Aminia
6, S.N. Banerjee Road, Calcutta.
Tel: 22441318
Meal for two: Rs 400
Perhaps one of the best things the Brits did for Calcutta was to send Wajid Ali Shah into exile here after annexing Awadh in 1856. The nawab arrived with his court, his kitchen and his legendary cuisine. And that’s how biriyani first came to Calcutta. The dish has since evolved from its delicate Lucknawi roots to take on a distinctively robust Bengali avatar.
There are certain biriyani joints in Calcutta—Rahmania, Royal, Shiraz, and, lately, Arsalan—that have acquired cult status, and foodies love to debate about their relative excellence. Our own favourite, however, remains Aminia. Its biriyani is tinged with kewra and, like other Calcutta biriyanis, it slips an unorthodox bit of potato into the portion of mutton (the legend being that that’s how the newly impoverished Awadhi nawabs tried, creatively, to stretch their resources.) Aminia is also known for its chaap, subzi gosht and rezala—another typical Awadhi speciality of meat cooked in dahi and flavoured with masala. And in winter it serves a pretty good paya. Some people complain that the portions of mutton have become a bit skimpy of late, but for 200 bucks per head what the heck do you expect?
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Interestingly, the Awadhi biriyani continued to migrate further eastward from Calcutta and, in fact, there is a popular biriyani-like dish that you get in Burma today, called ‘dan pauk’ which, of course, sounds too much like ‘dum pukht’ to be just a coincidence.
