This Kolkata restaurant has a new outlet in Salt Lake

As the name denotes, Bengali diner Babu Culture is a place that serves a slice of the zamindari era on a plate. Owned by Mridula Das Mazumdar, the restaurant serves food that the Bengali feudal lords enjoyed. We visited the diner’s newest outlet in Salt Lake to travel back to 18th and

Done up in white and yellow, the place boasts chequered floors, green doors, wooden furniture, gramophone records, paintings of babu-bibi and small knickknacks, all taking you back to the bygone eras of Kolkata. Mridula says, “Babu Culture represents Kolkata’s rich history and its ever-evolving and adaptive culture. We have tried to portray an era that marked the rise of the Bengal Renaissance through food, which has a mix of popular Bengali dishes and Anglo-Indian items.”

A glass of chilled Aam panna went well with the first dish of the day — a crispy crumb-coated Bekti fish fry and kasundi, that had our hearts from the very first bite.

The main course began with an interesting rendition of Kanchalonka aamsotto pulao, with sides of Daab chingri, Baburchi murgi ghee roast, Mutton kalo bhuna and Chingri macher bansh paturi. The pulao took us by surprise with its simple yet rich flavours. The popular Bengali household item of ghee bhaat was jazzed up with green chillies, dollops of bite-sized mango pulp candies, and crushed black pepper. Every bite of the pulao surprised us with its alternating spicy and sweet notes. The pulao went best with the Mutton kalo bhuna, that had a slightly sweet taste thanks to the caramelised onions.

We had the Chingri macher bansh paturi with a side of steaming hot basmati rice, and it was a match made in heaven. Prawns marinated in mustardcoconut paste, and smoked in a bamboo shoot had a pungent flavour emanating from the mustard, a creamy texture lent by coconut, and a woody taste due to the smoked bamboo.

After all this goodness, we had to have some sweet indulgence with a creamy Aam bhapa doi, just a perfect choice to end the meal.

Check out our full experience here!

Meal for two: INR 750 onwards