Kolkata- the City of Joy has touched the hearts of its people and has been inviting visitors across the globe captivating them with its rich cultural heritage, warmth, and love showered by the smiling faces in the city and the gastronomic pleasure it is capable of offering.
They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach and once you are in this city taking a stroll through the roads, you will not find it difficult to believe so, as you explore the wide range of culinary delights every nook and corner of the city offers. From street food joints to big shot restaurants, from roadside delicacies to exquisite Chinese, Italian, Spanish, Continental or Indian food, you name it and you know you will find it in Kolkata. The array of options from sweet, tangy, spicy, non-vegetarian or vegetarian food will perplex you in making the right choice to satiate your cravings as you struggle to decide which one of those exquisite Kolkata food items you are prepared to skip over another.
When you are in Kolkata, it is but natural for you to prioritize satisfying your taste buds with the rich flavors of the city street food over a fine dining restaurant. With multiple options and choices to explore as you walk around the city with pocket-friendly deals, there are a few fast foods particularly street foods to which you would not want to say no. Born and brought up in Kolkata and as a diligent lover of food, I have preferred working out a little extra the next day maybe rather than having to choose anything else over these delicacies. Read on and keep craving so that you surely have them in your checklist the next time you visit the city!
A personal favorite at a shady dimly lit corner of the lane or in a decorated sweet shop, the delightful crispy Phuchkas will give you the perfect blend of sweet and tangy tamarind chutney teamed with finely chopped chilies in a spicy mix with potatoes. That is not where it ends, add some curd to it and there you have a plate of Dahi Phuchka. Crush the Phuchka into fine pieces and mash it with the potato to get your Churmur or eat whole pieces of small potatoes with spicy gravy of onions and garlic and call it the Alur Dum. Phuchkas can definitely brighten up your days just as it does for one of its many crazy fans like myself.
The elegantly added lime zest to the spicy crispy chanachur as Ghoti gorom with a sip of black tea as you sit admiring Victoria Memorial or gazing at the greenery around you near the Race Course is an ultimate bliss worth experiencing. You could grab some puffed rice enriched with chanachur, nuts, spices, chilies and onions, mixed beautifully in a cone shaped paper bag in what is called the Jhaalmuri as you satisfy the needs of the stomach and satiate your heart with a big broad smile on your face.
3. Papri Chaat
The mix of mashed potato with spices and crunchy papris, with a topping of tamarind chutney and curd, every spoon of the Papri chaat will give you a taste of four different mind-boggling flavors in your mouth, melting away gradually. This gastronomic delight is indeed difficult to keep away from your thoughts until you grab a bite.
Each being an Indian bread, parathas, luchis, and kachoris are made of flour and find their place in the breakfast in the everyday life of a Bengali. Served hot with a traditional potato curry or a ghugni, which is a spicy curry of grams cooked with a tinge of sweet and salt, makes every other breakfast look less satisfactory to our culinary cravings. Sometimes, if you are lucky enough to make it to some of the very famous and old food joints in the city on time, you might just win yourself a bowl of mutton curry or ghugni with minced mutton served with luchi or paratha. So waiting for your turn may not be wise, run for that plate right away!
Very similar to rolls, this is a unique paratha made in a mix of flour and eggs, spiced up with chilies and onions and stuffed with minced meat, served with a hot potato side dish and tangy chutney or pickles to be served as a meal. A specialty in Kolkata and a pride for the Bengali delicacy, this dish is prepared rarely in any other city in India. Include this as a must eat in your checklist the next time you are in Kolkata.
Rolls are a common scene in roadside shops and traditional Indian restaurants, with the sight of freshly made parathas, a filling of chopped meat, chicken, paneer or eggs complemented by a variety of sauces and onion being tossed in large round pans brushed with oil in generous amounts. Even though a roll maybe quite filling to be taken in a meal, but eating one has never stopped anyone from craving for another.
Like the name indicates, ‘fried in oil’, these snacks are potatoes and onion rings deep fried with a notoriously nice black salt sprinkled on its golden crust. In some sweet shops, you would find large sized chilies being served with delightful chutneys and pickles. If you want to keep it light for an evening snack with a hot cup of tea, you are definitely looking for telebhaja.
Mouth-watering samosas, with a fried flour crust and a richly spiced filling of mashed potatoes with tamarind chutney or tomato sauce served with a hot cup of milk tea, would make you look forward to your evening snack every single day. Found in every tea stall around the corner or sweet shop, samosas, and kachoris with the perfect mix of spices and their characteristic exterior flour crust are street foods you would hate to ignore.
Bengalis are known for their love for non-vegetarian food especially fish and meat. If the thought of the winning taste of a deep fried exterior and a tender flavor of soft fish fillets teamed with the perfect blend of mustard and tomato sauce makes you smile, you will definitely hate to miss out on fish chops, fish fries, and fish fingers. Do not feel disappointed if you do not like fish, you always have an alternative option with minced mutton in chops or chicken in cutlets. Another exquisite dish unique to the family of Bengali cuisines is known as Kabiraji made of a coating of egg fried crust covering a sumptuous filling of meat or fish. With every bite you feel the crust melting in your mouth, tantalizing your senses just the way you would want.
If you were looking forward to something different from all that oil, fish, and mutton, and wish to switch to something healthy, do not worry! Kolkata will not let you down. For a perfect hot plate of freshly steamed or fried momos, you will have an extra treat of a graceful red garlic sauce and a bowl of clear soup. Just in case you were craving for dumplings you could simply ask for it, and trust me when I say, with that one plate of bliss, your senses will be calmed and all that turmoil inside the stomach will disappear.
To meet your sudden cravings and satisfy your uncontrolled hunger in the road, probably like nowhere else in the country, you will have ready-made Chinese noodles, chili chicken and what not in a plate of awesomeness to get you a cheap and delicious lunch, within seconds. Believe me, if you were looking for a traditional Bengali meal with rice, pulses, vegetables and a non-vegetarian curry, roadside shops have provision for that as much. Last but not the least, all hail to the Nawabs of Bengal for introducing us to the taste of biriyani with one whole potato and egg not to forget the generous pieces of chicken and mutton, in a wholesome meal. Sure to make your tummy happ, is it not?
12. Sweets
Whether it be a plate of hot freshly made jalebis or rosogollas or sandesh, if you have a sweet tooth, you will never say no to Kolkata sweets. Also remember, the nolen gur, jaggery which is a specialty in winters, finds its way into sandesh and ice-creams, and characterizes an exquisite flavor of its own, difficult to find elsewhere. The wide range of fruit-flavoured kulfis melting in your mouth or an earthen cup of mishti doi will justify a happy finishing line to your day’s eating leaving you content and in awe, at the variety, you ate in a day.
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