Morog polao to chowmein: Kitchen revolution in Free School St a year after Bangladesh uprising; restaurants shift menus amid tourist numbers drop

Time of India

a day ago

Kolkata's 'mini Bangladesh' restaurants are adapting to a decline in Bangladeshi tourists
KOLKATA: Political upheaval in Bangladesh has cooked up a revolution in the kitchens of the city's 'mini Bangladesh'. These restaurants, which used to specialise in 'opaar Bangla' delectables, are now betting on 'epaar Bangla', and even Chinese and tandoori items, to cater to the changed character of their clientele.
Restaurants in Free School Street, Marquis Street, and Sudder Street were once thronged by foodies from the neighbouring country. However, amid diplomatic tensions, Bangladeshi footfall has reduced sharply in these areas. While the eateries ?have not removed any item originating from the kitchens on the other side of the Padma, they have considerably reduced their production. Some even say that if? situation doesn't improve ?in six months or so, new menu cards might have to be printed.
Bangladeshi cuisine has featured on the menus of Marquis Street's Kasturi since 1994. Now, chowmein has taken over the spot once adorned by plates of steaming morog polao. 'Now, 80% of our business relies on 'epaar Bangla', with no Bangladeshi tourists com-ing in. Even the few Bangladeshi nationals who visit us now come with their local ?friends. We have reduced the production of items like morog polao and maachh bharta by almost 40%.
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To attract young customers, we have introduced chowmein and some tandoori items as well,' said Kasturi manager Rashid Ahmed Mallik.
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Sudder Street's The Bhoj Company has a similar story to tell. 'Earlier, we would buy more than 15 hilsas daily. Now, we hardly buy more than a couple. We are struggling to find even a third of the customers we earlier did,' said restaurant manager Subir Das. 'We have not removed Bangladeshi items like vegetable bharta, kochu chingri, or bhaji.
However, we are focusing more on 'epaar Bangla' and some Chinese items,' Das added.
Business of these restaurants has gone down by almost 50% since the turmoil, restaurant staffers said.
Ichamotee Restaurant at Marquis Street used to prepare 2 kg mutton dak bungalow, 4 kg chicken bhuna, and 4 kg shuntki bharta daily. 'We have more than halved the quantity of these items. Now we buy merely 500 gm-1 kg shuntki and the items are made only to order.
People ordering on aggregator apps are also choosing 'epaar Bangla' items,' said manager Keshav Sarkar.
At Free School Street's Prince Restaurant, once famous for kochupata chingri, the prawns have taken a mellow avatar, to arrive on plates as malai curry. 'With no Bangladeshi customers, we make daab chingri or kochupata chingri on a very small scale. Instead we are cooking up malai curry and korma dishes,' said owner Chayan Saha.
Mirza Ghalib Street's Radhuni has given up making its famed Bangladeshi kacchi biryani.
Restaurant partner NC Bhowmik said: 'Kacchi doesn't have a strong market here. We are depending on 'epaar Bangla' items for business and if the situation doesn't improve, we might have to transform into an 'epaar Bangla' restaurant.'
The uprising in Bangladesh, prevailing since July last year, has created a minor revolution in the menus of restaurants that serve 'Opar Bangla' cuisines in the city's 'mini-Bangladesh' area.
These Opar Bangla-specialised restaurants across the city, especially at Free School Street, Marquis Street, and Sudder Street in the vicinity of the New Market area, have switched to Epar Bangla cuisines to cater to locals and make up for the lack of customers from Bangladesh whose number has dwindled sharply since the neighbouroing country slipped into a turmoil a year ago.
However, they have not removed any item from the menu; rather, the quantity of Opar Bangla dishes that they are preparing for Epar Bangla customers has been reduced.
Some of these restaurants have also begun selling Chinese and tandoori items to attract local customers. Kasturi at Marquis Street, which has been serving Bangladeshi cuisines since 1994, has added Chinese and tandoori items to its menu. 'Now, 80% of our business relies on Epar Bangla cuisines since Bangladeshi tourists stopped coming. Now a few Bangladeshi people, who come here on medical visas, often drop into our restaurant with their local friends.
We have reduced the quantity of items like Morog Polao and Maach Bharta by 40%. Before the uprising in Bangladesh, 80% of our customers were from there. To attract young customers, we have also introduced Chinese items like chow mein and tandoori items,' said Rashid Ahmed Mallik, Manager of Kasturi.
The Bhoj Company at Sudder Street has also added Chinese and tandoori items. 'Earlier, we would buy more than 15 hilsas daily.
Now, we hardly buy more than a couple. We are struggling to find a third of the customers that we earlier did,' said Subir Das, the manager of the restaurant. 'We have not removed Bangladeshi menus like vegetable bhartas, kachu chingri, and bhajis. To sustain our business in this situation, we are focusing more on Epar Bangla cuisines,' Das added.
Since the turmoil, the business of all these restaurants has come down to almost 50%.
Ichamotee Restaurant at Marquis Street used to prepare 2 kg mutton dakbanglow, 4 kg chicken bhuna, and 4 kg shuntki bharta daily for Bangladeshi nationals visiting the restaurant. 'Now we have more than halved the quantity of these items that are consumed by Epar Bangla customers. So, the demand is less. Now we bring 500 gm-1 kg shuntki fish from the market and prepare them on orders.
Even we are mostly selling Epar Bangla cuisines on Swiggy and Zomato,' said the manager, Keshav Sarkar.
Most of the restaurants are procuring ingredients for Bangladeshi cuisines, but these are cooked following the order of customers. 'Earlier, Bangladeshis used to keep coming to this area round the year. Now we make Bangladeshi items like daab chingri or kachu pata chingri on a very small scale. In the past year, our business got hampered to a great extent. This compelled us to shift to Epar Bangla cuisines. The new items that we added are prawn malaikari and korma dishes,' said Chayan Saha, owner of Prince Restaurant at Free School Street.
The restaurant owners said that if the situation did not improve in the next six months, they might have to go for new menu cards, keeping Opar Bangla cuisines out of it. Radhuni Restaurant is making 40% of the Bangladeshi dishes now for local customers, while the business comes from Epar Bangla dishes. It has stopped making Bangladeshis' favourite biriyani. NC Bhowmik, partner of the restaurant, said, 'The biriyani that Bangladeshi people are fond of doesn't have any market here.
We have stopped it. Bangladeshi cuisines make the USP of our business, but we are depending on Epar Bangla items for business. We don't know how long this situation will continue; otherwise, we'll have to transform into an Epar Bangla restaurant entirely.'