Ekdalia Street, Calcutta.
There’s a saying in Calcutta that when East Bengal wins a football match, the sale of hilsa goes up, and when Mohun Bagan wins, the sale of prawns goes up. Either way, Bhojohori Manna wins, because its most popular dishes are probably the Hilsa Barishali and Prawn Malaikari. Set up by filmmaker Goutam Ghosh and his foodie friends, this restaurant gets its name from Manna Dey’s song about a magic cook who travelled to many lands, from Istanbul to Japan to Kabul, in search of culinary secrets.
This restaurant was inspired by the erstwhile "pice hotels" where you could eat well for just one pice (or thereabouts). The cooking is authentic Bengali home style, and we counted over 150 dishes on offer, including 20 different fish curries, 7 prawn curries and 10 chicken curries. Most items cost less than Rs 70 (the biggest splurge is a whole stuffed bhetki for Rs 230). Do try their Bhetki Paturi, Chitol Muitha and Mutton Dak Bangla. Their logo, aptly, is a delightful caricature of Kathburo the cook, drawn by Sukumar Ray for his book of nonsense verse, Abol Tabol. Sigh, why doesn’t every Indian city have its own local version of this place?
