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| Fish Roll |
It is always a great feeling if one catches a glimpse of their rich cultural heritage on display in a faraway land.
This time of the year is where all the festivities begin
& we as Bengalis mostly talk about the festival of festivals: Durga Pujo.
This post is dedicated to the ongoing Next Stop Kolkata food
festival across all Monkey Bar outlets in the country where certain handpicked
street food specialties of Kolkata are being served.
Bengali culture has a variety of aspects and it is very well
known that food is extremely important to us. Moreover, the street food in
Kolkata has an influence of multiple cultures unlike any other Indian city.
We were a part of the preview & we were impressed at the
amount of research conducted before putting up the final menu. The festival
lasts till the 21st of October & aims to hit the emotions of
Bengalis living away from Kolkata. For those who have never indulged in these,
it’s time!
Now coming down to what we tried:
Beadon Street Fish Roll, Girish Park Shoitan Deem, Chitpur
road Chicken Rezala, Esplanade Mughlai Porota, Vardaan Market Moong Daal Pakodi
Chaat & the Vivekananda Park Ghooghni.
We also tried a couple of cocktails which are a part of the
menu.
The full menu consists of 4 other items which can be seen in
the menu which we’ve put up.
The fish rolls in Kolkata typically consists of thin slices
of Kolkata Bhetki, stuffed with a mixture of curried fish/prawns &
vegetables. It is always served with Kasundi mustard. Here, in all cases there
were some adaptations based on multiple factors, mainly because this is going
to be in a bar menu. The actual fish rolls are generally bigger in size but
they’ve replicated the taste remarkably & made them bite sized.
The Shoitan Deem is a hybrid of scotch eggs & Egg devils
available in the streets of Kolkata. A well done Dimer Chop (Egg chop) will
blow your mind! This was impressive with the runny yolk (6 min eggs) & the
shammi kebab filling but it isn’t quite there. Moreover, egg devils are
generally light on the stomach. This is not. Highly recommended for meat
lovers.
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| Shoitaan Deem |
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| The entire spread |
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| Moong Daal Pakodi Chaat |
The Rezala was our favourite! The delicate flavor & the
traditional triangle parathas took us back a thousand kilometers. The white
curry was aromatic & not so rich. Making the gravy richer would have
enhanced the taste but it would’ve lost the “street food” touch. Very well
executed & highly recommended. The meat was well done as expected.
We had mixed feelings about the Mughlai Porota. Although
typically, Esplanade Mughlai Porotas are famous for being made with duck eggs,
in this case considering different palates they were made with normal eggs. In
the iconic shops, they are deep fried & very oily but here they are sautéed
on a tawa & not much excess oil. The crunch was missing though. The taste
of the potatoes were spot on.
Lastly, the Ghooghni & the Daal Pakodi chaat are
ingredient based. These guys did their homework well & it tasted as good as
the real thing. The ghooghni won the race because the Chutney in the Chaat
needed to be more Khatta as the sweetness was perfect.
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| Ghooghni with Phuchka Pani Capriojka |
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| Chicken Rezala with triangle Paratha |
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| Mughlai Porota with Thanda Cha |
About the drinks: we tried the Thaanda Cha which is quality
Darjeeling tea with a tickling kick of Vodka.
The 2nd drink we tried was the Phuchka Pani
Capriojka which was truly brilliant. It had a great balance between the Vodka,
the Gondhoraj lebu & the Phuchka jol. The mixing was done perfectly &
it goes very well with the items on the menu.
That’s all we tried, but we’re surely going to visit to try
the Pork & Prawn Dumplings!
This festival is running across Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai &
Bangalore & we would definitely recommend a visit.
We have our roots in Kolkata & felt the deviations but
criticism aside, they’ve done an amazing job.
Do let us know about your experience if you visit!
We’ll be back soon with more news on grub.
Till then—believe in good food & bon apetit!
- 19:26
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