sign board that could guide you to the place. It is almost impossible for a passerby to guess that the dark alley on view could lead to the world of heavenly food served in a highly cordial manner.

"We’ve never felt the need to market the restaurant as the influx of customers is already hard for us to manage," says Shabbir Ahmed, 30, the owner of the restaurant.

Around 70 per cent of Paradise’s clientele, Ahmed says, has something to do with the LHC and that is why the timings of the restaurant have been worked out accordingly. The restaurant opens at around 1pm and is meant to serve its clients till the time the LHC remains open. Though, sometimes the food finishes early.

As per the owners, although all the items on the menu are of a high standard it is mutton joints, mutton qeema and murgh musallam that are unmatched. People come here as they find huge mutton varieties and that is why Paradise had to introduce mutton dishes on meatless days as well.

Of late, families are coming to the restaurant in large numbers and being served in two dining halls dedicated to them.

Shabbir Ahmed rattles off a list of well known personalities including Justice (retd) Mehboob Alam and Justice (retd) Naseem Hassan Shah among restaurant frequenters. There are serving judges as well who visit the place to have lunch. While they enjoy their favourite dishes, their personal security guards are on the alert and constantly keep watch on the surroundings.

The staff of General Post Office, T&T office, Customs House on Nabha Road and the Accountant General’s office also visits the restaurant frequently. There is an additional load when the Punjab Assembly session is going on. MPAs from different cities of the province come here to have lunch with their friends.

A waiter says that many police officers who appear before the court with under-trial prisoners and are often reprimanded by the judges for various reasons, come to the place to unwind. "It’s obvious who foots the bill," he says in a secretive tone when asked about the sponsor of these luncheons.

The history of the restaurant is quite touching. The owner Seth Sagheer Ahmed passed away in 1984 when his two sons were kids. For 22 years, the employees of the restaurant managed the business on their own as the ‘heirs’ were too young to take over. They are said to have worked with great honesty and would pass on the share of the owners to the widow of Seth Sagheer at the end of every month.

Both the sons of Seth Sagheer who were studying at the nearby Cathedral School would walk to the restaurant every day after school. They would have lunch here and then leave for home. They were not concerned about the business matters till 2006 when the two brothers formally took over.

The Paradise menu consists of seven to eight dishes including murgh musallam, chicken boneless handi, mutton joint, mutton qorma, mutton qeema, mutton biryani and firni. Batair (quail) roast is available on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and rahu fish masala in winters.

Gulraiz, 58, a frequent visitor to the restaurant, says that he personally knew the owner who passed away 30 years ago. "He was a very simple man; humble and God-fearing. He respected his employees and trusted them. That’s why most of his employees are still working here."

Gulraiz says Seth Sagheer would "never touch the food being cooked at his place for outdoor catering. He always went outside to have the simplest of food from roadside stalls. He considered it dishonesty to eat food that belonged to others."

While Paradise finds it hard to meet the demands from its ever growing clientele, the owners are more than willing to expand the catering business. Their clients are mostly affluent people who order mutton kunna or mutton joint to be served usually at the events they are hosting.

Asif Alam, who looks after the catering business, says they offer a great food variety to the clients but the most repeated order is for mutton dishes. "This is our core competence and with the grace of God we have no competitor at the moment," he says.

According to Alam, the list of their regular outdoor clients is quite long and includes corporate sector clients, politicians including Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, Chief Minister’s office at 90 Shahra-e-Quaid-e-Azam, Nazria Pakistan Trust, renowned personalities such as Syed Babar Ali and so on.

He says they also provide mobile marquee service and serve their unique dishes at conferences, political meetings, milaads and during different election campaigns.

Aqeel, a close friend and an aide of the owner, says sometimes it is hard to collect enough mutton joints to fulfill the orders placed with them on a short notice. For example, he says, once they had an order to supply 250kg of mutton joints at a wedding the same day. "You can well imagine what it means. It takes slaughtering of more than 100 goats to get this quantity of mutton joints."

The prices are on the higher side but Shabbir thinks they are reasonable: "For instance, mutton joints cost Rs750 per kg at the minimum and there are only three mutton joints in a kilogramme. We are selling a mutton joint for Rs425 which is not a high price, considering that the uncooked meat costs around Rs250."

Throughout its history, there was one occasion when Paradise had planned to come out in the open. It was when the former DG PHA Kamran Lashari announced setting up a food street opposite the LHC. Paradise restaurant was supposed to offer its menu there but the food street could not become functional due to a restrictive stay order issued by the court.