Suta Kebab from Adam's Kebab Shop, Chitpur

I had heard of Chitpur’s “suta kebab” more than a decade ago. Kebab that is so tender that the meat has to be tied to the skewer with a string. It is only recently, thanks, to Iftekhar Ahsan of Calcutta Walks, that I have had the pleasure of tasting it, and after countless sessions over a period of a year or more, I can tell you with great confidence, this is the best kebab you will ever taste in Calcutta.

Adam's Kebab Shop

Chitpur is located in the heart of Calcutta, near the central business district of Burrabazar, and the shop that you want to go to, to taste suta kebab is Adam’s Kebab Shop, in Phears Lane. It should actually be called Phear Lane or Phear’s Lane, since it is named after John Budd Phear, a British judge who was sympathetic to the Indian cause. Getting there is simple. From Dharmatalla crossing, take the road to the right of Victoria House, the big art deco building with a globe on top. This is Central Avenue. Continue down Central Avenue, and you will find the first traffic stop to be the crossing with Ganesh Chandra Avenue. Further down, the second traffic stop is B.B. Ganguly Street crossing. A little ahead, to your left, will be the exit of Central Metro station, and a large black statue of Maharana Pratap on a horse. The road to the right of the statue is San Yat Sen Street. Enter this road, and you find the first right turn to be a dead end lane. The second right is Phears Lane. Walk almost to the end of the lane, and to your left you will see the neon sign for Liyaqat Sweets. Just before you get to the shop, on your left will be the little hole in the wall kebab shop. Every evening the enticing aroma from this shop fills the entire neighbourhood.

Adam’s Kebab Shop began its journey some 45 years ago, under a Md. Adam. After his death, the business was taken over by his brother, Md. Salauddin. Adam’s son, Md. Abbas currently runs the shop, assisted by a young boy. The meat used for suta kebab is beef. Same goes for the boti kebab made in this shop. So if you're not a beef-eater, tough luck. But if you are, stick around and observe how the kebab is made before you place your order. I have attempted to capture the four main steps.

1. Meat is wrapped on a skewer

2. The meat is tied to the skewer with string

3. The kebab is roasted over a coal fire

4. The string is removed prior to serving

Served with lemon, green chillies and chopped onions, suta kebab is delicious, and easy on the pocket. While the shop can pack it for you if you request, my advice would be to stand there and have it. You could always bring it home and heat it up before having it, but somehow it never tastes the same. And that taste is something that sets Adam's apart from some of the biggest restaurants in the city. I am yet to encounter a restaurant that has this kind of consistency in taste. Adam's never has a bad hair day. You could walk a little further down the road and try the kheeri kebab, and round off your evening with some aflatoon from Haji Alauddin, but those are stories for another post.

- by Deepanjan Ghosh

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am grateful to Iftekhar Ahsan for introducing me to Adam's Kebab Shop. Iftekhar is the man behind Calcutta Walks. Check out his website here.

SOURCES

A History of Calcutta's Streets - P. Thankappan Nair

Share Bazaar ki chai?...Ho Jaay!!!

My early morning trips to Calcutta’s central business district, Dalhousie, to photograph the heritage structures in the area, brought me, one fine Sunday morning to Lyon’s Range. Right behind Writers’ Building, Lyon’s Range gets it’s name from Thomas Lyon, architect, who designed the Writers’ Building. The street contains, among other things, the Calcutta Stock Exchange.

 

The Calcutta Stock Exchange, on a particularly beautiful Sunday morning.

Writers’ served as the State Secretariat for the West Bengal government until recently, and therefore, was a good place for many roadside food vendors to set up shop. Me, and my friend Amartya, found most of the shops shut, it being a Sunday morning, and the shop owners, who lived right there, asleep on benches infront of their shops. Not so for a couple of tea shops. Coal fires were burning, tea was bubbling in giant vessels, and bread was being sliced, and prepared to be toasted. Who was all this for we wondered? For Dalhousie on Sunday mornings is as deserted as a graveyard.

  

Share Bazaar ki Chai.

We were urged to try some tea. It was famous, we were told. “Share-bazaar ki chai” (the tea from the Share market/Stock Exchange) was something people came from far away to savour. The tea was served in earthenware tumblers, as opposed to the normal “kulhar”, and I must say it was rather good, albeit, at 15 bucks a pop, somewhat high-priced. Very little or no water had been added to the milk, which had been slightly thickened, the tea leaves were of a decent sort and mounds of sugar had not been added, hence the final product was not syrupy sweet.

This process of pouring the hot tea from one mug to another, serves multiple purposes. The sugar mixes uniformly, the tea is aerated, leading to a characteristic taste, and a foamy head is formed, not unlike beer, which many customers demand.

But who, we wondered, would come here on a Sunday morning for tea? We were answered in a few minutes by a non-stop procession of Audis and Mercs. Some of the richest people in Calcutta it seemed, favoured the tea and Sunday breakfast from Lyon’s Range. There were Marwari businessmen, in their gym clothes, here after an early morning round of squash or badminton, their wives in tow, there were youngsters, here for a final sip of tea before they hit the hay after a night of hard partying, there were entire families, parents, children, ayahs, all enjoying tea, buttered toast (with sugar sprinkled on top), and various other fried items. Fruits, it seemed, were also available.

The Sunday breakfast and "adda" in full swing.

The Secretariat has shifted recently to Nabanna, and the shop-owners say this has brought a 40% decline in sales. But Sunday mornings remain as busy and bustling as always. Another culinary curiosity in a city which doesn’t surrender it’s secrets easily.

Fishy Business - Ecstasea

There are some great new small eateries coming up all over South Calcutta as more and more Bengali entrepreneurs take to the F&B industry. The latest in line is a tiny little joint called Ecstasea, which has something unique to offer. As the name perhaps suggests, Ecstasea serves sea-food, almost exclusively.

I popped in on a rainy afternoon, with some concern, since I am not what one would consider a fish person. I have actually been unable to eat fish for most of my life, the smell of Bengali fish curry makes me vomit. But I have been slowly getting over my fear, ever since a friend introduced me to sushi, which I completely fell in love with.

Ecastasea is a tiny place, seating perhaps a maximum of 12, and is primarily a takeaway joint. While sea-food may not be a very new thing for many people, the unique thing about Ecstasea is that there’s squid, Octopus, Pomfret, Mackerel, deep sea crab and even Sole fish on the menu.

We began with a sea-food soup which was absolutely wonderful and hit the right spot. Mild, light but extremely tasty, containing bits of fish, squid and other assorted goodies along with green vegetables and the like.

This was followed by two of my favourites, Squid Masala and Octopus in Green Curry. Octopus in Green Curry isn’t on the menu, but if you request for it, they will prepare it for you. It’s Thai Green Curry, and with the unique taste and texture of Octopus, it’s quite a treat. 

The Squid is prepared coastal style, on the dry and spicy side, with coconut milk, and has that unique you-just-cannot-stop quality to it. 

The seafood noodles, done gravy style was superb as well, although I was unable to appreciate the Sole fish, and the Pomfret, since they were just a bit too “fishy” for me. But my friends carried on chomping, and seemed pretty happy. Everyone seemed very happy with the deep sea crab as well, which had a soft shell, soft enough to chew through, although the meat was a little stringy.

Quite a revelation from a small, neighbourhood joint.

Their prices are not too steep, and a meal for two can set you back about 500-600 bucks. The portions, while adequate, can tend to be on the smaller side.

Ecstasea delivers within a limited area, and they do have a minimum billing requirement for that. But talk to them, they’re nice people, maybe they’ll work something out for you. Here are their numbers

+919830092424

+919831387882

+919230017447

+919337331370

DIRECTIONS:

Enter Lake Road from the Lake Road-Sarat Bose Road Crossing, and you’ll find it on your right after a couple of houses. The official address is…

P241 Lake Road,

Kolkata 700029

Follow them on Facebook, or hit up their official website.

Happy munching!!!

DISCLAIMER - I was invited to try the food by a friend of the owner's, and all food was complimentary.

Winter Special: Nihari @ Islamiya

There aren’t many dishes that you have to get up at 4am to have, and even less that justify such torture in winter. Nihari would satisfy both those conditions.

For those not in the know, Nihari is made mostly with beef, but sometimes with mutton. It is meat, cooked all night with special spices, on a slow flame, and served at the crack of dawn, as a heavy spicy, soup. This is a dish available almost exclusively in winter. The best Nihari in Calcutta is served in the Chitpur area, in the neighbourhood of the Nakhoda Mosque. The trick is to get there before the very limited stocks finish. What this means is that you have to get there around 5:30 am, because proceedings start drawing to a close around 6 am.

The most famous Nihari serving shop is of course Sufia, which is right opposite the Nakhoda Mosque. But the problem there is that people line up their cans outside the shop from the previous night, and you may, like I did, be greeted by the waiter’s cheeky grin and “Nihari khatam hai”. The only way to guarantee that you get Sufia’s Nihari in the morning, is to add your can to the queue at night.

Unbelievable as it may sound, even before sunrise on a winter morning, Sufia was packed with some fifty people, all slurping away at their Niharis, with rotis or daal-puris on the side. I walked out, and asked the shopkeeper across the street if there was any other place serving Nihari, and the name I got was Islamiya. The man assured me that their stocks of Nihari last quite a while. It was simple enough to find, just walk in from Nakhoda, along Zakaria Street, and take the right turn from the 2^nd big crossing and walk right till the end of the lane.

Islamiya is not exactly what one would call fine dining, but has the very typical atmosphere of a traditional Muslim eatery. But even though the surroundings may be humble, the food served is a class apart. There is no concept of a private table in places like this. Your waiter simply seats you at any table that happens to have an empty chair.

I ordered half a plate of Nihari, which I was told would have two pieces of beef. The full plate would have four. With it I asked for tandoori rotis. Served with chopped coriander leaves and lemons on the sides, the Nihari was thick, beautifully spiced and the meat was literally melt-in-your-mouth. The fresh coriander and lemon juice cuts through just right. It has a sinful looking layer of oil on top, but I learned from the other folks at my table, that it was possible to request the waiter to serve the Nihari without that layer on top. But somehow, I don’t really think about calories when having such delicious beef. The tandoori rotis were soft, fresh, and warm and I sat there tearing off pieces of roti, dipping it into the Nihari and chomping away, feeling completely blissful.

The best part about eating at a place like this of course, is the bill. Half a plate of Nihari, two tandoori rotis and a cup of hot tea and I paid the princely sum of Rs. 65/-.

Later in the day, on a walk through the Maidan, I had the good fortune of meeting the owner and he recommended the malai kofta at Islamiya. I think I’ll try it next.

Until then, keep munching.

DIRECTIONS:

You can find Nakhoda Masjid here and here is Islamiya's address...

Islamiya Hotel,
73, Maulana Saukat Ali Street,
Kol - 73

Tibetan Delight

We wanted to start a blog about what is our biggest priority in life, FOOD! Now everyone knows about the big restaurants, but how many we wonder, know about the smaller restaurants, so many of which dot our urban landscape and manage to cook some amazingly good food. Tibetan Delight fit perfectly our idea of a “secret restaurant”. It’s a small place, hidden away in a way that would make it impossible for you to find unless you were actually looking for it. So, first things first…

DIRECTIONS:- Imagine you are walking towards Hazra crossing from Exide Crossing, keeping on the left side footpath of Chowringhee. The second left that you come upon is suburban hospital road, home to Hamro Momo, Orchid and Momo Plaza. Now right on that corner is a weird wrought iron balcony type thingy hanging from the building. Proceed from that corner along the main road, until you come upon a gap between two buildings. Take a peek inside, if you see blinky lights in the distance, you’re there. Go in and take the first left which presents itself.























What do you expect once you’re there? Not white table cloth and silver. Like we said earlier it’s a fairly small place, about four tables, in a small room which is on the ground floor of a building which seems very typical to this part of town. But think big, fat, succulent, juicy momos, pan fried in fiery red sauce, and you’ll find that the upholstery ceases to matter.

That is what Tibetan Delight is most famous for. The pan fired momos are like nothing we have found in any other restaurant all over Kolkata. The Thukpa is rocking too, it’s one of the best we’ve had in Kolkata. We love it even more because of the clear soup, which is a welcome change from the usual cornfloury thukpa you get in Calcutta. So it’s filling, without being too heavy. Apart from this, they have the usual noodles and fried rice and chilly chicken and whatever other hackneyed Chinese staple you can think of, and more. And you must try the roast chilly pork. Big, fat slices of pork, with just a little bit of fat on the sides; perfect as a side dish, or just to nibble on while you’re sipping on that beer, or that ice cold glass of vodka and some very cordial lime. No, they don’t serve alcohol, but we wish they did.

The food overall is a little on the spicy side, but the cook can normally make things less spicy if requested, and the person waiting tables is fluent in Bangla, so you can feel at home. Tibetan Delight is also perfect for foodies who are on a budget. A very filling meal for two usually comes for less than Rs. 300/-. As far as we know, they don’t deliver, but they do pack.

CONTACT INFORMATION:-
Address:- Tibetan Delight, 66/1, Chowringhee Road, Kolkata 700020
Phone numbers:- 98361-55351/98368-73130/98366-70601