In July 2013 we were in Kolkata and, almost every evening of our short stay, we tried out a new eatery. 6 Ballygunge Place was reasonably near where we stayed and we were told we would find a fairly authentic Bengali thali there.
The restaurant is an unassuming area, very discreetly tucked away. Once inside, it's a different world. Much care has been spent on the ambience.
The place is spick and span. With gleaming stainless steel thalis all laid out invitingly.
There is always someone attending to sprucing up the settings and enough waiters to hearken to your every demand.
You literally feel transported to another day and age with kind of photos that decorate the walls.
Naturally we ordered for a thali and here's how it looked:
The place mats are all enchanting and here's a sample of some of them:
I have no idea what's written on them.
There's nothing fishy, I'm sure-it might be a poem by Rabindranath Tagore?
Besides the thali, we also had some of the famous fish in mustard gravy.
The biggest surprise was when we got the finger bowls.
Apparently, this is tea for washing our fingers!
When I was a teenager, I often hung out with a Bengali friend and got a rough idea of what to expect in Bengali thali: some greens, some bodi, some fish, some dal, etc.
Of course, at this age, I know that nothing is uniform, not even the food from one and the same region. A Bengali thali will differ depending on region, religion, and, most of all, family tastes.
The place is spick and span. With gleaming stainless steel thalis all laid out invitingly.
There is always someone attending to sprucing up the settings and enough waiters to hearken to your every demand.
You literally feel transported to another day and age with kind of photos that decorate the walls.
Naturally we ordered for a thali and here's how it looked:
The place mats are all enchanting and here's a sample of some of them:
I have no idea what's written on them.
There's nothing fishy, I'm sure-it might be a poem by Rabindranath Tagore?
Besides the thali, we also had some of the famous fish in mustard gravy.
The biggest surprise was when we got the finger bowls.
Apparently, this is tea for washing our fingers!
When I was a teenager, I often hung out with a Bengali friend and got a rough idea of what to expect in Bengali thali: some greens, some bodi, some fish, some dal, etc.
Of course, at this age, I know that nothing is uniform, not even the food from one and the same region. A Bengali thali will differ depending on region, religion, and, most of all, family tastes.
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