Some would head to Mocambo and hit the spacious dance floor. Some would walk into Trincas for sliced chicken in chilli lemon sauce or steamed lemongrass fish, as they tapped their feet to live jazz music. Yet others headed next door to Blue Fox for classy continental cuisine or Waldorf for lip-smacking Chinese. At Amber, less than a kilometre from Park Street, one could savour Kabuli naan with delectable reshmi kebab. Firpo’s on Chowringhee Road attracted the rich and the famous who watched cabaret at the restaurant’s grand, pillar-lined ballrooms and enjoyed a five-course meal.

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Since then fine dining has evolved with time. But much remains the same at some of the old restaurants on Park Street and central Kolkata, though scores of new ones have sprung up across the city, especially on Purna Das Road, Lansdowne and Southern Avenue, offering fusion, continental, Bengali, Lebanese, Japanese and Thai food for the changing taste bud.
While ‘Calcutta biryani’ has always been popular, you now have many more outlets selling it apart from Awadhi cuisine, including the delectable galawti kebab and raan biryani.

Mocambo, the old lady of Park Street, still serves fish Florentine, chicken Tettrazini and beckty bell meuniere while its sister restaurant across the street — Peter Cat — continues to sizzle with Cello Kebab. “We have jealously guarded the taste of our dishes over decades. For us, fine dining hasn’t changed in terms of the food,” said Nitin Kothari, owner of the restaurants. But now you have new kids on the block, like Chapter 2, that have beckti Florentene, chicken steak mushroom sauce and ham steak that stick to their authentic tastes. “These are classic continental and Anglo-Indian dishes that we try to keep as original as possible. This is our tribute to Sky Room that no longer exists,” said co-founder and owner of Chapter 2 Shiladitya Chaudhury.

One Step Up on Park Street serves shepherd’s pie, khao suey and fish Florentine with original flavours and taste.

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The story of Kolkata’s street food traces back to the colonial era, when East India Company transformed the city into a commerce hub. With the influx of people from various corners of the world, a fusion of culinary traditions began to take shape and gave birth to the street food culture. The late 19th and early 20th centuries witnessed the emergence of iconic street food items. The kathi roll, for instance, is believed to have originated at Nizam Restaurant around 1930s. It quickly gained popularity as a convenient and flavourful meal for officegoers and students. Peddlers selling kulfi was also a regular sight.
Every street corner is sure to have aphuchka wallah, dishing out spicy and tangy phuchkas to a huddle of customers or ajhalmuri wallah, mixing the modest muri with onion, tomatoes and spices. The neighbourhood tea stalls are forever brimming with people, discussing world affairs over milk tea or lemon tea in bhaars or kulhars. One of Kolkata’s oldest street food epicentres is Dacre’s Lane, a narrow stretch, sandwiched between colonial Calcutta’s office buildings. The chops, cutlets, sandwiches, stew an d juices have been satiating the hunger of office-goers for years. The oldest food stalls are not less than 80 years old, still making the same aromatic breakfast, snacks and lunch that were served by generations before them. Sitting on a wooden bench in front of a 72-year-old stall and savouring a stew, Canadian chef Bashir Munye said, “I have been sampling the spicy, hot food here all morning in the summer heat. Eating hot soup or stew like the one from Chitto Babur Dokan can help you stay hydrated. It replenishes fluids lost in the heat. ”
As you enter Dacre’s Lane, the smell of burning coal from earthen ovens, used to heat tea and fry snacks, wafts in. The earthen ovens continue to be an essential at almost every roadside stall, connecting modern Kolkata with the Calcutta a hundred years ago. Sandeep Ray, who owns a snacks stall, said, “My father and grandfather cooked here before me. We have maintained the same dishes and recipes over decades. ”
At the deepest crevice of the lane is a vegetarian food stall, running for 20 years. Despite the legacy of Kolkata as a non-vegetarian haven of cutlets, fish fries, rolls and biryanis, Tara Ma Stall is always teeming with customers. A visitor said, “This kind of non-spicy vegetarian food, which is light on the stomach, is ideal on an office day. The rotis and naans smell like my childhood. ”

About 2. 2km from Dacre’s Lane is Dalhousie, the office para, where a bustling hub of food stalls of diverse cuisines are lined around imposing, colonial commercial buildings. Tapan Das’s is the only Chinese stall in the area for about 30 years. Pointing out the challenges of preserving the street food heritage of Dalhousie, he said, “We sometimes struggle with people’s notion of lack of hygiene at our stalls. But food safety teams carry out inspections and the regulars who eat here daily do not get sick. ”
Owner of a 45-year-old stall, serving ‘egg-toast’, Shambhu Dholay added, “We don’t get much crowd on hot summer days and we lose sales. But otherwise, it gets chaotic, serving the steady stream of office-goers and tourists. ” Sukant Kumar, who shifted to Kolkata from UP about 6 months ago for work, said he ate at Dalhousie every morning and loved the bustling street food culture.
Although a summertime favourite, kulfis are a classic that remain in demand throughout the year. Singh’s Kulfi in front of Calcutta Stock Exchange has diversified its menu to keep up with the demands of the iced desert-loving customers. An assortment of chilled fruits, like mangoes, are cut and served as toppings. “My father started this stall in 1986,” said owner Brij Nandan Singh. Talking about innovation, Singh pointed at food trucks, serving twists to classic dishes.
Despite the rise of social media-friendly trends hitting the street food market, like Fanta-filled phuchka and Maggi pizza, the humble kathi rolls, chow mein, momos and Mughlai parathas remain the mainstay of quintessential Kolkata street food culture. They reflect a symbiosis of the city’s distinct culinary traditions.

From phuchka, jhalmuri and egg roll to momo, dosa, kebabs, cutlet, mutton stew and kachori, the ‘chefs’ on the streets rustle up dishes of various kinds, tantalizing the taste bud of locals and visitor

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You may have heard about some of the strangest combinations on the internet, like rice with ice cream or chocolate with chapati. But have you heard of the Rasgulla roll? This Bengali dish is placed on a flour base, seasoned with sauces and spices, and rolled up. The innocent white dish, made with spongy balls dipped in sugar syrup, is a welcome treat on every big occasion. However, it takes four of these balls, stuffed in a paratha with sautéed onions and capsicum, to create the Rasgulla roll.​

​Although the food stall names it a Rasgulla roll, it is hardly authentic. As one user commented on the Instagram page of the dish, “I personally tried this roll for this video and it almost tastes like a paneer roll we usually eat. They are using chanar kofta as Roshogolla which is not sweet at all. This place just named it Roshogolla Roll just because these koftas look like Mini Roshogolla.” That may be true or false, but “Kolkata Fusion” uploaded a short video that features marinated Rasgulla balls on a paratha that are rolled into a stuffed roll, complete with ingredients you’d normally find in a veg/non-veg roll.

​Since it was uploaded, the video has received over 10,000 views with thousands of likes and comments. One Bengali user expressed their dismay after watching the video, saying “Is there anything left to see?” While another user asked “Why, just why? Why are two extraordinary things being mixed?”

​The Instagram channel “Kolkata Fusion” uploaded the video and claimed that the Rasgulla roll is in Kolkata for the first time. The food stall where the video was shot is Takeaway Kolkata, Baghajatin.​

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​Kewpie’s, deeper inside Bhowanipore and housed in a striking green-and-red building, started off as a cafe 25 years ago. The building, however, predates the establishment it houses by 125 years. Owner Deep Chakraborty’s family came to own the property 90 years ago. “The architecture represents a mix of Bengali and European motifs, the pillars giving structural support are of European descent but the arches and curvature of the walls are distinctly Swadeshi,” Chakraborty says, adding that the property even had an angan, which was covered up to extend the eating area.

Chowdhury and Chakraborty are part of a growing young demographic of cafe and eatery owners trying to blend Calcutta’s colonial history with young Kolkata’s aspirational lifestyle. The buildings draw on the city’s rich history and architecture and use them as props to draw in ever more youthful crowds, many of whom savour the “experience” as much as the caffeine served in tasteful mugs and cups.

Evening joggers and pedestrians of south Kolkata are well familiar with the sparkling cafes glimmering across lanes and bylanes with a nostalgic concoction of pop and rock songs of the last decade, lively chatter and the aroma of coffee beans. Beyond just the southern part of the city, the whole of Kolkata is rapidly joining the ranks of cities with a diverse cafe scene. One thing that distinguishes Kolkata’s cafe culture from other Indian cities is the restoration of heritage buildings as cafes. The blend of a century-old architecture with contemporary-themed decor and youthful banter makes Kolkata’s cafe culture unlike any other. The further south one travels, cafes begin to line the streets and alleys with increasing frequency.

Since just before the pandemic, hundreds of cafes came up in Southern Avenue and Deshapriyo Park. The majority are built into relatively smaller spaces, like occupying the first floor of a heritage home. A case in point is Bunaphile, running for two years at the ground floor of the historic home of late writer and academic Nabaneeta Dev Sen. The cafe serves the vintage look of any heritage home, with oldworld windows and high ceilings, packaged into just over a 1,000 square feet area. For over a decade, heritage buildings-turned-cafes has been a predominantly south Kolkata enterprise, until the northern part of the city started catching up with a vengeance thanks to social media vloggers sharing glimps- es of cafes serving a distinct north Kolkata aesthetic. One example is Baithak Khana, nestled in a lane near College Street. It features a large bed and cushions which occupy almost half the room, in what appears to be an ode to traditional Bengali adda. The property is over 350 years old. The family-run cafe hosts an array of inexpensive finger snacks suited to the budget and tastes of college students. “This home was once owned by Reverend Krishna Mohan Bandhopadhyay, a member of the Young Bengal Group, a movement of free thinkers from Presidency College, then Hindu College. They would hold meetings in this very room along with historic figures like Derozio,” said Banibrata Nath Khan. His sister Archita added, “The relationship we share with our visitors is heart-warming, the atmosphere is very casual and we treat each other like family. ”

Deep inside a residential lane in Hatibagan, one can find a property with wall art painted in acrylic hues of yellow and blue reminiscent of Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’. “The Rowak’s” is painted across one corner of the wall in a playful font. The cafe’s name plays into the distinct cornerstone of north Kolkata architecture. Rowak (pronounced ‘rock’ in Bengali) is not unlike the wraparound verandas encompassing heritage Kolkata residences and temple architecture. Its purpose is simple: an outer space for adda. Its owner, Arnik Basak, has become viral on social media because of the uniqueness of his cafe. Located on the porch of his ancestral home, Basak started the cafe to encourage adda and to create awareness on the fading architectural heritage of the “rowaks”.

With more and more heritage buildings being lost or repurposed every year with no trace of their original form or history, arguably some of the biggest contributors to holding on to memories of heritage architecture and hundreds of years of family histories are Kolkata’s cafes restored from these buildings. Teleporting new generations of visitors to at least a hundred years before their birth, the cafes unite a growing community of youngsters who get a chance to experience a zeitgeist of a historic adda culture from past eras of the city.

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KOLKATA: Kolkata may soon get Bangkok vibes with three stretches being marked as “food streets”, where dishes of different varieties and cuisines will be sold.
KMC has selected the area in front of New Market, the stretch at the south gate of Victoria Memorial Hall and in front of Millennium Park to set up the hubs. The civic authorities are also considering Prinsep Ghat as a probable fourth spot for the project.

Deputy mayor Atin Ghosh on Saturday said the civic body planned to set up the food hubs, modelled on Bangkok’s street food hubs, immensely popular among locals and foreign tourists alike, for their cuisine spread, hygiene and affordability. Food-lovers and curious tourists flock to Jodd Fair market, Chatuchak weekend market, Srinakarin Train market and Silom among other places in Bangkok to get the culinary taste of Thailand and beyond.
The KMC has taken up the project with financial help from the Centre. If everything goes well, the food streets will offer at least 50 varieties of food for breakfast and lunch. “We chose the stretches in front of New Market, Victoria Memorial Hall and Millennium Park, given the places’ popularity among residents as well as tourists-domestic and international. These places will be unlike the existing street food joints,” said Ghosh. The KMC has appointed a consultant, an expert in drawing the models of such food hubs. “From selecting the stall designs to the food to be served, everything is being planned meticulously. We don’t want to merely duplicate the existing street food zones in the CBD,” said Ghosh.

While the KMC would provide infrastructure support, such as uninterrupted water supply, illumination, maintenance of roads and pavements and a special cleaning drive, it was likely to seek assistance from the All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health (AIIH&PH) in determining the food value of the street food to be cooked and sold in those streets, said a KMC official.
A citywide survey conducted by AIIH&PH in 2005 revealed the nutritional value of Kolkata’s street food notwithstanding, the stalls lacked basic hygiene as was evident from the washing of utensils.

Saktiman Ghosh, secretary of Hawker Sangram Committee, said the food streets were an exciting proposal as street food vendors would get an opportunity to showcase their skills in offering the best quality and varieties of dishes at the cheapest prices possible. “We have around 1.5 lakh food hawkers who need to get trained in delivering the best quality food to enhance the image of the city to foreign tourists. The KMC may pick up the trained food hawkers to run the food streets,” said Ghosh.

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KOLKATA: This summer, sip your coffee and enjoy it, too, as the machine makes its way into legendary College Street Coffee House. With the introduction of “special cold coffee” from April 1, the chimes of change are loud and clear at Kolkata’s iconic adda zone, formally called the Indian Coffee House. The heritage cafe, churning out varieties of the handmade brew since its inception decades ago, is giving in to market needs, at last.
“To cater to the demands of youngsters, we are working on quite a few additions to our existing coffee menu. We start with the machine-made ‘special cold coffee’ from April 1,” said Sarfaraz Ahmed, secretary of the cooperative that has been running the place since 1958. “The ‘special cold coffee’, for Rs 55 and Rs 65, should be a major hit for people across ages, especially during the summer months,” said Ahmed.

The existing menu includes, black coffee, the staple drink for regulars. It’s priced at Rs 20. Christened “Infusion”, extracted by percolation brewing in a traditional south Indian filter, it may be losing its popularity, hinted the waiters. Hence, the attempt to try out newer stuff. “Infusion was all we could afford back then. We sat for hours but didn’t dare look at the hot milk coffee, let alone its ice-cold version,” laughed author Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay.
If you want milk coffee, they stir boiled (not frothed) milk to the brewed ‘Infusion’ and sell it for Rs 25. The same stuff mixed with ice is served in the cold coffee avatar. It’s Coffee House’s most expensive coffee (Rs 45). “The ‘special cold coffee’ will be different. Shots from the espresso machine will be taken and mixed with a blender to create the frothy, iced coffee,” Ahmed explained. “It can be topped with ice-cream,” he added.

Ahmed’s phone has the immortal number, “coffee house-er shei add ta aaj aar nei”, as its caller tune. Manna Dey’s ode to the legendary haunt sitting at the corner of Bankim Chatterjee Street and College Street is still relevant; the winding flight of stairs leading to the duplex hall, once frequented by generations of poets, writers and who’s who – the likes of Satyajit Ray, Sunil Gangopadhay, Shakti Chattopadhyay, Allen Ginsberg and Gunter Grass – seems to be losing its appeal every day. In the process, losing to competition.
“We would relate to this place so much as students (of Presidency College). The buzz of chatter, the turbaned waiters and the aroma of freshly ground coffee keep pulling me to this place off and on. But the soul seems to be missing,” mused litterateur-bureaucrat Yashodhara Ray Chaudhuri.

Artist-writer Samindra Bhowmik said, ” Other than improving the quality of the fare served, it needs to draw the city’s elite like before. Events can be organized with creative people, performers from various fields to draw quality crowds who would once again enliven the air with meaningful caffeine-fuelled conversations.”

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