Where and what to Eat in Kolkata during Puja
There are festivals and there are festivals - and then there is Durga Puja. The annual autumnal festival of Bengal, the homecoming of goddess Durga, and the week every Bengali awaits the entire year. While Durga Puja is a magnificent mélange of faith, spirituality, art, craft, and music, it is as much about food as it is about the goddess. In these five days, Kolkata turns into a larger-than-life food fiesta. Married to a Bengali and visiting the city for many years now, food remains my biggest draw to Durga Puja. And every year I take it upon myself to induct friends and family into the Puja feast. And this year, I do this for you!
If you find yourself in Kolkata during this Puja season, do not miss the opportunity to indulge in the flavours of the city. Here’s how.
Start with the basics
The kathi roll is a rite of passage to Kolkata. A hearty, wholesome, comforting roll is the first thing everyone must eat in Kolkata, especially during Puja.
Our first pitstop on the annual Puja trip is always Kusum Rolls. The corner stall on the iconic Park Street is a legend in itself and a compulsory stop for us. The queues here tell us how the city is gearing up for the festival (the longer the queue, the more excited the city is) and a hearty egg-chicken roll with extra green chillies prepares us for all the action ahead. You do not have to especially travel to Park Street for a roll though; every corner of the city has a stall dishing out hot kathi rolls, at all hours of the day. The best way to find the nearest shop is to ask a local. Chances are they will escort you to their favourite place, tell you which roll to order, and stay to check that you like it. Yes! Kolkatans are rather passionate about their food. Some of my favourite roll shops in the city are Nizam’s in Park Circus, Hot Kathi Rolls in Park Street, Bedwin, multiple outlets
A roll will fill you up and fuel you for the long walks and jostling crowds that are an inevitable part of the Durga Puja experience. And there are always delightful Puja treats to munch on along the way.
Think masala peanuts in an old style paper cone, tiny dal-pakoras with the spiciest green chutney, jhaal-muri with the heady flavour of raw mustard oil. The hero however is the puchka. The tiny, fragile wheat flour ball stuffed with a spiced potato mash, dunked in tangy, spicy water is the epitome of the culinary finesse of Kolkata’s street food. Puchkawalas meanwhile, are ubiquitous to Puja pandals and you’ll always find one nearby, alongside a small gathering of experts too — dissecting the flavours, judging the spice levels, discussing the best puchkas in the city, and univocally admitting that they’ve eaten better ones, even while popping dozens. It is best to join them, nod in agreement, and down as many puchkas as you can!
Move on to the meals
How you experience food during Puja largely depends on which part of the city you are in. In posh south Kolkata, Durga Puja feasts generally take place in fine dine restaurants like Oh! Calcutta, Sonargaon, elite sweetshops, and makeshift dining tents that are set up in neighbourhoods where special cooks make Puja meals that are open to committee members and guests. In the humble north, the food comes out onto the street for the common man. Roads are lined with stalls big and small offering every cuisine you can imagine. Mughlai, Chinese, Bengali, Lucknavi — you name it and they have it. While you will need a special invite to be a part of neighbourhood lunches and dinners, the street is open to everyone. The street stalls are also the best places to savour local flavours but they can be overwhelming: busy, crowded, and requiring practice and patience to manoeuvre.
If you are new or attending Durga Puja for the first time, the humble restaurants peppered around the city come a close second to the street experience. Sure, they are crowded too but they run round-the-clock, and you at least get a chair to rest your aching feet. Our favourite meals include the quintessential Kolkata Chinese (chilli chicken, hakka noodles, double fried pork, and chopsuey) at Bar-B-Q, local snacks (chops, cutlets, fish fingers), and Bengali homestyle meals (kosha mangsho, pulav, luchi, alu dom) at 6 Ballygunge Place which has multiple outlets. The city also loves its Punjabi dhabas like Rang De Basanti, or Sher-e-punjab, that dish out Bengali-Punjabi dishes like torka dal, chicken bharta, kababs, and the softest rotis you’ve ever eaten. A meal at one of the dhabas or restaurants is also the best way to get the Puja gossip — from the best pandal to the worst dressed people, to which celebrity is performing and where.
End on a mishti note
However, mishti (all Bengali sweets made of chena, or homemade cheese), so delicate that it gives the Parisian pastry a run for its money is what will win your heart over everything else in Kolkata. While mishti has always been Kolkata’s pride, for Puja the sweet makers put extra effort into their craft. Old recipes are brought out, Puja specials are prepared, and even the tiniest shop has that Puja glow. We end up at the shops like Balaram Mullick & Radharaman Mullick, (multiple outlets), Girish Chandra Dey & Nakur Chandra Nandy and Putiram Sweets every few hours — popping rasgullas while walking to the next pandal, devouring a large rajbhog in front of the local market, savouring a slow-fried singhara (samosa) when things get too sweet, before going back to the sticky sweet cham-chams and sandesh. And then there’s our forever favourite memory of Puja, kachcha gola (a special sondesh made of soft chena, mildly sweet, easily breakable and yet not dry or chewy). All these delicious memories will be yours too, once you’ve had a taste of it all.
Anubhuti Krishna
Anubhuti Krishna is a writer based in New Delhi. Passionate about places, spaces, and food, she finds ways to combine them in her travel. Her work has been featured in major dailies and monthlies across the globe. She hopes someday it will find home in a book.
