Across To Pleasure

According to a well-known business case study, Priya Paul was once given some very sensible advice about the hotel she’d inherited: don’t try to compete with the Oberoi and Taj; instead, cater to the large segment of price-conscious public sector executives who visit Calcutta on business. Sound advice. But Ms Paul was mad enough to ignore it completely. The result is The Park as we know it today, with its credo of hipness and out-of-the-box thinking. And The Bridge is an expression of that philosophy, both in terms of design as well as menu.

It’s a 1960sy space of sea-green and honey-coloured wood designed by the legendary Terence Conran, and it takes its name from the bridge-like passage through which you enter. We ordered their foie gras burgers with truffle cream, and scallops with seaweed butter and sushi. Then, feeling adventurous, we tried their pumpkin risotto with pickle ice-cream. And finally, throwing all caution to the winds, we ended with the olive oil ice-cream. (If you want to know, it tasted like an ice-cream made for adults, not kids.) This was accompanied by a reflection on how food—like art or literature—should sometimes challenge you, and the memory that The Park once offered customers wasabi-flavoured chocolates (no, it wasn’t a practical joke). If you’re not the adventurous type, never mind: their pizzas and calzones are excellent, and so is the Indian menu, especially the mahi radhuni tikka. Prices are steep, but it’s worth the splurge.