Food Tasting session at Crossroad Café, Kolkata

Over the past few years most of the sprouting cafes across the city has only disappointed me. Some has got awesome ambiance but lags behind in quality of the food, some has got amazing food but is so cramped up that you cannot take your friends and family there, while there are many which serves nice food, has got nice ambiance but the beverages served are not that great. Also not to forget, ‘price’ is also an important factor in cafes since at couple of places you will find everything else is fitting your requirements except the budget. It’s really not that easy to setup a picture perfect café having all the boxes ticked. So I really thought reasonably priced amazing cafes are a myth, and I had given up all the hopes :(

But finally when I visited Crossroad Café my perception changed a lot. The place was overall a piece of heaven for fun loving food lovers like me, who concentrate mainly on quality of the food and beverages and just demands a relaxed ambiance. So let us delve deep into this food talk to realize a bit more about the food and beverages that are being served here. But before that let me cover few other paraphernalia, like ambiance, location, etc.

The place is located on the crossing of Prince anwar shah road and Lake gardens Flyover, diagonally opposite the Smart Kolkata Restaurant and close to Mandar khabar. You have to walk few meters towards the flyover from the crossing and you can spot this place on your right.

It is a classy little 22 seater café with optimally spaced out, neat and comfortable seating. The place is brightly colored and well lit that by design exudes warmth and happiness. The walls have got simple graffiti teamed up with colorful chairs and white table top. The worn out brick wall design on the wall is quite a trademark of this place. As you walk in to this place, you will notice lovely glass jars of home-made pickles placed there on wall shelves that look really nice and colorful. Also there is a wall mounted television to give you some company if you are out of friends or Smartphone! And not to forget the lovely Cliff Richard numbers which were being played during our stay at this place, so big thumbs up for that as well.

Now let us come to the foods which were tried at this place. It was a really long list – I had tried loads of food and beverages items along with my fellow Panchphoron members which left us super satisfied, maybe for the entire weekend! So here are the items tried:

:: BEVERAGES ::

a) Cafe latte – Great way to start the day with a cup of steaming latte. It was served in a bit conical coffee mug. The stuff tasted good as it should be and had a perfect proportion of milk and espresso in there.

Cafe Latte

b) Cold coffee – I tried two types of cold coffee after trying the café latte. The variants were - caramel and Irish. Both infact looked similar with same color shade and both served in similar quirky glass jars with lids covered. Caramel one tasted better according to me with a visible lining of dripping caramel running though the midway if the glass making it look bit different from the Irish cold coffee. The proportion of coffee and caramel in there were just perfect, just loved it. Must try!

Virgin mojito

c) Virgin mojito – Served in a similar glass jar with covered lid. It was just perfect, not like it’s served at some places with an overdose of mint leaves or lemon. It had the right proportion of all the stuffs that made it taste so good. Though very common, but it was the most refreshing drink to start with.

d) Blueberry mojito – This was the vanilla mojito drink spiced up with some proportion of blueberry juice in there, but that juice made it tad too tangy for my poor taste buds. Though the proportion of mint was all good, not something I’ll try again.

e) Sparkling Espresso – This was a lovely blend of watermelon syrup, soda and 50ml espresso shot. It looked sparkling red and was presented with a slice of watermelon. The taste was something unique, both the essence of strong coffee flavor and the calm watermelon touch was present there in amazingly equal proportion, it was so good I finished it off much before anyone realized :) Must try!

f) Mango passion twist – This was another awesome drink. It was bit thickinsh in texture and was prepared with dense mango juice and pulp with crushed mint mixed into it. The awesome mix of mango and mint was again quite unique and I thoroughly loved it. Worth a try!

g) Passionfruit lemonade – This was another refreshing drink with a mix of passion fruit pulp, lemon juice and sugar syrup. It really tasted nice with all those ingredients coming together in correct proportion in that sturdy looking glass jar with covered lid.

The amazing Kulfi Shake!

h) Kulfi shake – This was one of the most satisfying drinks I have had in any café. It was a thick bubbly white colored drink with a strong essence of elaichi in that old-school chilled kulfi shake. If I say it was ‘excellent’, it would be an under statement. I will definitely try this again if I am here. Must try for sure!

:: FOOD ::

a) Sweet corn balls – This was the first starter that came our way, it had eight corn balls in the plate and each of them left a sense of bliss when consumed. The fried corn had a crispy effect to it served with cheese atop and at its base. The cheesy affair was too satisfying in the end. It was garnished with chopped coriander leaves and very finely sliced red and yellow bell peppers.

Sweet Corn Balls

b) Harissa chicken skewers – This dish looked amazing, it had bright red chicken skewers that looked very inviting. The good part is no artificial color is used here for this redness. It was served with a small bowl of salad and lemon. The stuff was grilled to perfection but I guess I would have loved the garlicky effect a bit more. It was again garnished with chopped coriander leaves atop and lettuce in the base.

Harissa Chicken Skewers

c) Thai spice crispy fish – This was one amazing dish that literally melts in your mouth. The fish used in there was very fresh and tossed with basil, chopped red chilies and garlic to produce that soothing and tasty affair. The dish was garnished with chopped coriander and sesame seeds.

Thai Spice Crispy Fish

  
d) BBQ roasted chicken pizza – Oh this was an amazing thin crust pizza prepared with loads of love and cheese! The roasted chunky chicken pieces had a awesome smoky feel to it and was dropped in generous quantity on that pizza, the toppings had onions but some other toppings added to this could have added a bit more zing. Though I felt this was one of the best homemade pizzas I have had, the sauce was awesome to be true, very flavorful. Must try!

BBQ Roasted Chicken Pizza

e) Falafel wrap – I just tasted this dish since it was mainly served for my vegetarian friends, this classic wrap has got the subtle tastes derived from the tomato and eggplants in there, also it was served with a parsley salad which you should try while having this.

f) Burrito – This Mexican dish had lovely wheat flour tortilla wrapped into cylindrical shape to enclose the filling of grounded beans. Tasted kinda okayish to me and yes, this was one pure vegetarian dish.

g) Grilled fish with stir fried vegetables – This amazing dish was served in a crispy pastry basket tossed with caper coriander lime. It is one of their signature dishes and you must try this out for the grilled fish in there and the awesome presentation. The fish was truly amazing and very fresh, very flavorful and aromatic. The garlic bread goes very well with this. It was garnished with some red paprika to hit the bull’s eye in the end. Must try!  

Grilled fish with stir fried vegetables

h) BBQ roasted chicken with saffron pilaf – This dish looked very appetizing, mainly for that roasted chicken legs in there, it had a dark brown touch to it and went very well with the subtle taste of the saffron pilaf. The taste of the barbeque sauce dominated here as expected which was really well prepared (yes that sauce is prepared in-house). Presentation was again top notch! Worth a try!

BBQ roasted chicken with saffron pilaf

i) Chicken beaten steak – The perfectly beaten chicken steaks are something unique you’ll generally not find in this part of the city. This dish is work of a master chef and as usual the dish had some mind blowing presentation with crispy sweet potato straw sprinkled on top. The base of the dish had some cheesy Italian risotto, the beaten chicken steak was served with a drizzle of gambolota sauce. This dish is basically a fusion of Moroccan beaten steak and Italian risotto! Must try!

Chicken beaten steak

Chicken beaten steak with risotto

j) Veg pizza – This was again ordered for our veggie friends. But I really liked it when I tried a slice, which basically concludes this place serves some amazing pizza, in general! This thin-crust pizza had toppings of mushroom, spinach, garlic, etc and was loaded with cheese, the overall flavor was subtle and some sprinkle of oregano and red chilli flakes will only do good.

Veg pizza

 
k) Grilled cottage cheese bruschetta – Maybe one of the best cottage cheese dishes I have tried in a while! The super soft cottage cheese on top teamed up with some lovely Italian grilled bread rubbed with garlic, the salsa salad in the middle was just perfect in taste and not very tangy or sour. It was presented with some lettuce, thinly sliced red and yellow bell peppers, it looked great like all the other dishes. Must try!

Grilled cottage cheese bruschetta

l) Fish Berger – This is a signature dish here at Crossroad Café. The dish looks majestic and tastes simply amazing! The burger has got an awesome flavorful fish patty, onion rings, poached egg, cheese and veggies. The runny egg yolk drips from the burger looking more appetizing! The stuffed burger is teamed up with French fries and homemade finely chopped salads. Don’t leave this place without trying this, it’ll be a crime. Must try!

Fish burger (signature dish)

m) Montecarlo – This was the only dessert tried at this place. And this was really something we would have missed, if we hadn’t tried. We were extremely filled when this arrived but when we tried a scoop of it we knew this was something we shouldn’t miss either! It was chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream and sugar syrup in the base and topped with chocolate sauce and nuts. The overall chocolaty mix was blissful and something you shouldn’t miss. Must try!

Chocolate Montecarlo

That concludes our amazing little meal at this place :) Coming to the service, it was absolutely spot on. The servers were very attentive and very courteous. We were briefed about each of these dishes by the expert chef, Mr.Subroto Chakroborty and we were honored to be hosted by the very humble owner of this place Mr.Vishal Kajaria. I really felt this place, this food and drinks everything had a touch of honesty in there.

with Chef Subroto Chakroborty 

PFB my granular ratings -

Food quantity: 4/5

Food quality: 4.6/5

Food presentation: 4.2/5

Value for money: 4/5

Ambiance: 3.8/5

Service: 4/5

My overall rating comes to 4.1 out of 5 which is really great! It is one lovely place to bring in your family, your loved ones and your date! This café is already doing great and I’m sure if they keep doing it like this they will surely rule this segment in the coming days. I wish them all the very best and I sincerely wish more and more people go and try out this joint for the amazing quality of food that’s available here. In terms of food and beverages, this place won’t ever disappoint you, that’s what I realized!

Cheers!

 

Wonderful Gujarati dinner at XII Zodiac, Fern Residency

This was my second visit to XII Zodiac which is housed in the Fern Residency and this time I had the opportunity to feast on some amazing Gujarati food that is actually quite rare to find in the city. To be very frank, before this Gujarati food tasting happened to me I had only tasted Gujarati snacks like Dhokla and Khakhra, but never had an opportunity to have an entire Gujarati meal. 

Also as a matter of fact, I was pretty skeptical about this Gujarati dinner thing since I thought it will be an entirely vegetarian affair which I so deadly try to avoid on a Saturday night! :) But I was more than pleasantly surprised when I discovered the Gujarati food items Fern has come up with that has more to it and it’s actually extremely interesting, well planned out and in the end quite soul-satisfying. It might actually require you to come down to Fern and taste these Gujarati dishes to believe what I am trying to say here! I can assure you this will only leave you enthralled and in disbelief that sitting in Kolkata you can get such amazing cuisine that is really not readily available in the city.

XII Zodiac which we know by now is Kolkata’s first Sun-sign based restaurant has attracted loads of eyeballs for its elegant interiors and rightly priced flavorful food. Coming to the location, this is located at Noa Para, Rajarhat quite close to the busy Chinar Park crossing beside the Pipal Tree Hotel. Just as a piece of information - there is car parking space available inside the hotel premises for XII Zodiac restaurant guests, so you need not worry about that.

The interiors of Fern Residency as well as XII Zodiac have always impressed me. It is not gaudy and the overall finish simply exudes class and warmth. The solid white top table, glass and wooden finished walls, lovely blue couches, everything sets a right note that ultimately comes together to create the symphony that helps you settle down real fast. The hanging spherical glass lights over the tables are charismatic as well and create a mystic dramatic environment which is more than captivating. But anyway, the plus point is very evident – this light is perfect for clicking food pics, for sure :)

Coming to the food, loads of Gujarati delicacies are brought together to build one entire elaborate menu that starts with appetizers and goes up to desserts. In fact here at XII Zodiac you will be served a pre-appetizer that is called amouse bouche, it comprises of various food specimens that signifies air, fire, water and earth, like for air we have specimen of sandwich, for water we have water melon juice, etc. Anyway coming back to the items I had tried with my Panchphoron fellow foodies, here they are:

:: STARTERS ::

a) Dhokla: We started off with the most common and most popular Gujarati dish. Dhokla is basically made of a fermented batter derived from rice and split chickpeas that results in a fluffy cake to be tasted with tangy tamarind chutney. Here the dhoklas were cylindrical and tasted really good.

b) Farali Pattice Vadodara: Talking about the presentation, all these dishes were very nicely presented and this was no exception. Farali Pattice is actually quite similar to the North Indian Aloo tikki, it has got the fresh grated coconut and fresh coriander leaves in it and it is stuffed with peanuts, cashews and raisins. It was a lovely starter for sure.

c) Khandvi: These looked basically like aloo tikki to me and it has a yellowish tinge to it. These are tightly rolled bite-sized pieces, and are primarily made of gram flour and curd. It tasted nice though it was not that soft or bouncy.

d) Sev Khamani: Sev Khamni is basically is grated khaman that is served with sev and other spices. It is prepared in bhelpuri style with chopped onion, tomatoes, nuts, etc in there. This is worth a try.

e) Masala Khakhra: Khakhra as we know is a famous Gujarati snacks is made from whole wheat flour, salt, oil and water.  The dough is rolled out and cooked on a tava with pressure applied till crisp. In the end the result was fabulous and very authentic for sure. The crispiness to the khakhra was just right, you just can’t miss this.

f) Chakli: It is typically made from flours of rice, Bengal gram and black gram, there is nothing noteworthy to mention about chaklis here, but they are nicely prepared anyway and with this item we come to an end to the starters section.

::: MAIN COURSE :::

   

a) Lauki Thepla: This tandoori roti looking yellowish item looked pretty run of the mill but tasted really nice. They were made out of spiced bottle gourd and whole wheat flat bread.

b) Undhiyu Methi Muthia: These were kinda shaped like elongated veggie balls which were actually made from chickpea flour and fenugreek leaves. Tasted good if not great.

c) Kadhi Bharucha: These are the fried chickpea pakoris in a beautiful seasoned pool of chickpea gravy. Tasted really nice!

d) Dal Dhokli: Well I simply loved this dal, it was bit sweet and soothing in taste. This is a Gujarati dish made by boiling thick wheat flour noodles in a pigeon pea stew. Worth a try!

e) Lehsuni Batata: Again I loved this dish since I love preparations primary made with potatoes. This was basically a full spicy baby potato very well cooked with garlic flavored curry.

f) Trevti dal: This was a tangy and mildly spiced dal made with three types of lentils, it tasted good and went good with the Lauki Thepla.

g) Gujarati Masala Bhaat: As the name goes it is a flavored fried rice dish made with vegetables and spices, it has fried ladies fingers by the side and raita, papad and salad to go with. It was nice and was the only rice dish but I felt it lacked some flavor and was touch low on saltiness.

h) Koru Kukra nu saak: This was the only chicken dish on the menu. The famous Chicken preparation that Gujaratis relish with the flavor of garlic and curry leaves. Tasted really nice and it’s surely worth a try, it is bit spicy, but not too much.

i) Sourashtra Fish Curry: This was the best non-veg item for sure. The fish in there was fresh and boneless. The fish curry was prepared very well with the flavor of coconut. Must try!

::: DESSERT :::

a) Mohan Thal: These are Gujarati sweet dishes made out of gram flour, milk, sugar, ghee, almonds and pista. Somewhat looked like circular Bengali sandesh, but was not that overtly sweet.

b) Gujarati Karanjias: It’s a kind of a fried Gujia stuffed with coconut, mawa, rasin, cashu and soaked in sugar syrup, nice to taste!

c) Shrikhand:   This is familiar to many actually. It is an Indian sweet dish made of strained yogurt and generally flavored with saffron, cardamom or diced fruits. Here the stuff was prepared really well, hopefully it will suit your palate as well.

d) Basundi: It is a kind of rabri garnished with pesta, almonds and kesar. It’s served in a small bowl and it tasted very nice, I specially liked it for not being too sweet.

That concludes the Gujarati menu which was tasted here at XII Zodiac. The service was pretty good and prompt, though I guess the servers should be bit more informed. Hopefully people will get to know about this place and I guess if they keep on working hard with sincerity that day is not so far away, I wish the team the very best and surely this place has got all the potential according to me. Way to go!

Cheers!

Food Tasting Invitation – at Buddha Bites, Bhawanipur – refreshing summer-special mocktails & newly introduced Meal in a bowl!

There is no dearth of Chinese joints in the city serving lip smacking items that compels us to keep on visiting them and some of them turn out to be our favorite hang-out spots on weekends. In this ever flourishing gastronomical environment of Kolkata we have discovered noteworthy Chinese joints in last couple of years and without any doubt there is Buddha Bites in this list. I had been to Buddha Bites, but at their Gariahat branch for a family dinner but I had never been to their Bhawanipur outlet where I was invited couple of weeks back. To start with, I must say this is one little spot you can’t miss because of its lovely quaint exterior décor at the entrance, calm interiors and definitely because of its amazing dishes!

Coming to the location, this place is located at Bhawanipur, quite close to Hazra. You basically get down at Ashutosh College if you are coming by public transport and you take the alley along the right hand side of the college, just walk for a minute or two and take the left turn when you reach the end of this road. Buddha Bites is located right there beside a HDFC ATM.

The place is located at ground floor of a charming south Kolkata building with old-school architecture. The entrance is not that magnanimous but extremely elaborately crafted that exudes the feel of a Buddhist monastery standing with arms wide open to welcome the lovers of Chinese cuisine of all ages! The place is surely honest when it comes to flavors, presentation and service and makes sure you come back for more. I also quite liked the fact that their dishes are priced very reasonably and quality is never compromised which is the biggest plus to stay ahead in this industry.



The interiors as already said, are pretty calm and simplistic with neat crisp Buddhist theme that is just perfect for a family dine-in spot. Though it is not a thematic restaurant and you won’t feel that you are sitting inside a Buddhist monastery or something. It has got two room or sections. The outer section remains naturally sunlit during the day where as the inner room is tad dark or dimly lit with 6 tables. The place has got wooden flooring and Ajanta Ellora themed paintings on the wall close to the ceiling. The ceiling décor is also beautiful with lovely leaf-motif designs. The unique pieces of Buddha sculptures, head pieces and paintings are surely noteworthy at this place. The seating arrangement is quite well planned out and the cutleries are perfect for this place, though I would like them to definitely place chopsticks at every table since this place serves oriental cuisine and chopsticks are an integral part of it, if the customer is not opting to use them then the same can be later removed. The background music keeps on chanting some Buddhist slokas maybe which I didn’t get since I am not an expert in that field or genre of music.

Now coming to the food items that I had tasted along with my fellow Panchphoron foodies – This event was mainly to promote Buddha Bites ‘meal in a bowl’ concept and their summer special mocktails. We tasted most of their meals which were part of this section of the menu card. The final verdict goes out to be awesome! These are compact dishes with loads of kick in them. Most of them promise an explosion of glory in your mouth which collects loads of brownie points for sure. Now let us go through the food items and mocktails one by one –

★ VEG COMBO meals

a) Seven jewel Rice with Buddha Feast – This was one fabulous dish, though it was veg but it had enough promise in it which once will realize after taking in the first morsel. Here the side is named the Buddha Feast which is basically fresh exotic veggies (like broccoli, babycorn, bell peppers, mushroom, etc) tossed with minced garlic and mild sauces. And yes, food here is MSG free so you can devour your favorite dish without worrying much. Overall the seven jewel fried rice was very mild and nicely prepared with finely diced veggies; it went very well with the Buddha Feast which has been described above.

b) Veg Fried Rice with Chili Paneer – This was one pleasant dish, nothing to be excited about, though the dish was again pretty mild and the paneer cubes were insanely soft and fresh, special points for that! The gravy had a slight tang to it which I really liked and had exotic veggies in there.

c) Veg Hakka Noodles with Veg Ball Manchurian – The noodles were quite nicely tossed with fresh veggies and it was not at all oily or soggy. I am particularly not a fan of veg Manchurian balls but had a bite into one here, it was nice but I realize that this must be very good for one who only tries out veg dishes and especially Manchurian balls at other Chinese eateries across the town. The dish was very well presented with chopped spring onion leaves on top.

d) Veg Garlic Hakka Noodles with Kung Pao potato – Oh my mouth is still watering while I am writing down about this dish. I just loved both the Kung Pao Potato and the garlic hakka noodles. I just love anything prepared with potatoes, so I really cant help praising this dish! :) The potato (cut vertically into medium sized pieces, like french fries) was tossed nicely with ginger and cashew nut with tangy spicy sauce. I will try this again when I am here at Buddha Bites!

e) Veg Schezwan Fried Rice with Four Treasure vegetable – Here in this combo there is nothing much to mention about the Schezwan Fried Rice apart from the fact that it looked a bit orangish with peas and veggies in there sitting in the soup of Four Treasure vegetables. Well the side has got a choice of sauce and is loaded with exotic veggies like broccoli, babycorn, bell peppers, mushroom, etc. It had the precise inclination towards the tanginess which was appreciated.

★ NON-VEG COMBO meals

a) Chicken Fried Rice with Hakka Chicken – Actually I guess we all have hakka noodles but actually I have never had hakka chicken! So I was eager to taste it here, it is chicken tossed with green chilli and green bell pepper, and had a dark gravy. It tasted nice and it went really well with the nicely tossed chicken fried rice with veggies which was again garnished with chopped spring onion leaves on top.

b) Egg Fried Rice with Schezwan Prawn – The dish tasted amazing! Sorry for such a bad and abrupt start to this description, but that’s true! The prawns were tossed in a spicy schezwan sauce and it had strong flavors and lovely aroma of the prawn which was very well balanced out with the egg fried rice which actually had quite a generous amount of fried eggs in it.

c) Egg Hakka Noodles with Chili Plum Fish – One of the signature dishes of this place I guess, the plum fish tasted amazing and it was just so insanely fresh! It is plum fish tossed with spicy red sauce that will make you go gaga when you team it up with some egg hakka noodles. Worth a try!

d) Chicken Hakka Noodles with roasted pork – Well I loved it but I expected it to be tad better since it has the amazing pork meat in it. I really love pork more than any other meat so I expected more zing and kick to this dish. But anyway this was good if not great and tasted bit on the milder side and along with the chicken hakka noodles it was really a meaty affair. By the way, this dish was in real high demand amongst us when we were there, and I remember that I had hogged loads of it leaving really less for the others :) That’s cruel of me!

e) Chicken Schezwan Fried rice with steam garlic fish – The side here is steam fish and has a choice of sauce like – garlic, oyster, black bean. We went in for the garlic sauce and yes we loved the garlicky touch added to it, the fish was again fresh and bit subtle in taste. It went well with the chicken schezwan fried rice that was perfectly spiced up and tossed with freshly chopped veggies.

Kindly note - the quantity of all these dishes are sufficient for one person with average appetite; for foodies (read, hoggers) like me it might take two of these dishes or atleast 1.5 portions of these dishes to satiate the hunger pangs :)

★ MOCKTAILS

Here are the mocktails that we had tried -

a) Orange Lemonade

b) Pineapple Iced Tea

c) Mango Cooler

d) Watermelon cooler

e) Virgin Mojito

All of them were presented beautifully with little mocktail umbrellas on top. Though each and every one of them were very refreshing and perfectly chilled, I would like mention my special liking for the Mango Cooler, Pineapple Iced Tea, and Watermelon cooler. If I narrow down further I absolutely loved the Mango Cooler, I guess it was the most refreshing mocktail I have tasted this summer! Must try for sure!

Now to wrap things up, I must reiterate that this place surely promises to impress you with the food at amazing reasonable rates. Also the mocktails will help you hold on to that refreshing moment of bliss! I would only like to suggest some better background music since the repetitive hymn is amazingly peaceful at some point of time or initially when you are listening to it, but if you pay much heed to it, then that might just cause your attention to get shifted from the amazing food and beverages served in front of you.



But overall, I must say the food along with the prompt and courteous service has got enough potential to impress your taste buds and your loved ones. So it is better not to go on reading my old-school reviews, rather just pick up the phone, make a reservation and head straight towards Buddha Bites! Enjoy your meal lords and ladies! :)

Cheers!

  

Twisted tale of South Indian cuisine - Dosa Twist, Kolkata

In this highly competitive world people are always aiming to excel in every field and this competition is no less in the food industry. In fact at present, in Kolkata the gastronomic scenarios are changing pretty rapidly and changing almost everyday with new restaurants opening up, while several others are closing down. There are several initiatives being undertaken, food walks taking place, new portals or food delivery apps coming up, new bloggers deciding to come up with their unique blog posts, food festivals going on, etc. In these times, to stay ahead in the competition there is only one weapon that can give you the acceleration, and that is ‘innovation’. And yes, my latest visit to an eatery only reminded me of this innovation factor. Many of us are familiar with the name, it is Dosa Twist at Desapriya park (beside Zeeshan).



LOCATION - - - - - The location is pretty prominent since it is on the main road and very close to the proper Desapriya Park crossing. Though the entrance can be missed easily since the sign board is not very attractive, flashy or prominent. It is right on the left hand side of the ever crowded Zeeshan. It’s in between Zeeshan and Royal Lebanese. You need to walk in through that little entrance, and after few steps you’ll find a glass door on your right which you need to push open to explore a humble eatery eagerly waiting for some real open-minded foodies with loads of appetite and the eagerness to explore awesome fusion foods! Parking can be tricky in this part of the city though you can get some space in the nearby alleys if you try.

AMBIANCE - - - - - This is a no-frill eating joint with minimum required décor and ambiance enough for you to enjoy a lovely time with your friends or family. The place has got two rooms or sections where you can dine in. We were seated in the outer section where you will find the walls adorned with printed paintings of Leonardo da Vinci. Also the room has a round mirror awkwardly placed in the middle of one wall. The chairs are simple wrought iron chairs with cushion on it. But I quite liked the wooden texture of the black colored table top which was one plus I guess. The other room had paintings of Lord Buddha framed in brownish frames. The place is quite clean and so that is one positive in spite of the simplistic décor and ambiance. The cutlery used can be improved since now simple plastic cutleries are being used that you’ll easily find in megastores like Spencers, etc.    

FOOD - - - - - True to its name, the place offers some amazing twisted flavors of ordinary south Indian food items that you can probably only dream of, it has got chicken and mutton stuffing in the regular dosas or idlis, and more. Food and its flavor along with the innovation quotient is the biggest plus for this place and the sole reason why I am rating this place close to 4 out of 5. Let us discuss about the food a bit and derive the final rating from there. This was an invitation from my friend Tanwyee Ray and I had ordered most of the items which she had already tried beforehand and found them to be pretty good. Though I wanted to try something in mutton but sadly mutton preparations were unavailable on that day. Here are the items tried:

a) Button Idly in Chicken Curry – This dish was served in a medium sized bowl with 15 pieces of button idlis submerged in a spicy flavorful chicken curry. The curry has generous amount of tender chicken pieces which goes well when you take them in your mouth along with some button idlis and curry leaves. The broth was not at all thick and was tad oily though with a typical kick of spiciness that is common in non-veg south Indian dishes. This dish was really nice and appetizing, if not great. I will rate it 3.6 out of 5.

Button Idly in Chicken Curry

b) Chicken Cheese Masala Dosa – I am an ardent lover of cheese masala dosa in general and finding this dish in the menu along with some addition of chicken in it drove me crazy until I placed an order for one. The dish was generously stuffed with chicken and mashed potato fillings along with minced onion, carrot, curry leaves, etc and an optimum quantity of cheese was provided in there that reminded me of having a pizza. Found that it was overwhelmingly cheesy in the end. The overall basic flavor was nice and known to us, but the addition of chicken and cheese added some extra aroma and flavor to this dish. Infact together this chicken and dosa goes extremely well and kudos to the person who conceptualized these dishes for the first time. Will rate it 4 out of 5.

Chicken Cheese Masala Dosa

c) Egg Mushroom Cheese Butter Masala Dosa – This was even better than the chicken cheese masala dosa. It had the goodness of egg in there and amazingly fresh well tossed mushrooms which added some great subtle flavors to the dish. The proportion of cheese in this dosa was again on the higher side and that was a pure delight for foodies like us. The dosa was then fried in butter that made it more aromatic. Also you get lovely dips along with this like in the Chicken cheese masala dosa which are amazing and a small bowl of sambar. The net result was predictable – we devoured the dish in less than five minutes maybe and still kept longing for more. Will rate it 4.2 out of 5.

In the end I washed down the idlis and dosas with some chilled Thumps Up, and yes that was some moment of bliss that I would surely like to treasure :) The mind blowing innovative dishes just left me flabbergasted. Such a small and humble eatery producing such high quality innovative food items! This place surely needs some more publicity. Many do not know about this place and they can’t still believe that you can get dosas with chicken and mutton stuffing right here in Kolkata. Also you should mark another positive - the prices are very reasonable and pocket pleasing at this place.

SERVICE - - - - - I would love the service to be a bit more warm and informative but still I would say that it was prompt. The owner or manager can ask the guests about the food and their overall experience, that would add to the feel-good factor of the guests, managing a place with a young order taking boy doesn’t often earn you brownie points. Since the food is so innovative, well thought and amazing I believe it should be backed up by some great service and a tad better ambiance.

But otherwise this was one wonderful experience and I will surely be back to this place with my family and friends to try out more food items from that vast menu. I would urge everyone to try out this place if you really wanna try some amazing experimental fusion food sitting right here in Kolkata.

Cheers!