This is where you get the best desserts in Hyderabad

I was recently on my very first trip to Hyderabad, and I met some of my university friends for lunch in Jubilee Hills. A couple of hours into the afternoon, we were done eating and were sitting around wondering what to do next, when our friend Saransh spoke up. “There are just three things distinctive about Hyderabad: The heat, the biryani, and Conçu.” I laughed at the sudden proclamation, for it sounded like something one would say as a conversation-starter in gatherings like this. It seemed even reductive, for as I discovered during those 3 days, there are far too many things distinctive about the city of Hyderabad.

But the solemnity with which he had said it made me want to find out what this Conçu place was all about. What if it was something really worth checking out? So that's where we headed next for dessert.

Now I have a huge thing for French decor: the pastel pinks and mint greens, those low-hanging lampshades, the easy sophistication, and oh, the daintiness of it all! So when we walked up to the front facade of Conçu, guess what I might have uttered.
.
.
.

But of course..."Oooh la laa!"

The front facade of Conçu is instantly inviting. Fancy, even.

Conçu in French means 'designed' or 'crafted'. Located in a nondescript by-lane of Jubilee Hills, a posh suburb of Hyderabad, the patisserie has a pale sea-green facade and peach doors. There's open-air seating in the foyer, perfect for the pleasant Hyderabadi evenings, and wooden tables and bay-window seats inside for when it's hot outside, which is most of the time. 😝

We took up a table by the window inside and decided to order. That's when the uniqueness of Conçu revealed itself to me. There was no dessert menu! You have simply to walk up to the glass counters, where a server will fish out a wooden flat tray and ask you to pick out whatever you want to eat. It's why they say Conçu is a place to take your friends and family to. You can pick out a host of different desserts - and there is a whole lot to choose from - and share them on the same plate. That way you get to taste a variety of sweet treats without having to eat them all full size.

Caramel Cheesecake, Blueberry Citrus Cheesecake, and Forest Berry Cheesecake. My favourite was the last one!

Red Velvet Cupcake, Triple Chocolate Cupcake, and Classic Opera.

Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries, Bailey's Pannacotta, and Strawberry Dessert. Sadly, we didn't try any of these.

The desserts at Conçu are a lovechild of the owner Sahil Taneja and his wife Swati Upadhyay and keep changing regularly. We tried the yummy Strawberry Tart, Forest Berry Cheesecake, Red Velvet Cupcake, Classic Opera, Chocolate Eclair, some chocolate pastry I can't remember the name of, and the best Tiramisu I've ever put in my mouth. There are also savouries on offer, although very limited in choice. Each piece of heavenly goodness at Conçu costs somewhere between INR 80-250 (I don't remember the exact price range, but this is a good enough estimate).

As the dessert pile on our tray kept receding, we began getting more and more languid. It felt like we had all died and ascended to heaven. It took us some ten minutes to gather our wits again and think about our next course of action, which by some gory twist of fate turned out to be about more food - if you count coffee and hot chocolate as 'food'.

Clockwise from L to R: Hot chocolate, Black coffee, and Cappuccino, with the most amazing chocochip cookies. 

While the various kinds of coffee we ordered were all great and the shortbread served with them oh-so-gooood, the hot chocolate was somewhat of a let down. It was exceedingly thin and sweet, so much that we were trying to make one another finish it by the end. But certainly a small price to pay for experiencing the best bakery in Hyderabad.

Happy, sleepy, and utterly high on sugar and caffeine. 

The gang, with me in the middle.

Back from Hyderabad, when I decided to write about my experience of Conçu, I Googled the bakery. Only to find out it is indeed the highest-rated bakery in Hyderabad! With a rating of 4.7 on Zomato and 4.9 on Dineout, Conçu speaks for itself on the internet. So now I definitely know where to go for the best desserts in Hyderabad, and so do you.

Karachi bakery, with several decades of excellence behind it and outlets across the city, was a close second on my bucket list of experiences to have in Hyderabad. Another Hyderabad bakery I had heard about and wanted to check out was Labonel, though I had to save it for another time. But there's a lot more I saw and did on my first trip to the city of biryani and pearls.

Stay hooked for more discoveries from my Hyderabad tour! ☺

You can also connect with me on Facebook and Instagram for instant updates on my wanderings or to drop me a message.