You won't get the entire spread in Dubai, but Don Giovanni's Kolkata, Business Bay (04 4212199), once you get over the Italian connection (they have an extended Italian menu as well), cooks up a mean combo of luchi (fluffy puris made with white flour), 'chholar daal' (slightly sweet chana dal, cooked with coconut chunks) and 'begun bhaja' (fried eggplants in mustard oil - please do keep in mind that mustard oil is kitchen queen in Bengali households). Contrary to popular belief that Bong food is all about 'maachh' and 'bhaat' (fish and rice), the cuisine is varied and highly nuanced, with vegetarians dishes - such as 'shukto' (a mixed curry with bitter gourd imparting the underlying flavour) - being held in very high regard.
Having said that, the cuisine is slowly making inroads into the organised restaurant sector in India, (Oh, Calcutta! has been a huge hit in metros outside Bengal), but that scale is still absent in the UAE. The best versions of this cuisine are still homemade (so if you have a Bengali friend, from Kolkata, who actually cooks, the best bet is to invite yourself over). Going low on sugar is all very well but a dessert should still taste a bit sweet.Someone had once said Bengali food - and here I'm talking about Kolkata Bengali food, not to be confused with the Bangladeshi avatar, where the 'East Bengal' spices tend to impart their own distinctive flavours - has not been marketed. On the other hand, the payesh (rice pudding) could have been a tad sweeter. The yoghurt-based ghol it was served with, and which one was supposed to pour on to the pulao, did not help matters. I had the chicken version and, although it was redolent with garam masala, it lacked flavour. The Dhakai Pulao may need more tweaking though. Nevertheless, it’s extensive enough and you’ll need several visits even to graze the surface.Īs for Rice Heist, most of the dishes work beautifully, and some are stellar. I have it on good authority that if Chef Vikramjit had had his way, the menu would be double in size. The quirky fish mural, spread across several walls, is a key highlight. But the designers - Studio Pomegranate - rose to the challenge and used the space to their advantage. The restaurant is set at a corner of the Commons, an oddly shaped space. But no matter - I was there for the food.īlack and white photographs on the walls evoke nostalgia at The Tangra Project Pity I couldn’t meet the chef the restaurant was just too busy (and that’s a good thing these days, right?). Perhaps literally as well considering how he flits from table to table when The Tangra Project is packed. In the event, Chef Vikramjit does not disappoint. Expectations are therefore high especially for those who have roots in Bengal. It is a homage to the food of Kolkata, a city that lives only to eat. However, the food at The Tangra Project ventures well beyond Tangra. Chef Vikramjit’s speciality is Asian - in the past, he has been associated with brands like Wasabi by Morimoto and Tian - and it probably made sense to build a menu around that. True to name, many of the dishes are inspired by Kolkata’s Chinese restaurants and China Town.
Delhi’s belly is getting adventurous and the flavour of the season seems to be Kolkata. This just goes to show that if you serve good food, even if it’s unfamiliar, diners will embrace it. Within a few months of opening, The Tangra Project in Commons at DLF Avenue, Delhi is the toast of the town. The eclectic interiors of The Tangra Project are by Studio Pomegranate
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