Let's take a day off and check out the various eating possibilities in Kolkata.

We start off with breakfast
Though a modern Bengali executive working for an MNC may opt for cereal and toast with eggs (sunny side up), traditionally Bengalis like to start off their day with Luchi (a typical Bengali puri made of white flour), sabji, begun bhaja (Brinjal fritters) and some sweet, usually Jalebis and Bondes go well for breakfast. There are many sweet shops in Kolkata, which are famous for breakfast. You find umpteen Bengali babus queuing up before the shops and taking away piping hot Hing Kachoris, spicy Aalu Dum and hot Jalebis. Some shops are well known for their Luchi and Cholar Daal (chana daal), another popular breakfast item. KC Das outlets, Ganguram, Nandalal are some renowned sweet shops, popular for these delicacies. Well, if you are more into continental breakfast then a stopover at Flury's on Park Street is a must. It opens by 6.30 am.

Time for lunch
After breakfast, it's time for lunch! A Bengali lunch is an elaborate affair starting off with something bitter, usually a Sukto (a vegetable curry of sorts, very delicately spiced), followed by daal and some fry, reaching a climax with the ubiquitous fish in different preparations. The spicy and hot flavour of mustard has to be mellowed down, so a tangy chutney follows. The meal is rounded off by sweets and misti doi (sweet curd).

Want to lunch out? There are innumerable options.

If you are on a real tight budget, you can go in for one of those cheap restaurants in and around Sudder Street. Zurich's, which is close by on Sudder Street is immensely popular for its rice and noodles. Titrupati's, a street stall, opposite Hotel Maria serves excellent meals for Rs 10 to Rs 20. Then just off Sudder Street is the Khalsa Restaurant, where you get good quantity food at low price. There are various lean-tos and small kiosks at Dacres Lane just off the Tram Terminus near Chowringhee where you can eat anything from biryanis to steaming hot momos, to fluffy idlis to the fiery, much fried, strongly Indianised Chowmein and Chilly Chicken (The taste varies from one stall to the other as much as the spellings, anything from choumin to cowmin!). In fact, such roadside stalls are scattered all over Kolkata. The prices are extremely low and fare is spicy and tasty.

So much on street food, now let's move in to a proper restaurant. Kolkata has a whole range of restaurants specialising in different kinds of cuisine.

So while we have restaurants like Sonargaon and Aaheli serving you authentic Bengali cuisine, places like Zaranj, Aminia, Shiraz are known for their Moghlai preparations. Kolkata has a whole bunch of Chinese joints too like Chinnossarie, Waldorf, Golden Dragon, Chinese Pavilion, Mainland China where you could go if you are a noodle and spring roll addict. Then there are restaurants like Mah Jong, which serve a mixed fare from Japan, Thailand and China.

Click here for details

Some coffee please?
Well, after a hearty lunch it is time for some coffee or tea if you so prefer. Aqua Java is the first coffee pub of the city. They serve about 75 varieties of coffee! Phew! While sipping your Cappuccino you can nibble onto some sumptuous fish fry or prawn pakoda. The joint also offers a variety of delicious short eats. While on coffee, The Atrium Café at Park Street is another good bet. Their Columbian Coffee and Cappuccino are all time favourites among the regulars there.

Now for some snacks
The most sought after snack in Kolkata is perhaps the Singara, known all over India as Samosa. The filling of a Singara is however different from a Samosa, as every ardent Bong would insist. The filling primarily consists of a variety of vegetables like potatoes, cauliflowers and peas, all nicely spiced and devoid of any tamarind, onion and garlic. You can get these in almost all sweet shops that dot Kolkata streets.
Kolkata is also famous for chops and fritters of different kinds. Though almost all localities have small lean-tos selling these fries and chops, there are some shops, which are very famous for these. Established way back in 1965, Kalika, situated on Surya Sen Street in North Kolkata is very well known for a variety of chops like spicy potato chop, fish chop, vegetable chops, egg chops etc.

If you don't mind street food then you must try the ubiquitous Jhal Moori (Spicy puffed rice), a crispier version of Bhel Puri (Bereft of the tamarind chutney, the moori in Jhal Moori is crisp and light). It is a spicy combination of moori, tiny potatoes cubes, cucumber pieces, finely chopped green chillies-all tossed vigorously in a container with some special masala, a dash of mustard oil, few drops of lemon juice and then handed in paper bags after being garnished with coriander leaves and bits of coconut. Oooh! It tastes yummy! Perfect for snacking-as-you-walk!

A visit to Kolkata is incomplete without sampling the puchka-known variously as panipuri, pani batasha and gol gappa. This mouthful is a scrumptious delight. The small, crispy, ball-shaped pooris, are stuffed with tangy potatoes mashed with coriander, soaked black grams and selected spices. Then-- and here is the best part--- it is filled to the top with tart, cumin and red chilli flavoured tarmarind water, and, before it can drip, you carry it, whole, to your mouth and stuff it in. And enjoy the explosion of tastes and flavours. There is really no pleasure like that of eating puchkas, one after another. Though you can find puchkas almost everywhere in Kolkata, the passionate puchka lovers vouch that there are some places where puchkas are simply out of the world. The rows of puchka sellers outside New Market make good puchkas.

While on snacks special mention must be made on the Katti Rolls. Pioneered by the Nizams on Corporation Street. Katti Rolls are the hot favourite among Kolkatans. It could be best described as a desi version of a Burrito. As the name suggests, spicy filling (Ranging from tandoori mutton to paneer tikka) is topped with salad, sprinkled with a few drops of lemon juice and is rolled in a paratha or a roomali roti. This is quite filling and costs between Rs 10\- to Rs 20\-. Bedwin's and Sher-e-Punjab's Katti Rolls are specially recommended.

Kolkatans love to experiment with food. And a recent trend is Tibetan food. Momo Plaza, (2A Suburban Hospital Road, Kolkata) is an ideal place for a Tibetan snack if you can forego physical ambience for the duration. The pork/chicken/mutton-stuffed momos - dumplings- come steamed or fried, served with a very hot red-chili paste and accompanied by a light, watery spring-onion soup called thukpa.

It time for dinner folks!
Though you can visit any of the above-mentioned restaurants for dinner, there are some joints in Kolkata, which are specially known for their dinners. Kolkata has two garden cafes where one can dine alfresco on a cool summer evening. One is the Kabab-e-Que on the lawns of the Astor Hotel. Here you can sit outside on the green lawns and enjoy a variety of grilled food and kababs. Their chicken legs are a real treat. White painted furniture dots the green grass at Maikhana- New Kenilworth International's outdoor restaurant and bar. Away from the congested interiors of city restaurants, here you can enjoy your food under the star spangled sky. The rooftop of the Dhaba near Ballygunge Phari is another great dining option, especially if it is a cold winter evening and you want to eat Sarson-da-saag and Makki-di-roti. Amber on Waterloo Street is another good bet if you want to start your dinner with a round of cocktails and drinks.

Rounding off dinner with sweets
After a good dinner, it is time for sweets. For most Bengalis a meal is incomplete without sweets. A bengali's love for sweets in apparent by the multitude of sweet shops that dot almost all localities in Kolkata. From the ubiquitous mishti doi and rossogolla, to the more rare pithey and pulli, the choice is unlimited.
During the days of the cultural rebirth of Bengal in the 19th century, Kolkata witnessed the birth of several sweet shops. The 'artists' of those sweetmeat 'institutions' experimented and created delicious sweets from chhanna or cottage cheese. Four famous 'establishments' of sweets -Bhim Nag, K.C.Das, Dwarik Ghosh and Ganguram- grew up in the heart of Kolkata during this period and they continue to this day.
A trip to any of these shops is a memorable experience. There are so many varieties of sweets to choose from and all of them look so tempting. Perhaps the most classical and the oldest as well, of all the chhana sweets is Sondesh. There are various kinds of sondesh-lemon sondesh, ice cream sondesh, chocolate sondesh to name a few. Then there is the ever-popular Nolen Gurer Sondesh, a delicacy served during spring when, instead of sugar syrup, it is prepared with the season's new jaggery. This sondesh has a lovely, caramel colour and a delicate flavour. There is a style of eating this sondesh: don't pop the whole thing in your mouth and gobble it up. Take a little bit at a time in your mouth, close your eyes and feel it simply melting down your throat. Enjoy the flavour and the delicate taste. It is a heavenly experience. Apart from sondesh there are a variety of syrupy sweetmeats like the Rosogolla, Ledikeni (A variation of Gulab Jamun), Kamala Bhog, Raj Bhog…the list could go on. If you are a light sweet eater then you can try the various versions of Ras Malai. Kolkata has many North Indian sweet shops as well specializing in a variety of dry sweets like-Kaju Burfi, Badam Burfi, Laddoos etc. Beside the popular outlets of Haldiram and Tiwari's there are other shops like Mithai, Gokul, Sharma's which cater to the specific North Indian taste.

Want to know more about sweets of Kolkata?
Read reviews of some of the restaurants of Kolkata

By: Shravanti Choudhuri