Mocambo, Park Street, Kolkata

Mocambo is easily one of Kolkata’s most famous restaurants serving old style, typically Kolkata, continental cuisine. It is the most popular place to go and enjoy a quasi British experience in the city that Job Charnok founded. Not that Mocambo does not have competition, Sky Room had a better brand, and was renowned for top quality food but the owners decided to not continue with the restaurant business almost two to three decades back and exists only in the memory of the Kolkatan. Peter Cat probably has better food but is done in by their world famous Chello Kebab, which effectively defines the restaurant. Mocambo has therefore emerged as the place to sample food from the mother country in the one time capital of British India.
The décor at Mocambo is typically British, grand turbaned doorman, waiters in white or black, rich carpeted floors and comfortable sofas which tend to envelope you while you sit. The service is not the fastest but is always polite. The food is good but the restaurant does have its share of disaster dishes as I found out. The last time I was there at Mocambo, I sampled the necessary Prawn Cocktail and Angels on Horseback. The Prawn Cocktail – Prawns in a mayo, tomato ketch up cocktail was good. The prawns were of the highest quality but the cocktail was blander and less spruced up than the version that Peter Cat offers. Very good but the prawn cocktail at Peter Cat is a personal favourite. The Angels on Horseback which sounded great, chicken wrapped in bacon and served on a bed of tomato and sausage rice was a disaster as it was too sweet for my palate which is actually saying a lot. I was reduced to really forcing myself to finish the dish. Because of my multiple previous visits however, I will still vouch for the food. Do go there for the Old Kolkata dining experience as well as the food! Order either the Chicken Cordon Bleu or the Chicken Tetrazzini as your main course.
A meal for two at Mocambo without drinks will cost you approximately Rs 600/-
How to get there: Mocambo is on Park Street, on one of the lefts just after the Park Hotel. Most people in the area should be able to help you with the location.

Peter Cat, Park Street, Kolkata

Having a dish that is world famous is usually good news for a restaurant. I am sure that is the case also for Peter Cat and the world famous Chello Kebab, but I feel it over powers the restaurant as I have never and I am being honest here, I have never tasted a dish in Peter Cat apart from the Chello Kebab. You might, if you go there often enough, but I have always entered the restaurant with my mind made up. I will be ordering the Chello Kebab as the main course.

Peter Cat is an old style Kolkata restaurant and the décor is typical. The influence of England is obvious. A grand turbaned waiter at the entrance, rich carpets on the floors, comfortable large sofas as seats and a purposefully dim lighting arrangement – just the kind of place you want to take your lady love or your colleagues out for a grand dinner. Another obvious attempt by the English to create a corner in Kolkata reminding them of their home and carried on by the present management, I actually love it and Kolkata would not be Kolkata without these colonial influences.

The last time I was there I sampled the Chello Kebab obviously and the Prawn Cocktail. The Prawn Cocktail is one of Kolkatas favorite starters and is essentially Prawns served in a cocktail made with mayonnaise, tomato ketchup and a mix of herbs and spices. A superb concoction and a definite order if you want to sample Kolkata Continental cuisine, the version at Peter Cat slightly overdoes the lime and the sweet but I tend to like it more than the slightly blander versions going around at most restaurants. The quality of the prawns – another key feature of the serving was of the highest quality. The cocktail was followed by the Chello Kebab. The dish is incredibly simple and maybe that is why it is so famous. Two Sheekh Kebabs and a skewer of Chicken Tikka with Capsicum and Tomato pieces line the two sides of a bed of rice. There is a fried omelet on the bed of rice and 4 to 5 cubes of butter. The rice is flavoured with herbs and is supposed to be Persian rice. That is pretty much it! Many disparate pieces put together and served in a British setting. What is even more amazing is that the combination really appeals to 90% of the people who have tasted it. World Famous and I am not joking in the least. So much so that the menu card has been advertising the preparation as a “World Heritage Preparation”. Do go to Peter Cat the next time you are in Kolkata, for the Chello Kebab and for the Old Kolkata restaurant experience!

A meal for two at Peter Cat without drinks will cost you approximately Rs 550/-

How to get there: Peter Cat is on Park Street. It is very near to the Park Hotel.

Flurys, Park Street, Kolkata

Kolkata was a city founded by an Englishman and served at the capital of British India for a significant period of time and it is only apt therefore that one of the finest English Coffee houses outside of the British Isles be based there. If the Cricket fields of India served to be "a corner of a foreign field that would be forever England", then it is not reasonably daft to suppose that Flurys, founded by Mr and Mrs J. Flurys in 1928 was envisaged to be "a cafe in a foreign city that would be forever England".
Flurys in the middle of Kolkata's business district is easily one of the most popular all day cafes and break fast joints in Kolkata. In my childhood days, the get up, and the service was very grand and
fashionable slow. The prevailing colour was white and the waiters well decked up in bleached white clothes and head gear. The highlight used to be the trolley full of pastries they used to take from table to table asking guests to choose very similar to crabs and lobsters are paraded in todays sea food restaurants.
Flurys a few years ago has decided to go Pink. Fortunately however the quality of the food remains impeccably brilliant. The service has become more modern, the service levels are better although the bleached white has been replaced with contemporary black. The one miss is that the trolley laden with pastries has been replaced by a bar where one can go and choose, but if the owners are reading this, do please revert to the trolley. It was a one of a kind experience and you will definitely sell more of those beautiful pastries.
The last time I was at Flurys, I ordered the Chicken Mustard Sandwiches and Beans on Toast, both are truly must haves. The Beans on Toast is a Flurys speciality and is served with finely chopped onions and chilli. One has to sprinkle the onion and chilli on the serving of beans on toast as per ones taste, and eat away to glory. I particularly love the Chicken Mustard Sandwich and would recommend you order the Non Grilled version. The diced chicken, mustard and soft white bread are an unbeatable combination. Of course the meal was washed down with a glass of cold coffee. Other delights of Flurys are the Club Sandwich and Mushroom, the Chicken Ommelette and Chicken on Toast, all three are highly recommended from past experiences. Alas one is limited in appetite and cannot keep on eating. Sigh!
A meal for two at Flurys without drinks, will cost you approximately Rs 400/-
How to get there: Flurys is on Park Street right next to the Music World.

Kusum Snack Bar, Park Street, Kolkata

In the minds of the Indian foodie, the Kati roll is as inextricably linked to Kolkata as Sarson da Saag is linked to the Punjab. Kolkata is pretty much Kati roll city, with outlets vending rolls to be found in almost every nook and corner. The kati roll shop along with the 'Phuchka' (the Kolkata version of the Gol Gappa) vendor are as symbolic of the city as the Vada Pav outlet and the local train is of Mumbai.
Kolkata is the city for dreamers and thinkers, to debate is to breathe and the Phuchka and the roll are often the fuel on which many hours are spent debating everything from Kurusawa to the Kolkata Knight Riders.
What is the Kati roll? Cooked meat, spice, fried onions and a bit of green chilli, wrapped inside a hot parantha and served hot. Tasty, simple and uncomplicated as some of the best things in life inevitable are. How something like this can taste so deliciously brilliant and yet not be found anywhere else in the country is down, I believe to simple economics. Something this simple cannot be priced too high, and in Kolkata, to an extent, at least, economics don't matter!
Kusum Snack Bar on park street is easily one of the most famous Kati roll outlet in Kolkata. Tough to say if it is the best, given the sheer number of roll outlets in Kolkata, but Kusum does serve a very decent mutton roll. Kusum is a shack and like other roll outlets does not have any seating. People stand outside munching on their rolls in their groups of friends or just take the roll and continue on their way.
Kusum has the standard options of Chicken, Mutton, Egg Chicken/ Mutton, Double Egg Chicken / Mutton and the obscene Double Egg, Double Chicken/ Mutton options. The Egg basically indicate the coating of egg on one side of the Paratha but the Double Chicken / Mutton options just have too much meat in them even for an obsessive carnivore like me! If you listen to me go for the simple Chicken/ Mutton roll. If you like egg you can try an Egg Chicken/ Mutton.
A meal for two at Kusum Snack Bar without drinks will cost you Rs 140/-
How to get there: Kusum is on Park Street just someway off from Park Hotel. You will see a steel gate on the left just after the Park Hotel and the famous Olympia bar. Kusum Snack bar is on your left as soon as you enter the gate.

Shiraz, Circus Avenue, Park Street, Kolkata

"What is your favourite food?", "What is your favourite restaurant?", two potentially tricky questions for foodies - after all we love most types of foods and adore most restaurants. For me, however, one of the two answers are relatively straightforward. My favourite cuisine is South East Asian, if the choice come down to a particular dish, it is undoubtedly the Biriyani, the Kolkata Biriyani.
My favourite restaurant however is undoubtedly Shiraz. Why Shiraz? Quite simply, it is because the restaurant began my love affair with food. Shiraz, the Golden Restaurant will always hold a special place in my heart. Shiraz in my mind, heart and tongue serves the best Calcutta style Biriyani and that is that. To me that statement is final and completely non - negotiable.

Shiraz has recently moved from one side of Park Street to the other and has opened a fine dining section along with the regular Non AC section of the restaurant. The fine dining section is the one I visited the last time I was in Kolkata. They have done a pretty decent job of retaining the essential slightly rustic feel of Shiraz, and making the place far more comfortable and amenable to a family outing than what it used to be. The service is very prompt without being overtly polite. If there are space constraints however, I noticed that they are still open to sharing tables with other ravenous eaters.

What to order in Shiraz, quite a lot actually. The essential dishes are the Mutton Biriyani and the Chicken Chaap. Go for the standard and not the special Biriyani, the egg in the special Biriyani, according to me is a pointless addition and does not add to any flavor whatsoever. The Mutton in the mutton biriyani will be the softest and most flavoured you will have tasted. The Chicken Chaap is the ideal foil to the Biriyani. If you are lucky, you will get a breast piece - I think the amount of chicken is far far more than a leg piece. The chaap is cooked in a slightly reddish masala and is very tasty. The highlight is the gravy. The dish is relatively dry, there isn't too much gravy, but every oily morsel of the gravy goes incredibly well with the Biriyani rice. You are obviously not supposed to think of Choleseterol and fat. You are having Biriyani! You are in Kolkata!

That would pretty much be a complete meal but I will ask you for two more add-ons, you may need to over eat but the add-ons are a must to round off the Shiraz experience. If you do not want to over eat please go in a group and taste everything I am talking about. Order the mutton rezala, not so much for the meat, but for the gravy. Ensure that you are generous with the gravy on the portion of rice you are having with it. The portion of gravy in the morsel should not be less than 35%. Sorry for the specifications and detail but it is Shiraz, it is my favorite restaurant, and if you follow my instructions, you will bless me while you are having one of the tastiest morsels of food in your life.

The 2nd add on would be the Mutton Shammi Kebab, it may not be in the menu, but order it all the same. You get mutton mince, mutton fat served in a delightfully oily kebab formation. The kebab breaks quite easily and it goes excellently with Biriyani rice or Rumali Roti.

Of course no meal is complete without dessert and what better than the Firni to round off the meal of a lifetime! Shiraz, the Golden Restaurant does not have a special place in my heart for nothing!

A meal for two at Shiraz without drinks will cost you approximately Rs 350/-.

How to get there: Shiraz is on Park Street at the Circus Avenue crossing. If you are going towards Park Circus, the new place falls on your left. Previously till just two years back it used to fall on your right. Do not get a shock and think like I did for some time that the restaurant has closed down. It is alive and well on the other side of the road. Any taxi driver/ Kolkata citizen worth his salt will know where Shiraz is.