Oh ho Calcutta!

A trip to Oh! Calcutta  is usually greeted with a lot of enthusiasm by the team at work. So today was no different when on a whim I asked a colleague to join me for lunch at the Nehru Place restaurant.

 Oh Calcutta the specialty restaurant with multiple awards won over many years is a name that almost all gourmets in the city recognize instantly. We walked in hoping, nay assuming that good times lay ahead of us.

A hilsa /eelish festival was on there,though we didnt see anyone ordering the same. Most patrons chose to stay with the buffet spread and having had decent food the past few times, we too chose to stay with it too.
























I tried the Dal shorba and found that while it was nice - it did taste suspiciously close to the kind of dal we have at home with alu bhaaja and saada bhaat (rice).
They also had alu matar tikis and chicken cutlets for starters.we tried the cutlets - they were ok - just about.






The main course had fish paturi, cholar dal, alu pyaaz posto, lau chingri, potoler dalna and a very North Indian looking paneer and mattar in tomato gravy - something that even my North Indian colleague didnt touch, not deeming it worthy of the Bengali cuisine.

I almost forgot to mention the karahi chicken - perhaps cause I didnt even feel like tasting it. When you go to  a place that specializes in Bengali food, the least you expect is basic bengali food. Not generic dishes that any dhaba in Delhi can do more justice to, not to mention, at a fraction of the cost.


we chose to have our food with luchi - the soft fluffy crispy, hot maida miracles - thankfully the luchi was as it should be.



The paturi seems to be a staple of the buffet table since everytime we visit Oh! Calcutta we seem to find it on the menu. I wonder what prevents them from putting a doi maach, kaalia or even macher jhol on the menu?

Another thing I have noticed in all my visits to Oh!Calcutta is the fact that they never serve a chatni with their food. Now any good bong would know that no meal is complete until you have licked up some sweet sour chutney before you get on to the serious business of desserts. And chutneys come in so many forms - tomato, mango, kaamranga, kormcha, papaya just to name a few. Am sure if they wanted they could have one for each day of the week.

The desserts section had payeesh, litchir pudding (very yummy), malpua, fruit custard (the runny kind with loads of fruits that mom used to make) and chocolate ice cream.

Not too bad, not memorable either. I have had better desserts at the same place earlier.

Overall the experience left much to be desired. Am left wondering whether its a case of familiarity breeds contempt or is it that the management is growing slack at this much reputed place. Or is it just that today was an unlucky day?