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.