Every few weeks, a new restaurant or bar opens its doors in Kolkata. In south Kolkata (read: Southern Avenue and Hindustan Park), we’ve seen a massive transformation over the last few years with quiet residential blocks being replaced by trendy cafes and restaurants. The recent spate of restaurant awards, too, have helped bring the city’s culinary scene into sharp national focus. Here are five places that make the cut.
Sienna
Sienna tells the stories of Bengal through its food. Local bazaar (market) ingredients are blended into the dishes, resulting in unfamiliar, fresh flavours. Think mocha (banana flower) salad; pork and kalojeera (nigella seeds) spring rolls and a jamun (Indian blackberry) margarita. If you’re visiting over a weekend, sign up for the intimate eight-seater chef’s table for an immersive dining experience. All meals are served on hand-crafted ceramics and pottery made by the brand’s own studio.
Yokocho
This bar & BBQ on Park Street bridges East Asian street food concepts with Bengal’s produce. The star of the kitchen is the live grills section; try the Grilled Galda Lobster, cultivated in freshwater bodies across Bengal and Bangladesh. For chakhna, which are the complimentary munches with tall glasses, there’s banchan from the bazaar. Think Korean pickles and ferments made using seasonal produce from local wet markets. Yokocho is noisy, alive and vibrant. Like its name in Japanese, it’s a little bit of an ‘alley’… and a little bit after-hours.
Conversation Room
Housed in the 100-year-old Edward Court building on Chowringhee, Conversation Room is Kolkata’s neighbourhood hangout. It is built around the city’s cherished tradition of ‘adda’, which are essentially unhurried group conversations that have long been part of the city’s socio-cultural fabric. Here, first dates often lead to seconds, as do the drinks. All we can say is: if your partner is One Bad Apple, don’t end up doing a Mint-Night Brekkie.
Amar Khamar
What started as an institution to preserve and revive indigenous rice grains and pulses turned into a space that serves the diversity of a Bengali home-cooked meal. The Amar Khamar Lunch Room is a cosy 20-seater where the menu highlights specific rice grains like the aromatic Horinakhori from the Sundarbans or the slender Suddho (parboiled) Rupsal. You can also drop by for some good ol’ jolkhabar (meaning ‘a light meal’ in Bengali) followed by a shopping spree of raw, farm-sourced ingredients from their physical shelves.
Nutcase Etc.
Nutcase Etc. is a tiny cocktail bar in Kalighat with a soft oblong bar table and community seating. But it’s the rule-bending and culinary-driven mixology that catches the eye. There’s tequila with chicken broth and negroni with crème de cacao. You get the drift… because you’re a nutcase.
