‘Opaar Bangla' off the menu? Kolkata's ‘mini Bangladesh' restaurants turn local to stay afloat

Time of India

5 days ago

In the heart of central Kolkata's 'mini Bangladesh', restaurants known for their rich spread of
Bangladeshi cuisine
are undergoing a quiet but significant transformation.
Faced with a sharp dip in Bangladeshi tourists following political unrest across the border, eateries around
Free School Street
, Marquis Street, and Sudder Street are increasingly turning to '
epaar Bangla
' (this side of Bengal) dishes — and even Chinese and tandoori fare — to stay afloat.
For years, these areas bustled with Bangladeshi visitors seeking familiar flavours from home.
But since July 2024, when political turbulence escalated in Dhaka, the cross-border footfall has declined steeply. As a result, signature items like morog polao, shutki bharta, and kochupata chingri have receded to the margins of menus — not removed, but now only prepared in smaller quantities or on request.
'We now depend on locals': Old favourites give way to fusion menus
'Eighty percent of our business now comes from epaar Bangla customers,' said Rashid Ahmed Mallik, manager of Kasturi, a landmark on Marquis Street that has served Bangladeshi cuisine since 1994.
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'Earlier, 80% of our customers were from Bangladesh. We've reduced production of items like morog polao and maachh bharta by about 40%. To attract younger locals, we've added chowmein and some tandoori dishes.'
At The Bhoj Company on Sudder Street, once famous for its daily purchase of over 15 hilsas, manager Subir Das said, 'Now we hardly buy more than a couple. We're struggling to find even a third of the customers we used to have.'
Though the restaurant continues to serve vegetable bharta, kochu chingri and bhajis, it is diversifying into more 'this-side' cuisine and Chinese items.
The shift is real, but the hope is still alive
The change is being felt across the neighbourhood. Ichamotee Restaurant has slashed its daily preparation of mutton dak bungalow and chicken bhuna by half.
'Now we buy just 500 grams to 1 kg of shutki, and only prepare it on order. Even our online orders on Swiggy and Zomato are mostly for epaar Bangla dishes,' said manager Keshav Sarkar.
At Prince Restaurant, kochupata chingri and daab chingri have given way to malai curry and korma. 'With no Bangladeshi customers, we now cook these traditional dishes in very small quantities. Business has dropped sharply over the past year,' said owner Chayan Saha.
Radhuni Restaurant on Mirza Ghalib Street, known for its kacchi biryani, has stopped making the dish altogether. 'The biryani that Bangladeshi customers loved doesn't have a market here,' said partner NC Bhowmik.
'Bangladeshi cuisine is our USP, but right now, we're surviving on epaar Bangla items. If this continues, we may need to completely change our identity.'
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