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Mint
27-06-2025
- Mint
From trotters to tripe, offal gets an upscale makeover
Rituparna Roy Borne out of necessity, nose-to-tail eating as a culinary practice traces its roots to ancient civilisations. The dishes and their fascinating stories are inspiring chefs to reinterpret them for the modern diner, be it from personal memories or research trips across the country 'Dohjem' liver pâté by Tanisha Phanbuh; (right) 'Golda chingri ghilu' hollandaise at Sienna. Gift this article Bengali mothers are adept at coaxing their children into eating every part of the fish. 'Chew the heads, they're good for you", 'eat the tel (innards), they are delicious", 'don't discard the skins, they have good fats", and so on. 'My mother cooks macher tel like a mishmash with vegetables, and it's something I cannot have enough of even today," says head chef Avinandan Kundu, who reimagines his mother's recipe in the form of dolma, the stuffed leaf parcels believed to have originated during the Ottoman times, at Sienna in Kolkata. The restaurant, known for its playful approach to Bengal's diverse food culture, offers small plates and bar bites featuring fish and meat offal. Bengali mothers are adept at coaxing their children into eating every part of the fish. 'Chew the heads, they're good for you", 'eat the tel (innards), they are delicious", 'don't discard the skins, they have good fats", and so on. 'My mother cooks macher tel like a mishmash with vegetables, and it's something I cannot have enough of even today," says head chef Avinandan Kundu, who reimagines his mother's recipe in the form of dolma, the stuffed leaf parcels believed to have originated during the Ottoman times, at Sienna in Kolkata. The restaurant, known for its playful approach to Bengal's diverse food culture, offers small plates and bar bites featuring fish and meat offal. Borne out of necessity, nose-to-tail eating as a culinary practice traces its roots to ancient civilisations. In India, it is prevalent across various communities with home cooks displaying their ingenuity via recipes passed down through generations. While offal is treated as a delicacy among many cultures, it often gets a bad rap here, primarily because of taste, texture and cultural stigma. The dishes and their fascinating stories are now inspiring chefs to reinterpret them for the modern diner, be it from memory or research trips across the country. Also Read | Hearts and guts In Mumbai, chef Varun Totlani makes a bone marrow dish spiced with fiery thecha at the cocktail bar Paradox. The theatrics involve guests scooping the marrow out of a buff shank bone that has been cut length-wise. 'While bheja is more acceptable because of its creamy texture, offal or organ meats as a category require a fair amount of work in fine dining," he says. 'Thecha' spiced bone marrow at Paradox, Kundu believes in making his food accessible, but not appropriating it. 'The idea is to showcase the nose-to-tail eating culture in Bengal, but also respect the base ingredient. Although Bengalis in Kolkata are not that experimental, the perception is slowly changing," he says. The team also brings in personal stories of eating offal. 'We all have that one memory of standing with our plates at weddings, contemplating whether to suck out the ghilu (brain matter) from the golda chingri (large freshwater prawns)," he says. At the restaurant, they turn it into a hollandaise, put it back into the prawn heads, grill and serve it with chimichurri. It's a favourite, so are the charred chicken gizzards, and chilli garlic bheja. At Naar, chef Prateek Sadhu's 16-seater restaurant near Kasauli, the menu is built on four pillars that define Himalayan cuisine, and nose-to-tail eating is one of them (apart from foraging, migration and preservation). He serves a dish featuring Ladakhi gyurma or blood sausages in a silken broth along with sunderkala, a type of hand-rolled millet noodles from Uttarakhand. While in the National Capital Region, Khasi pop-up chef Tanisha Phanbuh reimagines Meghalaya's classic pork brain salad doh khlieh in the form of crostinis and dohjem, traditionally made of pork intestines and belly, as pâté. 'Working with offal can be a task in Delhi given sourcing off-cuts can be a challenge," says Phanbuh, who has hosted pop-ups at Fig & Maple restaurant and Pullman Hotel in the past under her brand 'Tribal Gourmet'. Liver from the tapas menu at Ekaa. What excites chefs about offal is the ability to work with various forms and textures. 'Every offal behaves differently at a given temperature. Some can be paste-y, or crunchy like pork ears, and then there is brain, which are like these orbs of buttery ooziness," says chef-partner Niyati Rao of Ekaa in Mumbai. The restaurant has a dish of pork mince using the heart and liver to go with the Sikkimese tingmo bread. 'We take a lot of care to process the offal, with the right kind of spices and techniques, which people finally end up enjoying," she says. At Bombay Daak, her team does a version of Hyderabadi chakna, which is locally prepared with goat tripe, and a bheja dish cooked with anishi, the prized fermented taro leaf cakes from Nagaland. Inspiration also comes from the comfort and familiarity associated with the ingredient. 'If you have grown up eating offal, you instinctively understand the appeal. For me, it was never considered unusual or exotic," says chef Hussain Shahzad, who believes in highlighting its potential with thoughtful technique. On the Papa's Mumbai menu, he combines lamb tongue, brain, as well as shoulder, neck, and belly to make a French-style terrine, and plates it up with nihari sauce made from lamb trotters and neck bones. 'Some come seeking these dishes, others need a little nudge." Lamb terrine with 'nihari' sauce at Papa's. In Himalayan households, harvesting an animal means letting go of a valuable farm asset. 'This nose-to-tail approach is deeply rooted in both necessity and respect," says chef Prakriti Lama, who runs the Himalayan-inspired restaurant Across with her husband chef Viraf Patel in Mumbai. The menu has tripe, slow braised with mountain spices such as timur or Himalayan peppercorns, chillies, and foraged herbs like jimbu, but plated with finesse, and pork trotters, 'which have unexpectedly become a guest favourite for their gelatinous texture and deep flavour." The couple consults with restaurants and hosts pop-ups across India, and are proud to have introduced offal into menus, be it as bar snacks or elaborate mains. While chefs believe technique and storytelling can shift diners' reactions, it is exciting to find offal being appreciated for its place in India's food heritage, and that it is no longer disguised but celebrated for its complexity. Also Read | Guts, hearts and lungs in Sicily Topics You May Be Interested In
Time of India
13-06-2025
- Lifestyle
- Time of India
Booked your hotspot yet? Cocktails & conversations get a makeover
Be it a weekday or a weekend, Kolkata doesn't just go out—it charts a course. Think: a 7 PM cocktail booking, 10 PM dinner elsewhere. The slow adda has evolved into a sharp shuffle through speakeasies and specialty bars. Think London polish with Kolkata pulse. With pop-ups, takeovers, and a crowd that plans their night like a playlist, the city's nightlife is now a strategy game. We speak to patrons, chefs, and bar founders to decode the shift — and how to keep pace. One night, many stops Weekend nightlife in Kolkata is no longer a one-venue affair. Patrons now chase mood, menus, and mixology across multiple stops — from bar stools to late-night kitchens. Avinandan Kundu, head chef at Sienna Calcutta, observes: 'After we got our liquor license, we saw fewer guests moving between venues. The aim is to offer a complete experience under one roof.' The city's new nightlife rhythm resembles more metropolitan habits: staged across pre-dinner drinks, main courses, and after-hour indulgences. Rudradipta Mukherjee, founder of Little Bit Sober, notes that while guests are more fluid, retention depends on resonance, adding, 'If the food and energy hold up, they stay – our space is privy to that.' by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Free Solitaire. No Ads Ever. Play Solitaire Download Undo I enjoy a fancy cocktail but my benchmark for a bar is how well they do the classics. If your martini's off, I'm out – Shivangi Sen, media professional Mark your calendars Time is now currency in Kolkata's nightlife scene. Two-and-a-half-hour table blocks and timed entries are becoming the norm, especially on weekends. Some venues run bookings via apps and social media, while others enforce tight turnarounds to maximize flow. 'We manage reservations dynamically across phone, Instagram, and booking apps to keep things flowing,' says Rudradipta. 'The demand is strong, and guests are adapting quickly. ' Weeknights, once quiet, are gaining ground too. Live music nights, brand pop-ups, and early-in-the-week drink deals are nudging traffic into Tuesdays and Thursdays. We get a well-balanced array of guests, but mostly the well-travelled, cocktail-forward clan, in the 28-40s age bracket – Rituparna Banerjee, chef and co-founder of Nutcase Etc. Pocket pinch for a sip Kolkata's F&B scene may be catching up with Bangkok and Singapore on aesthetics—but the economics of indulgence remain a balancing act. Chef Avinandan is upfront: 'We're on the expensive side. But that lets us pay fair salaries, offer benefits like medical insurance, and retain talent. Our pricing reflects our principles.' Rituparna Banerjee, chef and co-founder of a cocktail bar, agrees that the cocktail culture remains niche: 'Craft cocktails need technique and premium spirits. That will always feel aspirational here — unless we grow the audience.' Still, a broader cross-section of Kolkata is buying in. 'Calcuttans are coming back with a sharper appetite for quality,' says Abhimanyu Maheshwari, co-founder of a speakeasy bar in the city. 'These aren't just trend-chasers—they're experience-seekers.' Guest behaviour is shifting. Weekend rituals are now weeknight habits —someone stopping by for a round of Old Fashioned on a Tuesday is no longer uncommon– Abhimanyu Maheshwari, co-founder of Conversation Room Vibes & reservations are a must Kolkata's new-age reveller is a hybrid planner. Media professional Ankit Santra says that he makes it a point to check menus online, pre-book tables via DMs, and toggle between bars and dining spots to optimise vibe and spend. 'Weekends are when I get time to step out so relaxing on a Friday night is the best. After a long week, I look forward to a good vibe, better drinks and the best music,' explained Jyotisko Saha, law student. While weekends still dominate, Thursday is now a low-key favourite for those seeking space and better service. A good night out means planning ahead — menus, reservations, the works. I don't think food and cocktails need to happen in the same place every time – Srideep Das, program manager Trends say that Wednesdays & Thursday are popular mid-week drink pitstop days, and Rs 2.5-3K is the average spend for a cocktail & one dinner stop. Notably, 2-2.5 hours is the average table turn-around time for a table at these pubs. Follow more information on Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad here . Get real-time live updates on rescue operations and check full list of passengers onboard AI 171 .
