This episode is about the food tour in South Kolkata in and around Gariahat and Deshapriya Park. The area being a famous shopping destination in the city, it attracts a lot of crowds. And where there are people there is food that is delicious, affordable and that provides quick relief from the hunger pangs. Undoubtedly the place has a plethora of snacking options. And as usual, we are in search of some of the most popular eateries over here that have been delighting the foodies for a long time. We are glad to have Sachika with us who would be walking us through the lanes and thoroughfares introducing us to eclectic street food fares in the locality.
Our first stop in this part of South Kolkata was Balaram Mullick which is one of the city's most reputed sweet shops. The huge variety of sweets over here was a testimony to the Bengali's never-ending love for sweets. The mind-blowing variety just blew our mind and taking the owner's recommendations into account we settled for baked rasogolla, baked mihidana, patishapta, gurer kanchgolla, gurer rasogolla, and monohara. The sweets available in Bengal during the winter months are deemed special and are much coveted. It's because most of them are made with the winter special date palm jaggery that is prized for its uniquely pleasant taste and aroma. All the sweets mentioned above were made with this nolen gur and their taste was just phenomenal.
After that sweet overdose, it was time for some savoury snacks. For this, we arrived at one of the two immensely popular snack shops named Maharaj and Maharani. Situated close to each other they had started out as one shop, but are now operating separately. Their menus were almost the same but according to the public each specialized in different dishes. Maharaj excelled in Hinger Kochuri and Aloor Tarkari while Maharani's best-selling dish was Shinghara.
Fish is a staple of Bengali cuisine, it also comes in the form of an irresistible snack called the fish finger. Our destination for the same was Shankar's fry. Their yummy Bhetki fritter with its crisp, grainy exterior and the soft fleshy interior was such a piece of sheer joy.
Finally, it was time to end the food tour with another ubiquitous snack called puchka. Sachika took us to her favourite vendor in this part of the city. It's a Bengali version of Pani Puri. The stuffing and the water are quite distinct from the North Indian counterpart. The puchkas were simply addictive while the churmur was such a fun treat. With this, we wrapped up another gratifying eating spree in the city of joy. See you soon with many other surprises. Till then keep walking and keep exploring.