Cat’s Whiskers

Peter Cat
18 Park Street, Calcutta-700 016
Ph. 22298841
Meal for two without alcohol: Rs 1,200
Rating:

o which one is table number 21,” we ask, almost in unison. The steward points to a table on the mezzanine floor, and then goes on to add, “I get asked that question 101 times a day. You were number 102.” Desperate to clarify that our interest is only academic, we stress that neither of us is a fan. The queue outside, however, proves that we are in the minority. Calcutta wants to get a taste of Rahul Gandhi, and in Peter Cat, they have found a permanent address.

The staff at the 35-year-old restaurant is still doling out anecdotes by the dozen—how Rahul walked through the door, how he called the waiters ‘bhaiya’, how he signed autographs for children and asked them their names. It feels a bit like visiting an American diner just after Elvis has left the building, having wolfed down three double cheeseburgers. Except in Rahul Gandhi’s case it was, inevitably, the Chelo Kabab.

Strangely described in the restaurant’s cat-shaped menu as “the protected regional product of West Bengal”, this Indianised version of the original Iranian dish offers mutton and chicken kababs with a fried egg, rice and three cubes of butter. The dish, much like the establishment, is a Calcutta institution and just one bite will be enough to convince you that were Rahul to make his jaunts to the city a habit, he would find more consistency in his food than in his fiery Bengali ally.