Back in time: How Kolkata and its 'pice hotels' help us travel time

Located n the most inconspicuous corners of the alleys dotting the city of Joy, are decades and even centuries-old rusty and spartan eateries that are still flourishing, especially in an age when even the flashiest and swankiest the emerging diners finding it tough to survive in the food F&B space.

Starting from noon, expect all kinds of patrons—ranging from wage workers to office goers and Instagrammers to foodies—making a beeline to taste the iconic dishes like posto bora (poppy seeds fritters), sorshe ilish (hilsa in mustard sauce), pabdar jhol, katlar jhaal (rohu curry) or pathar jhol (Bengali style mutton curry) at these pocket-friendly eateries. And if you are lucky and on time, you too can get a taste of how Bengali food has retained its authentic flavours despite the onslaught of fusion and global cuisines.

But it’s not just about how pocket-friendly the meals are here, it’s also about how it’s shorn of any fancy paraphernalia to turn your gustatory trail into an experience to remember. You will surely recall a trip to a pice hotel for what it’s supposed to do—delight your tastebuds with a burst of flavours. And that is perhaps the key to its survival and undying popularity for decades. These pice hotels form a huge part of Kolkata’s history and heritage, and each has its own story of struggles and sustenance in an evolving city. Whether tales of forlorn travellers, or trips by merchants of yesteryears, the daring freedom fighters, or the shy newly-wed couples visiting after a bout of shopping, the pice hotels are spilling with interesting spiels and we spotlight six such eateries tracing their evolution and the way forward.

Enter one of the narrow strips on Rashbehari venue and you will stumble upon the signboard that says Tarun Niketan. Upon entering the shabby space, you would find yourself surrounded by pale yellow walls with creepers and potted plants around you, giving you a homely feel, despite being in the shambles.

This eatery, established in 1915, serves a delicious array of Bengali meals at affordable prices. he inside walls have worn out caricatures of the city’s emblems including Victoria Memorial, Howrah Bridge, and yellow taxi. With servers deftly striding past with plates full of delicacies, including four types of daal, muri ghonto, ilish maach, rui maach, and much more, you would be spoilt for choices. Today, Tarun Niketan is run by fifth generation entrepreneur Amarnath Deb, who recounts the inception of the pice hotel, “In 1915 the culture of pice hotels has just emerged in the city, mainly drawing the freedom fighters, notable artistes, and sections of the intelligentsia, who would make a stop for meals. We have heard from our ancestors that the late Rashbehari Bose and actor mitabh Bachchan too had visited the place,” says a proud Amarnath.

In terms of the look and feel and the food served, the place has remained pretty much the same, informs Amarnath, adding that only the tables and chairs had to be changed. “We never served chicken eggs and have maintained that till date,” he informs. Talking about the variety of food on the menu he comments, “We go to the market twice a day and cook everything fresh. We do not have a refrigerator to store cooked food. We don’t really have any signature dishes but people love our nchor chingri, Kochu shaag, and duck egg curry a lot.”

Before signing off, we discussed how he feels of continuing the legacy to which he says, “It feels great to continue the reins of this pice hotel. I often feel tempted to implement something new each day. But then, we also feel that the introduction of new items might take away from the heritage of the old menu. We do have some new dishes though, since often people ask for home-made biryani, or chicken pulao on special occasions.”

Price per item: INR 20 onwards

At Lake Market.

Swadhin Bharat Hindu Hotel in College Street can be located easily, thanks to its convenient position and legacy. We sat down at this cosy 30-seater pice hotel to have a chat with third-generation entrepreneur Arunansu Panda.

Recalling the inception of the institution of an eatery he says, “My grandfather, Manogovind Panda, established the place in 1912, but we are officially registered from 1927. e came to Kolkata from Cuttack in 1909/10 for work, and later set it up. In those days, there were many Odia immigrants in the city due to lack of opportunities in their hometowns. he eatery was further cemented by my grand-uncle Prahlad Panda.” He also mentions that the hotel was initially near the back gate of the then Presidency College, only to be shifted later to a side lane before finally settling down to its current location. Back then, it was either the elites or the downtrodden who patronised us in the absence of a distinct middle class. When the hotel started out, people used to sit on the floor and eat in Kansa thala (bellmetal plates). “My grandfather used to cook and did everything on his own,” says Arunansu. Patrons who frequented the eatery include stalwarts like Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, lawyer Chittaranjan Das, and former chief minister of West Bengal, Jyoti Basu. The late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s food too used to go from here when he visited Kolkata for political rallies.

“When Netaji studied in Presidency College for a while, he grew fond of this place and paid visits with a lot of guests who were accommodated in a separate room,” informs Arunansu. The menu here remains largely unchanged and follows a homely style of cooking. You will get at least a dozen varieties of fish preparations on any given day, including katla, tangra, pabda, parshe, chitol, and pomfret. Chicken and mutton are also available and the menu keeps changing daily, depending on the availability of fresh ingredients. One of their must-try dishes is tel kata chorchori.

“We roughly cook 40 dishes a day and the preparation continues from 6 am to 1.30 pm all the food items here are cooked with ground masala and pure mustard oil. We shop the ingredients fresh daily and keep the shop open only till all food items are over,” he states. Currently, with an in-house working force of about a dozen people, Arunansu is seeking to expand in the future by branching out across the city.

Price per item: INR 70 onwards

Timing: 10 am to 4 pm; 7.30 pm to 10.30 pm (or till food lasts)

At College Street area.

Once you cross past the Lotus Cinema building on SN Banerjee Road and move towards Esplanade, take the left and wade through a swarm of people to find this almost 100-year old pice hotel, Sidheshwari Ashram, set in a 200-year old building. Perhaps the only pice hotel run by two women, who are sisters-in-law by relation, you are sure to face a sea of crowd as you climb up the staircase at any time of the day.

Initially started as a ‘mess bari’ in 1926, the diner was made public in 1934 when New Market was getting built. With Bengali traders and businessmen inhabiting the area, Sidheshwari became an instant hit due to the lack of other Bengali dining options. “In its initial years, meals were served in kansa utensils, and people ate sitting cross-legged on the floor,” says fourth-generation owner Rita Sen, whose maternal great grandfather started this hotel. There was a time in 2015 when this hotel was about to be shut, following Rita’s brother’s untimely demise. With Rita’s father reluctant about women running the show in the city’s business hub, she and her sister-in-law had to take a leap of faith and give it a try. “My father had told me to ensure that nobody returned without eating a meal. Even today one can come and eat maach-bhaat at INR 55 only,” adds Rita. While most are age-old recipes, like their signature katla bhapa, modern recipes like Chicken dak bungalow have also been introduced.

Like all pice hotels, Sidheshwari too is not for fancy meals, serving simple, homely meals to hundreds of office goers and curious visitors everyday. “Our signature kobiraji jhol (A light fish stew made with papaya and raw banana) is what Bengali people look for during the lunch hours. When there were more offices in this area, this was the highest selling item along with dal, and alu bhaate,” adds Rita. The dinner menu is a tad different from the lunch fare. With more customers preferring roti, the menu boasts of tadka, egg curry, mixed veg, and a few egg and chicken curries.

Price starts at INR 10 onwards

Timing: 10 am to 4 pm; 7 pm to 10.30 pm

At Esplanade area.

If you walk past the Gariahat Market, you may notice a man loudly soliciting customers to have a steaming hot lunch at Adarsha Hindu Hotel, established by Kalipada Maity 65 years ago, and currently run by his three sons.

With a relatively modern interior, Adarsha also delivers thalis to its online customers. But food in the eatery is still traditionally served on sal leaves, and water in earthen cups. “Our staff has changed over the years, but we have tried to retain the recipes and the style of serving food. The whole team is new, barring one, who has been serving food here for about the last 40 years,” shares manager Nabasankar Das.

An interesting thing to note in terms of pice hotel is that, while the menu depends on market availability, the pricing too alters depending on the daily market value of the ingredients. “We have a few items that are fixed on a few days of the week. For instance, you will get mocha (banana blossom) on Mondays and Thursdays. On Tuesdays and Saturdays, our menu boasts of more vegetarian curries, while Wednesdays and Sundays, have a typical Bengali shukto,” adds Nabasankar.

Nabasankar says, that the advent of online food delivery platforms, have helped them get new customers. Every day vegetables, fish, chicken, and mutton are bought fresh from Gariahat market and there is no system of refrigerating the leftovers. Their Chital peti and ilish preparations are the ones that people love most.

Price per meal: INR 65 onwards

Timing: 10 am to 4 pm; 7 pm to 10 pm

At Gariahat market area.

Sandip and Manas Mondal’s grandfather started this restaurant when he came to Kolkata in search of work. Initially food and water were served at Jagannath Hotel on banana leaves and earthen cups, with arrangements for floor seating. But a renovation of the College Street Market in 2014, led to a facelift of the eatery, which now has a ground floor and a mezzanine floor decorated with modern furniture, lights and wall tiles.

But what remains unchanged is the way they prepare food on a coal stove with ground whole spices. Legendary musician Manna Dey was a regular at this 90-year-old hotel. Unlike its contemporaries, Jagannath hotel has set meals on offer, abiding by customer requirements. “Our signature items are our fish preparations... Chital peti, Chingri malaikari, parshey, tyangra,” says Manas. When asked about the survival secrets of pice hotels in the face of stiff competition from modern diners, Manas shares, “It’s definitely the quality and freshness of food served, that sets us apart, besides the affordability factor.”

Besides the regular neighbourhood customers, a majority of their patrons are office goers and traders from College Street, Burrabazar, Howrah, Hooghly, Burdwan, Bankura, and other such areas. Here, you can still get a fish meal comprising rice, dal, a veg preparation, and a small piece of rohu fish curry at as low as INR 70.

Price per meal: INR 100 onwards

10 am to 4.30 pm; 7 pm to 11.30 pm

At College Street Market.

Set up in 1917, Presidency Boarding House, may be a languishing accommodation for students now, but its kitchen-turned-diner, Mahal Hotel and Restaurant is still thriving. The author of Satyanweshi Byomkesh Bakshi, Saradindu Bandopadhyay, once resided in this historic mess bari, besides poet Jibanananda Das, who resided here while studying in Presidency College, and also during his days of teaching. It was also home to filmmaker Tapan Sinha for a brief time. With so much history associated with every nook and corner of the building, the pice hotel, set up in 1991, by Sandip Datta, is certainly a draw for its food and legacy.

Sandip is the grandson of Nandalal Datta, who had set up the boarding house. Now, the hotel, with blue walls, blue doors, blue table tops and blue chairs, is a popular joint for the nearby college and university students and teachers alike. Apart from shukto, posto bora, and bhetki paturi, this place also serves pulao on special occasions.

Almost 16-17 varieties of fish are bought everyday fresh from the market. “I go to the market to check the quality of fish and vegetables,” says Sandip. And that’s evident from the food served here. You will be amazed by the size of an average rohu fish piece here, which is about 100-110 gms.

Price per item: INR 35 onwards

Timings: 10 am to 4 pm; 8 pm to 10 pm

At College Street area.