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Oh! It is here in Delhi

As Oh! Calcutta comes calling to New Delhi, Rahul Verma gives his take

PLATTER-FULL Chef Joy showing his creations at Oh! Calcutta Photo: Anu Pushkarna

Despite having a Bengali mother, I got introduced to Bengali food rather late in life.

My mother was not what you would call a gourmet cook and I grew up eating a mishmash of different kinds of North Indian food. And though I did have some Bengali dishes when I visited Kolkata, I was mostly interested in trying out the city's fabled Chinese and Continental fare.

But over the last few years, I have had some great experiences with Bengali food - and sitting right here in Delhi. Though there are only a few Bengali restaurants in the city, I have had a good time eating fish cutlets in Dilli Haat and mutton razala at Shonar Bangla in Munirka.

Then, when Chowringhee opened up in I.P. Extension, I had all kinds of things - daab chingri (shrimps cooked in a tender green coconut), kosha mangsho (mutton in a thick gravy), shorshe maach (fish in mustard sauce) and so on.

And, then, just last week, Oh! Calcutta, now quite a famous chain, opened in Delhi. When I was in Kolkataon a five-day food-binge in January, I ate some excellent stuff at their restaurant there.

The owner, a most interesting and enterprising gentleman called Anjan Chatterjee, had told me that he was planning to open up a branch in Delhi.

Then, earlier this week, I was invited to have a meal there with my friends just before the launch of the restaurant. And what a meal it was!

There were about 12 in all. We were to have assembled at the restaurant - which is in the Park Royal Hotel complex at Nehru Place - at 9.30 p.m. For the first time, I saw my friends reach any place on time - each one of them was there before I could land up, all ready with their bibs tucked under their chins!

Stupendous!

The food was just stupendous. There were all kinds of things on the menu, but I fell in love with a prawn pulao, soft prawns in an aromatic rice garnished with raisins, chicken malai curry cooked in coconut milk, and an incredibly light but tasty daab chingri.

And the two fish dishes - smoked hilsa fish and a steamed boneless hilsa in a mustard sauce - were just out of this world.

One of the starters - crabmeat and shrimp steamed in a banana leaf - was so good that I have been dreaming of it ever since.

The chefs told me their fish comes all the way from Kolkata. Apparently, they tried out the local fish and promptly wrinkled their noses in disgust. The prices had not been worked out then, but I don't think it's going to be one of those places that you can only visit if you have a rich old uncle.

All in all, it was a great meal. Oh! Calcutta, I said to myself at the end of it. Oh! Food...

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