Page 76 - Forbes - India (January 2020)

ForbesLife food
is an amalgam of Portuguese, French and British
influences—we go to Scoop, inside the New Empire
Cinema complex, in the Dharmatala area. It is an
ice cream parlour and multi-cuisine restaurant
owned by Joanna Mantosh, an Anglo Indian, and
her husband. They have cooked up a special Anglo-
Indian meal for us: Jungli pulao with chicken
curry, yellow rice with coconut milk and turmeric,
pantaras (deep fried, breaded meat-stuffed
pancakes), and chicken vindaloo. Anglo Indian food
was not an integral part of the restaurant scene in
Kolkata in the past; it was cooked more at home
by families, and shared within the community and
served in a mess or canteen run by the community.
In the early 19th century, Kolkata was home
to a vibrant Jewish community of almost 20,000
people. Today, even though the community has
dwindled, their beautiful synagogues, such as
the Magen David and the Beth El in the Burra Flury’s,
a stylish
Bazaar area, survive and are manned by Muslim tea room
caretakers. Inside the labyrinthine alleys of New started in
1927 by a
Market in Dharmatala, lined with shops selling Swiss couple with kheema, and biryani were some of the
everything from Portuguese ‘Bandel cheese’
to garments, furnishings and crockery, stands
Nahoum, the oldest Jewish bakery in town.
76 Founded by Nahoum Israel, a Baghdadi Jew, in
1902, the shop houses vintage teak wood furniture,
and glass shelves heaving with fruit and plum cakes,
rum balls, lemon puffs, cream-filled pineapple
pastries and fruit buns. The fourth generation of
the family continues to own and run the bakery
and shop, which have now become a precious
piece of nostalgia in Kolkata’s food fabric.
Our next stop is Nizam’s, next to New Market
on Hogg’s Street. A no-frills restaurant, it is
supposed to have invented, in the 1930s, one of
the quintessential elements of Kolkata street
food—the kaathi roll. The origins of the iconic
roll are a bit hazy: Some say it was made for a
customer who wanted a non-messy on-the-go
snack, while others say it was made for finicky
British clients who did not want to soil their fingers.
“It’s a perfect snack of carbs and protein: A crisp
paratha stuffed with raw onions, kebabs roasted
on skewers, or chunks of paneer,” says Lahiri.
Mughlai food, from which the kaathi roll
in the last few decades, kolkata has adopted to
contemporary trends in food while nurturing its
traditional bakeries and food joints. in kolkata,
the old and the new exist in harmony
forbes india • January 31, 2020
originates, was introduced in Bengal under
Mughal emperor Shah Jehan in the 17th century,
when Burdwan became a revenue collection
centre for Bengal. Mughlai parathas stuffed
most popular dishes at that time, and continue
to remain so. Mughlai cuisine was also brought
in from Awadh by its 10th and last nawab,
Wajid Ali Shah in the 19th century. Many of
these dishes also had Turkish and Afghan
influences, from the spices to cooking methods.
Our last stop is Flury’s, a stylish tea room
and confectionary shop that is a Kolkata icon
from 1927, started by Swiss couple Joseph and
Frieda Flury, and now owned by the Apeejay
Surendra Group, who also own the Park Hotels.
Located on Park Street, Flury’s was just a tea
room to begin with and has since morphed into
a large confectionary and restaurant famous
for its breakfasts of Eggs Benedict and beans
on toast. On offer are pineapple and chocolate
pastries and cakes, rum balls, and a variety
of confection. Like Nahoum’s, Flury’s is an
integral part of Kolkata’s foodscape, thronged
by college students and families for decades.
In the past couple of decades, Kolkata has
adopted to new and contemporary trends in
food and restaurants, with sweetmeat shops
and fine dining restaurants both catering to
increasing demand. Molecular gastronomy
and fusion fare are also popular trends. At the
same time, the Hakka Chinese restaurants of
Tangra and Tiretti Bazar, as well as the
traditional bakeries and kaathi roll joints,
continue to have their loyal patrons for whom
food is still cloaked in nostalgia. In Kolkata,
the old and the new exist in harmony.