Golbari, Shyambazar, Kolkata

There are dishes that define restaurants. The opposite however is rarely true. Golbari is however one such restaurant. Golbari – a hole in the wall eatery in North Kolkata defines the Kosha Mangsho which is basically nothing but your regular meat curry, the curry is slightly reduced more than usual, hence “Kosha”. Why I say Golbari defines the dish, is that it serves as the benchmark for the mutton curry and serves as the comparison point of what is the weekly gastronomical highlight in the regular Bengali middle class – the meat curry. Non Bengalis might be surprised to read this but the highlight in the Bengali’s food week is the mutton curry eaten on Sundays. You must realize that fish is eaten everyday and hence is not a highlight. Golbari serves if not the best, easily the most famous Kosha Mangsho in Kolkata – and that is reason enough to go and sample the preparation.

Golbari is a hole in the wall eatery. It is named so, because of the circular façade of the building that hosts the restaurant (Gol in Bengali means round) and would not be more than 400 sq ft including cooking area. The tables at the restaurant are no more than pieces of wood jutting at the sides where you have to sit side by side and eat. It is also not very hygienic as you essentially have waiters and customers almost walking over you in the tiny space. However, the food is good and you will often find a queue outside the eatery waiting for a chance to enter the restaurant. The smart thing they have done to manage the crowd is that you have to pre-order and prepay before entering the restaurant. Not that you cant order more, but the essential order has to be placed prior to entering the restaurant.

The food is legendary and does not disappoint. It will be possibly the richest meat curry you will have in your life. Almost too dark and too oily for most palates, I think it tastes good but you must be careful that you do not have too much if you are not used to rich food. The quality of meat however is not the greatest and when I go there I usually go for the Mutton Kheema which is cooked in the same gravy. The other highlight of the restaurant which is not talked about that often is the quality of the roti which is had with the meat. There is a layering of ghee which makes the rotis very soft and fantastic to taste. Apart from the meat, the restaurant also has a whole range of chops and cutlets which are apparently good but that is second hand feedback. Overall a must visit purely from the point of view of tasting the benchmark of the ubiquitous mutton curry. Go and order the mutton kheema and 2 rotis.

A meal for two at Golbari without drinks will cost you approximately Rs 200/-

How to get there: Golbari is right of the 5 point crossing at Shyambazar. It is the main crossing in the area and is easy to locate. It in on a point where the statue of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose on horseback faces you!