Every time friends who stay in other cities come to Kolkata, I know I’ll have to accompany them to various places in the city to let them savor Kolkata’s brilliant street food. North Kolkata’s ‘Tele Bhaja‘ , Park Street’s famous rolls, Vivekananda Park’s ‘Phuchka‘, Maidan’s ‘Jhalmuri‘ etc etc. We cover them all. I so wish my friends were here now because I would have taken them to K19, the all day dining restaurant at Park Plaza, Ballygunge where the Kolkata Street Food Festival is currently on. Would have saved me so much travel 😀
To match the theme, posters depicting various Kolkata landmarks have been put up across K19 and they have also set up a Phuchka and a DIY Jhalmuri counter. I’ve never been a Jhalmuri fan so I did not taste it but I liked the idea that the restaurant has come up with. The counter has a number of options like green chillis, pickles, cucumber, mustard oil, coconut, onions and you can choose what you want to include in your jhalmuri. My friend Shikha got herself a big paper bag full of it and she said it was quite good.
For the non-bengalis, Phuchka is the equivalent of panipuri but so much more tasty :D. I had to start off my meal with a few of these. While downing my phuchkas, I spotted a big basket of telebhaja and I went and picked up my favorite, the phuluri. I was kinda disappointed with it though because I found it to be quite dry.
From the phuluri, I moved on to the Moghlai Paratha. The bite sized parathas were densely packed with the egg stuffing and the potato curry served with it was spot on. Fish Kabiraji was next and I enjoyed one after a really long time. The fish was fresh and tasty and I liked that the dish was not too oily, something a kabiraji is famous for.
What is street food without Kolkata’s famous roll and you will get two varieties – chicken and paneer. I had already consumed a lot of fried stuff so skipped the rolls but they looked highly enticing. I did try some pau bhaji though but found the bhaji to be too salty for my liking. Also on offer were ‘phoolkopir singara‘ and the ubiquitous ‘bangali chowmein‘ with cucumber, onion and a generous topping of tomato sauce.
The Kolkata Street Food Festival will be part of K19′s vast dinner buffet spread ( Rs 1250 + taxes for adults and Rs 750 + taxes for kids) till 14th June but you can also order any item a-la-carte. There are a number of options to choose from and kudos to Chef Jayanta for designing the menu. He’s included pretty much everything that Kolkata is famous for when it comes to local cuisine. Whether you belong to the city or not, if you are in Kolkata between now till 14th June and want to taste the best of the city’s street food, visit K19 at Park Plaza, Ballygunge.
PS – I was invited by Park Plaza.