Poila Boishakh-special menu at Goldbrick

The first day of the Bengali New Year (Poila Boishakh) creates a craving for a sumptuous, true blue Bengali meal. And dining out seems to be the only option for most of the homes since whipping up an elaborate Bengali meal calls for significant efforts and time which we wish to avoid.

Like many other restaurants, Goldbrick, the Indian specialty restaurant at Mukti World, Ballygunge is offering a traditional Bengali meal on Poila Boishakh, which it has named Eso Hey Boishakh.

Last week, I was invited along with other bloggers for sampling the menu. It’s after long that I had an elaborate Bengali meal, complete with all the familiar categories of food. The restaurant gave their own names to the dishes to create a more Bengali feel.

We started off with Aam Pora Sharbat (named Pather Panchali by them, a summer drink with raw burnt mango). It was served in a burnt clay tumbler. The taste was average.

In starters, there were chicken fried in Bengal gram batter (Telebhaja-style) named Ghare Baire here, and vegetable chop from Kharagpur railway station (named Parash Pathar). The chicken gave the meal a flying start with the mustard sauce and salad. The chop wasn’t up to the mark, with no traces of beetroot and carrot, two essential ingredients of a vegetable chop.

Chicken fried in Bengal gram batter and vegetable chop (left)

I started the mains with luchi and chholar dal. The white, fluffy luchis were tempting and went off well with the dal, complete with slices of coconut and slit dry red chilli. The dal was runny, though, while my kind would be thick with a dash of spiciness. There was Chhanar Dalna too, which I didn’t taste.

Luchi

 Narkel Diye Chholar Dal

 Chhanar Dalna

Ghee Bhat (Hot, white Basmati rice with a tablespoon of ghee on top) followed, with Beguni (Bengal gram batter fry of eggplant) and Jhuri Aloo Bhaja (A crisp fry of potato slivers). They were served on a banana leaf placed on a burnt clay plate and bowls of the same material. The traditional Bengali marriage reception menu in my childhood years used to start with eggplant cut long and fried without batter (preceded by lal shaak). This beguni was a batter-fried version of that. The Aloo Bhaja was fried with curry leaves and peanuts (as is the style adopted by the caterers these days) for added flavour as mentioned by the sous chef Sudip Talukdar.

Rice, Beguni (bottom) and Jhuri Aloo Bhaja (right)

The Shukto (Bengali bitter appetizer in a light gravy flavoured with radhuni spices) was decent with the rice.  I missed a dal to go with the rice but (Thick Sona Moog-er Dal to be precise).

Shukto

Doi Katla (Curd-infused fish curry) and Shukno Lanka Murgir Jhol arrived. The fish curry was decent. I liked the pungent home style chicken curry more. It may not be right for the children but.

 Doi Katla

Kawsha Mangsho was meant to be the star of the menu. It was dry and thickly spiced as desired and tasted good. But it’s best to go with luchi, and not rice.

 Kawsha Mangsho

We wrapped up with Kacha Aamer Chutney (A pre-dessert dish of raw mango slices in a watery sweet and sour sauce), masala papad and rosogolla. The chutney deserves a special mention and I took two more helpings of it. It’s the chutney of the season and had the perfect balance of sour and sweet flavours with the right tang coming out of the spices (mainly ground cumin).

 Rosogolla, made in-house

Sous chef  Sudip Talukdar (left) and a service staff dressed traditional Bengali-style for the occasion with the spread 

Special offer: With each order for one, you get a ‘Buy one, get one’ voucher for movie tickets from London Paris, the multiplex in Mukti World, valid from 22^nd April to 22^nd May 2016.

Date: 14^th April 2016

Time: Lunch- 12-3.30 pm, dinner- 7-11.30 pm.

Pocket pinch: Rs 799 for one (all inclusive)

#PoilaBoishakhMenu #BengaliCuisine #Goldbrick

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