Currying Flavour

Saffron
The Park Hotel, Park Street
Calcutta Tel: 22493121
Meal for two: Rs 2,200

h, how our tastes have changed! For years a Calcuttan’s idea of foodie heaven was Amber, with its rich, cholesterol-loaded chicken butter masala and roghan josh. But today Amber looks increasingly like the ‘Before’ part of a ‘Before & After’ scenario. The ‘After’ would surely be Saffron, with its contemporary take on desi khana, and its emphasis on lighter, more natural flavours, undisguised by excesses of ghee and masala.

Saffron serves an eclectic selection of regional Indian foods, from daab chingri (prawns cooked in a coconut shell, Bengal style) to chicken Chettinad. But it’s probably best known for its biriyani and kababs. Their dum gosht biriyani, layered with mutton and slow-cooked inside a sealed handi, is excellent. And so are their kababs, especially the fragrant kasturi kababs. But our favourite is their mutton chaap, delicately masala-ed and about as far from its ancestor, the boring Anglo-Indian chop, as Lucknow is from Liverpool.  For dessert, try their lichi kulfi. Amber claims that Raj Kapoor was one of its fans, and he’s just the kind of person you’d associate with its rich, old-style cuisine; Saffron, however, is more of a Kareena kind of joint.