So someone has asked me to post something about eateries in Kolkata....have asked me to "enlighten them"...well...I am not sure how much would I able to do justice to that, but here goes nothing...
Okkay, Kolkata possesses, like many other cities, a distinct culture of it's own, when it comes to food, being a city about two hundred years old and home to a race of people who take eating very very seriously and strongly believes in the notion that there is only one direct way to a person’s heart and that is through his stomach, also due to the fact that over the years people of many cultures have come staid in the city, making it their very own, has led to the development of a very strange melee of contrasting food habits, which, the food lover Bengali has embraced graciously, in turn turning his beloved city into a never-ending gastronomic Orgy, which if you are not careful would ensnare you and then you shall never be able to forget the city....at least not in a couple of lifetimes!
There are various obscure places which provides with a variety of cuisine and one can never believe that this good a quality is achievable at this low a price. There are many of which I know and also many which i don't please fell free to add on to my blog...
Well I don't quite know how to start, after some thought I plan to start from the North down to South, These are all the ancient eateries which are still famous among the GenX...
1. In Shyambazar there is Gol Bari which has become almost of a legend. (Try their kasha mangsho and Roomali Roti)
2. Let us take Central Avenue First...we turn towards Baghbazar and go to Nabin Chandra Das, the inventor of Rosogolla.
3. From there on we come to Shobhabazar where we ca find the wonderful Mitra Cafe(you got to go with a very empty stomach), Order a Gravy Chaanp first then a special mutton Kabiraji Cutlet and after that one Chhaanar pudding as your dessert.
4. Cross the road and walk through the footpath and soon enough you will reach Allen's just have the Prawn Kabiraji cutlet there(you can have almost anything but that particular dish, you would find nowhere else in the city...did you know they fry the cutlets in actual gawa ghee?)
5. keep walking straight and you would reach Beadon Street take a right towards Nimtala burning ghat and Bhutnath temple and you find a number of stalls selling hat Litty a bihari delicacy I am sure most you will love it most people do!
6. Come back a bit take Rabindra Sarani and find out Royal have some of the best Chaanps that you may have ever tasted in your life!
7. Come to Central Avenue once again and you will reach Girish Park metro, there is Niranjanagar an ultimate place for anglo-mughlai cuisine age old very dingy and sinfully tasty(try out the liver curry, breast cutlet, devil, vegetable chops and kofta)
8. From Girish Park take a right towards Ganesh Talkies and you shall find a few shops selling exqusite Mogai paan have it sada(not with mishti masala, believe me!)!
9. Now we once again come back to Shyambazar and now we take Bidhan Sarani, first you will reach FariaPukur street beside Talkies Show House, do not miss the Dhakai Parathas one of the only places on earth you would get that dish now!(and I am serious!)
10. Then you must have Mishti laal doi from Amrito, the best there is!
11. Go straight and you shall reach lakshmi Narayan Shahu the world famous (literally!) telebhaja shop, no matter what have the peyanji among all the varieties (it's not known as netajir peyanji for nothing)!
12. Walk straight and you will reach Chacha's another one of Kolkata's greatest anglo-mughlai joints, try cutlets(fowl cutlet to be precise) and Chacha's special!
13. Take a right keeping Hedua on your back and Bethune Churh on your Right, if it is afternoon you will see the great Hedua Chaat wala standing there under the shadows of the Church the same way he has been standing for about sixty years and his father before him.
14. Move forward and you would be rewarded with the site of the palace of sondesh king Nakur Nandy! Try anything there it's costly it's sinfully tasty.
15. From Vivekananda Road and Bidhan sarani crossing if you could side step a bit towards Manicktala, you would find another mishti baron Girish Ghosh do stop there!
16. Start moving towards College Street and you shall come across one of the most unusual albeit extraordinary joints of our gastronomic adventure, you know I've seen many websites and news paper articles complements Aaheli; 6 Ballygunge Place; Bhajhari Manna and Oh!Calcutta to bring out the real taste of varied Authentic bengali cuisine but they forget one name it's cheap and definitely authentic and can beat any of these in taste any day it's name Jaganmata Pies Hotel, they cook a variety of authentic Bengali dishes from aluposto to pabda machh it's opposite to Sreemani market. You have to sit on the ground and eat on banana leaves(not for showing off, just to make it hygienic and cut costs).
17. Reach College street and straight go into Dilkhush Rstaurant and have their wonderful cutlets.
18. Walk a few steps further and their is The Coffee House, try their chicken omlette it's great!(along with of course coffee cold or espresso and a lot of adda!)
19. Now right on the curve of Surja Senstreet don't forget to take left for Puntiram and grab a bite of their Radha Ballavi (They invented it!)
20. Take a curve towards the back of college square and the famous Juice Centres Paragon and paramount lay there have the Daaber Shorbot, the formula was created by Acharya Jagadish Chandra BoseHimself!
21. Go Straight to Bowbazar and find out the bow barracks(I really don't where it is, but it is there!), try to get some home made wine and pastries I hear they are easily available out there...
22. Take the path straight and you would reach Bhimnag you must have some Sondesh there, maybe you know the reason as to why Sir Ashutosh Roy was addicted to it?
23. Now let us come back to Girish Park, I guess you have, by this time finished the Mogai paan? Take an auto to Satyanarayan Park, Barabazar and go to Tiwari's the best North Indian sweet shop available in Eastern India! Try anything and you would end up with a ton of pure ghee, at least!
24. But before going to Tiwari's just cross the Road and stroll into Sharma's for a quick taste of mouth watering Rabri!
25. Now, there are a few Rajasthani Basa s which serve authentic Rajasthani and Jain Dishes (including Aamras at the end) but the location I do not know...
26. ther is another place called kathgola in the maze of Barabazar, where you can get the best jalebis available.
27. Take Mahatma Gandhi Road and reach central Avenue and start moving towards South, you will reach near Terittybazar Street, there if you could go very early in the morning you would find an array of Chinese Breakfast items(I've never had these, but I know it's wonderful)
28. Go straight and you find Chang Wua! The best and oldest Chinese Restaurant in Kolkata! Have the special Chilli Chicken and mixed noodles, it will spoil you for sure!
29. cross the road and go straight through the lane and the delicious mouth watering smell will lead you to Shabir's the best place in the City to have Lamb Rezala and Roomali Roti
30. Take the winding streets of Chandni Chowk the electronics district of the city and you shall find the some little broken down shops where they actually sell unsweetened solid dudher shor (malai)! They serve you with sugar on them!
31. Go straight into New Market area, although before taking this route you might like to travel down the Dalhousie Area were you can find the greatest variety of Kolkata street food ranging from doi-chinre to biriyani, people have this strange belief that the food here is bad but a survey conducted by WHO (World Health Organization) confirmed that these street food are some of the best in the entire world hygienically and from the point of view of materials used! Unbelievable?...Believe It!
32. Come to the Front of Telegraph office there area number of street side little stalls which sell beef Halim taste them; it is a sort of mangshor ghugni. Bet you never had it before!
33. Take the footpath of grand Hotel and you will reach a little joint called Rally's Inn run by the rally's syrup company. Try the Custard Firni there, it's awesome!
34. You know you can even cross the road and there are a couple of stalls which makes an amazing Stew you may want to try it!
35. When you reach the new market Area be strategic about the way you move...first go to S.N.Bannerjee Road and Chowrongee road Crossing you will find a little but crowded place called Anadi Cabin where you must have a special Moglai Paratha and a plate of Kasha mangsho and then come back to Aminia, known to be the quenn of Biriyani in Kolkata, although I find it to be much Hyped there are a number of places who does it better but it would be a sore loss if we do not visit Aminia at least once during this excursion of our's for if not Biriyani you should have The Aminia Special! It is definitely worth it!
36. Walk straight ahead to reach Nizam and have Beef there! Beef Kebab roll, Beef Bhuna Gost and Lachha Paratha! Come out and walk straight into new Market from the back gate right in front of you shall reach Nahoum & Sons one of the last Jewish Establishments left in the City with it's amazing cakes and pastries try the Brownie and you will be committing serious sin!
37. Walk out from the side gate towards Lindsay street and definitely have the Bhel puri there!
38. go round towards Free School Street as you are about to enter the dining zone of Kolkata, Park Street(as if this was not enough!), a little further on there are a number of restaurants which specializes in Bangladeshi Food and you would be amazed to find the exotic collection of fish you will find there!
39. Among all these there is a little shop(don't ask me the name!) which is an Iranian restaurant specialize in making Shwarma(a sort of roll) try the chicken one!
40. Keep walking straight and you would come out in Park Street start from the beginning Trinca's.
41. on to these restaurans one by one...... (For all of them are as old as the others and together they hold the colonial heritage of the City):
· Trinca’s , enjoy the live music with along with the wonderful food
· Mocambo
· Magnolia
· Moulin Rouge
· Peter Kat, home of the mouthwatering Chelo kebabs and wonder sizzlers
· Last but not the least Olly Pub, the greatest place to have cheap and good booze along with great food, It’s almost a Mecca for college students.
42. After you have had your fill of food and booze you are ready for Dessert so why don't you trot down to the most celebrated bakery of Kolkata FLURY'S? Try all sorts of pastries, sandwiches and breads of the best quality!
43. If you are not in a mood for a heavy meal, (In fact now that I think you should try it even with a full stomach, it will taste equally good!) try the Kathi Roll Corner, I guess that’s what it’s called! Actually we never take it’s name it’s so very “on the face of it”, the shop represents the king of Kolkata’s Street food the Roll!
44. After this if you are a sweet tooth as I am and you give a hell about the Calorie bullshit just cross the road and try some oomphilicious ice creams and Sundaes at the Hobby Centre!
45. Travel straight and you will reach st, Xavier’s College behind the College there is a joint which is pretty old and famous with the Xaverians and they keep on babbling about it you can try their stuff they have light snacks they are good but not as good as their regular customers boast!
46. After that continue through park Street and go towards Circular road and there is an old Chinese Restaurant with exquisite food and a heavy price tag (which by the way totally is worth it!) called Jimmy’s Kitchen.
47. Come out to Chowranghee Road and travel straight and each Theatre Road and try some of Kolkata’s best Pav Bhaji at Mayaram’s and then go straight to Rabindra Sadan.
48. here you are going to get treated to the best Tibetan Momos the City Offers the Momo Plaza stands in all it’s inconspicuousness, yet it comfortably holds a firm place in the hearts of all the Kolkatan foodies, you get momos both in chicken and pork variety so pick your choose. I f you want my advice try the pork.
49. After that go straight and take a left at Elgin Road, it will take you to Harish Mukherjee Road where the gurdwara with all it’s grandeur stands and the chaiwala below it. The heavily spiced and milked tea in the Punjabi style comes as a shock for the bengalies, who, love their tea as an almost magical potion subtle with it’s flavor and light taste however, it does in no way repels him instead tickles his inquisitive taste buds and they are happy to get burnt with a Kulhar of steaming tea from the Gurdwara Chaiwala!
50. Now walk straight and you will reach Hazra Road and go through the Hazra Road crossing and reach Sayeed Amir Ali Avenue and there, at Ballygunge phanri stands the Dhaba! You know what the best thing to have there is Makai Di Roti and Sarson Da Saag but you would only get that in the winter! But one must definitely try anything Oh! And the lassi is awesome too!
51. From their walk straight towards Garihaat Crossing and you shall find another landmark roll centre the Bedouin! Umm the biriyani and rolls actually melt in your mouth! I have not mentioned Zeeshan, but if you want good mughlai food, just go opposite Gariahaat towards Park Circus, but there are better places already mentioned above, however Zeeshan is pretty Old and famous!
52. We are at the last count now, just move straight past Gariahaat and you shall reach the Lake Kalibari and there you can have the best Phuchka and Alurdam the City offers.
Well, that is there is to it, seriously I can’t think of any other land mark, old eateries still haunted by the GenX of Kolkata!
I sometimes think it is Kolkata’s own way of filtering the hearts of the young with her ancient charm, and she being a Bengali takes the only path to heart she knows of through the stomach!
Hope you guys like my little tour! I sure LOVED writing it all down1 please, if I have missed anything of importance due to ignorance or mistake please let me know, just post a comment on my blog!
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