Kolkata (Calcutta) Restaurants

I've heard great things about this cafe, from the guidebooks that recommend it to the travelers that frequent it, so I thought I'd try it out. I haven't had a bad meal in India yet, and the trend continues within this fabled haunt of backpackers. The clientele is a 50/50 mix between locals and foreigners, which is always a good sign. The prices are very reasonable. I'm able to buy an elaborate feast for myself and three different beggars, all for under 200 rupees - $5! I buy way more than I could possibly eat, which allows me to try a little of everything whilst sharing the food with those less fortunate. This place does decent western food too, for those who grow weary of Indian food.

Favorite Dish: They do a lot of international snacks really well, like their pizzas and other 'continental fare.'

The veg momos are a delight. They're also best deep fried.

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Kolkata is famous for it's food of various kind. One of these Sundays we tried this Punjabi Dhaba to taste their rustic food. We have been there before but this time with the camera. This place is about 50/60 years old started in 1927 as small tea shop for the Sikh taxi drivers at Rashbehari Avenue, just next to Rashbehari Avenue Gurudwara ( Sikh temple for worship). With time they have developed their business many fold with their good tasty meals and very reasonably price!

They have two sections, one with air conditioning and the non air conditioning but the food remains the same. With many classy people falling for Rustic Punjabi Dhaba food, their business is brisk and very busy. Since, the place is on the main Rashbehari Avenue, parking is a problem, people prefer to visit the place after 10 in the night to taste their food.

Favorite Dish: We had their Chicken Chaap, Chicken Biryani, Kadai Murg & Tandoori roti. Amongst them Chicken Chaap is the best. It will be lot better, if they put little less oil & butter.

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My this tip is dedicated to our VT friend Sinjini Bannerjee Ghosh, who is also a great foodie and a great cook herself. This rustic eatery was started in 1928 by Sardar Balwant Sing, who came from Punjab as a freedom fighter with the other freedom fighters and settled at Bhawanipore Gurudwara at 10/B, Harish Mukherjee Road, Kolkata. He started this Dhaba( The rustic eating house) as he found the simpletons, bravadoes from Punjab are finding it very difficult the food of their choice( comprising Roti, Dal, Tadka etc) in the area. That was the time, when the Oldest Dhaba of Kolkata City was born. That time, there was hardly any traffic in the area as the road was small, and the area was almost unknown. Situated next to the Gurudwara ( Prayer house for Sikh Religion), he started making those simple but tasty food, which now attract thousands from the city an attract many celebrity as well, as told by his son Mr.Lakhvinder Singh, who is also the Vice President of " Sri Guru Singh Sabha" of Kolkata. His simple eatery not only fed the ordinary people who came from North India and could not afford high priced meal but in the process, he made many friends as well. His business grew by leaps and bounds as people would get attracted to his sweet behaviour and helping attitude. The tradition is being followed by his very able son Mr.Lakhvinder Singh , his son and daughter ( who lives in London) who are now his flag bearers. They have now opened many posh eating houses in Kolkata like " The Five Rivers" at Mani Square Mall and Dhanoa at Bangalore , the business is in millions today, but the success has not changed the behaviour of soft spoken Mr.Lakhvinder Singh, who promised me to look for a place in South Kolkata as well.

No wonder they have made many followers as well. Their clientèle goes as the great actor Sri Prithwi Raj Kapoor, Raj Kapoor, Uttam Kumar, Dharmendra, Ashish Bidyarthi,Kareena Kapur , great singer Kundan Lal Saigal, Anuradha Paudwal, Hemanta Kumar, Great Movie Director Satyajit Ray, Industrialist Harsh Neotia of Ambuja group the list is very long.

The place has a capacity of accommodating only 30/35 people but hundreds wait outside in their cars and eat.

Favorite Dish: There are many dishes, we like here, but we had Butter Naan, Masala Kulcha, Dal Tadka, Mixed vegetable, Vegetable Cream Masala. But their USP is Roti, Tadka, Tea, Samosa Sarson da sag & Makki di roti.

Tea: Mr.Lakhvinder Singh shared with me that their famous tea is made with a combination of Darjeeling & Assam Tea, and water is not boiled directly over the fire but it is steamed to give it a perfect Dhaba Taste. No wonder the tea tastes great!

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South City mall has a full fledged Food Court, comprising of more than 20 outlets serving Indian, Thai, South Indian, North Indian, Italian, American and other International food delights. We too frequents these places, whenever we go there for shopping or other related things.

We are also fond of Subway burgers and sandwiches. There is a sitting arrangement for at least a few hundred people.

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This is one food court, that has come up in the IT hub of Kolkata in Sector V of Salt Lake, Kolkata. The place is opposite Bar Be Que Nation. This place serves foods of various kind like Bengali food, Himalayan delicacies, South Indian , Chinese, Pizza & Pasta, North India, Chaat and so on. All the food stuff is very reasonably priced, place is very clean and self served. We visited there on two consecutive days Saturday & Sunday.

Favorite Dish: We had Indian Chaat, Himalayan Chicken Pasta Sizzler, Chicken Fried, Ice Cream and Coke.

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The city of Kolkata, has numerous Chinese eating places, most of them has shifted to more spacious place at Tangra, the China Town. But the original China town is at Territy Bazar, near Dalhousie, where there still some Chinese families live. But out of the 15/20 odd Chinese family run restaurants only a few are still there serving home made, cheap, healthy, clean Chinese food, which serves mostly to the office goers a very few come to eat dinner. These places also dont' serve drinks and does not have air conditioning.

We go there regularly to have lunch from the office as the place is situated in the office district. The restaurant is about 112 years old ( next to the famed Nanking restaurant, which is now closed). I have found their meal is excellent, tasty, less spicy and very cheap compared to the Tangra food. Their food is perfect for office lunch.

Favorite Dish: Our all time favourite is Chicken Wanton Soup. I think, I had it at least 50/ 60 times in the last four, five years. Then we also like the mix rice noodles and chicken cooked in Haka Style, fish cooked in Cantonese style. We continue to change the menu. Since it is near my office, I don't carry a camera there and I have taken all the picture with my cell phone. We also keep changing the menu. We have tried so many varieties here that I forget all the names, but I shall now write something on this very small place.

Oh yes! Their clientèle during the day is not bad. They are closed on Tuesday. All dishes are priced less than Rs.100/- or about USD$2. The chicken wanton soup is priced for Rs.50/- or USD$1 enough for two servings! A good meal for two will cost less than Rs200/- or USD$4. Don't you think, it's a deal!

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One of the Sunday in May,10 we decided to give this place a try. As the name suggest, it serves the finest delicacies from Punjab. But we found the buffet has almost everything we wanted to try. We had enough starters, which had Fish Amritsari, Chicken shreds, veg. pakoda, various salads, we were full with starters. The buffet lunch had two rices, fish, mutton curry Punjabi style, chicken cooked in tandoor with gravy and the deserts.

They have tried this menu in the style of Flame Sigree & Grill but I shall still rate the food at Sigree is far better and their grill is excellent. But this place is not bad at all, worth try and a revisit is a must.

The Sunday buffet is priced @Rs.399/- per person, plus you can have drinks at extra cost.

Favorite Dish: Fish Amritsari, we had so much that we almost could not eat or try the menu at lunch!

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"Sizzling Sizzlers, Delicious Pork, Chicken and Lamb from the Continent. It's Comics, the new Continental Restaurant, just two minutes from Menoka Cinema. Come savour the best continental cuisine in a unique ambience. " Well we experienced it today( Sunday 26th August) afternoon at lunch, and we can very well confirm that a single word is not untrue!! Well folks and our VT friends our wait for the good Continental food is over. It is now available in Kolkata at a very affordable price with excellent ambience. Its' purely a family joint with good crowd and food is just superb. They serve all types of continental foods which will delight our friends from the continent and the Bengali crowd as well. Bengalies are said to be very adoptive about food when it comes to taste.
We also had the opportunity to meet the two young entreprenures Mr.S.Ramani and Mr. Aninda Palit, who are the owners of this place. They realized sometimes back that the city of Kolkata lacks good Continental eatery at affordable price. The two dreamers just put their dream into reality and we ????? Our dreams are realized too. Calcutta has many places which offers continental food but at affordable price? It was a big no. But now our friend from the continent can have the food of their choice at this place. Though it will be slightly far from Sudder Street where most of the foreigners stay, they can take Metro and can get down at Ravindra Sarovar station and then just walk down to Comics. Believe me it will be an wonderful experience, with personal touch from Mr.S.Ramani and Mr.Aninda Palit. They will make sure that you won't go un- satisfied. We also discovered that both Mr.Ramani and Mr.Palit also stay in Golf Green Complex, where we also stay. They also run two ohter places 6 Ballygunge Place and Grand Trunk Road in Kolkata.

Favorite Dish: We had Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad ( Rs.155 or USD 4.5 with tax), Mixed Grill Sizzler ( Rs.275 or USD 8 with tax) and Munu had Casper's Choice a mocktail ( Rs75 or USD 2 with tax). With time to come we shall try to visit this more often and explore the other dishes as well.

We are sure with time this place will attract more and more people who love variety eating. I will also suggest Mr.Ramani and Mr.Palit to make arrangemet for Draught Beer, which goes well with Continental food.