I love to eat. Food rejuvenates and nourishes, and sometimes reminds you of the cloying sweetness of "Ode to Autumn".
This is my little paradise where the little whiff of heaven or tastes of Valhalla gets recorded...
The day started early. Baba and uncle Raymond went for mass to St Anthony's and on the way back stopped at Azizia/Beeru's Hotel for breakfast. Of course I found my self before a steaming soup plate full of nihari and crunchy dal puris. Uncle Raymond had beef istu (stew), from which I grabbed a bit.
Beef NIhari with 'sita boti'
Istu (as Stew is called)
Halwa Puri
Halwa Puri bite...
Dal Puri
Of course meals like this are never done without a palate cleansing cuppa of excellent muslim restaurant tea.
On the way back home I spied the jalebi, halwa and puri wala who still has a stall at the same spot near my home. He serves the softest halwa I have had.
The neighbourhood halwa, puri and jalebi wala...
Once the day starts good --- lunch, can only be nicer. A series of calls from Carol and a trip to Mocambo (1 hr wait) pushed Neil and the rest of the Sinha clan (and me) into Golden Dragon. Now, this place is like a time machine. It transports me back to when I ate here all those years back. The taste and presentation has never changed in all the years that I have kept gravitating back to this place.
The Cantonese Noodle is pan seared to perfection and has oodles of fish, prawn, chicken and pork thrown in with the wok tossed vegetables.
The Golden Dragon Cantonese Pan Seared Noodles
Alas, this is one of the only places that still serves pork in a Chinese restaurants in Kolkata that I know of. Hence roast pork was definitely on the menu
The Golden Dragon pan tossed roast pork
...as was pan tossed chicken for ...
The Golden Dragon pan tossed chilly chicken
After the meal we went and spent some time with Neil's family. After that it was time was time for dinner
So it was time for some Ripon Street beef kati rolls, nan roti and sukha bhuna and beef biriyani. After being restricted everywhere to mutton and chicken biriyani this seemed like a whiff of fresh and familiar air!
Beef Kati Rolls
The parathas and the kababs both differ from the Nizam-esque kati rolls here. The paranthas are thicker lachcha paranthas (लच्छा परांठाs ). Visibly smaller. While the kebabs are long strips of muscle on the skewer with different spices and condiment ratios.
Naan Roti
Sukha Bhuna
Sukha Bhuna
Beef Biriyani
Beef biriyani has jumped from Rs 20 to Rs55 from my last visit. However, the two succulent boneless pieces and the divine aloo along with the rice has not been compromised with.
Silent and cold is the morning in Kolkata. Fixating oneself to the comfort of the bed and within the warmth of a কম্বল (blanket) is a natural reaction.
Crisp, piping hot, deep fried dal puri from the nearest neigbourhood কড়াই (kadahai) is one of those things that can draw one from the womb (perhaps) or at least the কম্বল (blanket)...
Dal Puri
The dal puri from the muslim eateries around my place in Ripon Street is a creature distinct from similar species from the Bengali or any other part of this nation, separated by the taste of the filling and the texture of a deep fried concoction. The Jaipur kachori comes closest to the texture.
It is had in winter with copious soup plates of piping hot Nihari and Paya during winter mornings.
I decided to cook something simple at home for lunch. So I made some Aloo Methi and Aloo Karela... (I hope to put the cooking experience up in a separate post)
Karela... করোলার তরকারি
Aloo Methi...আলু মেথির তরকারি /आलू मेथी
Lunch done and a little siesta later, my dad wanted to visit an old friend of his from his office days. So, we hopped onto a taxi and landed up in Lake Garden.
Enroute, across a railway crossing the তেলে ভাজা (telay bhaja) stall beckoned like a siren from the rocks. So we had to try the piping hot fare that invited us so :P
তেলে ভাজা (telay bhaja) stall
ধনে পাতা ভাজা (Dhania patta fritter)
আলু বড়া (Aloo fritter)
আলু বড়া (Aloo fritter) being devoured
The delights of a nourishing road side economy in early evening is beset with tempting fare. So. Next it was a ফুচকা ওলা (Phuchka Wala) who started his evening with us as his first customers.
Beware! This is NOT the paani puri or gol gappa! Growl and Grr just in case you decide (and dare) to get mixedup between these!
A ফুচকা in hand
A beautiful গন্ধরাজ লেবু (Gondhoraj Lemon) makes things aromatic
তেতুল জল, আলু সিদ্ধ, মটর সিদ্ধ, মশলা এবং কিঞ্চিত লঙ্কা গুড়ো ... আর একটু বিটনুন (Tamarind water, boiled yellow peas, mashed boiled potatoes, and phuchka masala... With a dash of red chilly powder and rock salt
Here we go...
Then of course there was some ভাড়ে করে চা (tea in earthen kulhads) from the nearest stall followed by Tamilian home cooked savouries and excellent filter coffee. The latter of course was at the home of the people we visited.
Once back home, the left overs from lunch got rejected for dinner owing to typical Bengali-esque idiosyncrasies that I have escaped for the last 15 years (রাত্রে তিতো খাইলে অম্বল হয় !)
So I got my dad some Sino-Nepali clear chicken soup (though I was looking for the Chinese made Maida Surua (that is now extinct in Ripon street)), while I settled for an egg chicken kati roll...
Kolkata style Chicken Kati Roll in the making...
Presenting... The Egg Chicken Kati Roll
Presenting... The Egg Chicken Kati Roll
Within the Egg Chicken Kati Roll
Clear Chicken Soup... A valid contrast...
Then I decided to have a look-see at the decked-up-for-Christmas Park Street...
No festivity in Bengal. Let me reiterate. Nothing festive... is possible sans food... Hence the crowds thronged the music arena at Allen Garden and of course--the plethora of food stalls doing brisk (and insane) business...
One was spoilt for choice between authentic chinese, anglo-indian, muslim, and bengali cuisine. Apart from the adapted (and hence not so authentic) Thai, Japanese, and of course the ubiquitous Momos!
Of course there was confectionary from Flury's and a host of interesting places and even the humble candy floss!
Every time I land up at home in Kolkata, I remember and crave for the crunchy and *deep fried* Dal Puri and Halwa Puri that I have always known in Ripon Street.
The old shops are still there. The new ones are ALSO doing great business... Time stands still about these things...
