The rich and vibrant culinary streetscape of Kolkata is a paradise for foodies of all age groups. The city’s Bong populace is a huge driving force behind this obsession for good food, available by the plateful with each seasonal changing in terms of variety. Bengali, Mughal Awadhi, Indo-Chinese, Anglo-Indian…it’s a veritable banquet of the flavours, aromas and foodstuff out there. Not only are you spoilt for choice when it comes to the eats, but it also costs a fraction of what you’d pay anywhere else. While some food items developed indigenously, most have been brought in by the many settlers who came in attracted by the prosperity of this colonial city.
Without further ado lets trawl the city’s popular hubs for the pleasures of the best street food we can find. The magic they can create with the simplest of ingredients such as panchphoron, mustard, rice and fish, even in street corners, can blow your mind. Here vast vats of biryani brimming with aromatic treasures await your pleasure; there beckon succulent kebabs on the pit. It’s an ever-growing list of delights to savour: the banana flower chop, fried prawns with ghee and mustard, kathi rolls (now legend because no other kathi roll can beat the Kolkata version). Oh! And there are the Kolkata-style Chinese noodles…Plenty of takers there! The roll call of snacks, ranging from the Phuchka, Ghugni Chaat , Keemar Doi Bora to Jhal muri, shingara and churmur, is irresistible. And the sweets – from the ubiquitous sandesh, rasgulla, mishti doi, jalebis – all utterly delicious. Depending on where we go in the city the tour may include a taste of baos, momos, soota kababs, dahi papdi chaat, gaathia, dalpuri, chai, chilla, bhel puri, paw bhaji, lucchi and aloo Puri, fish fry jumbo cutlet and so much more.