This Kolkata restaurant has an AI robot serving you food

Meet Bondhu, the AI-powered robot, probably the first one in the city to bring food to your table. The 12-year-old family-run diner, @49, has opened its newest outlet at a mall in Salt Lake’s Baisakhi neighbourhood where Bondhu will serve food. Soon, the friendly bot will be accompanied by three more robot colleagues.

Run by Tamajit Kumar and Barah Dema Marphew, along with their children Hemantee and Sujal, @49 has an attached banquet hall too.

The food here is synonymous with the whole setting — simple with fresh flavours and ingredients playing key roles. Their signature crispy chicken, which had shredded chicken fried to perfection and tossed in a sweet and savoury sauce, was the perfect starter to begin with.

For the mains, their old-school mixed fried rice had a peppery touch, and tasted just like the ones our mothers used to cook at home alongside a serving of chilli chicken. The gravy was consistent, and the chicken chunks were simply melting in the mouth.

While Chinese food is their forte, they also serve Indian delicacies, and we chose to have mutton biryani and chicken chaap. The biryani was flavourful and light, and didn’t smell of essence, which we liked. The long grain rice, with the softest piece of potato, went well with the falloff-the-bone chicken cooked in a curd and spice gravy. We wrapped up the meal with an orange ice cream.

Meal for two: INR 800+

Pictures by Partha Saha