Kolkata has a vibrant food scene. There’s everything from street snacks such as spicy phuchkas, which leave you salivating, to old-style continental food served in restaurants on Park Street. Biryani, mishti, the eternal crowd-favourite Indian-Chinese and the new favourite, Korean cuisine, Kolkata has it all.
Even if you aren’t foodie who loves nothing more than to hop from one outlet to another, food delivery apps deliver Kolkata’s best right to your home.
But I may have mistaken convenience for comfort, I realised when a friend invited me home on her birthday. The menu was simple: pulao, fish chop and mutton jhol.
First, I bit into the fish chop, my teeth sinking into a perfect crispy exterior with moist flesh on the inside. Next, the mutton jhol silenced my usually chatty side. My senses had been captured by the taste of the tender meat, marinated in a gravy not as thick or spicy as mutton kosha but a runny, aromatic broth with chunky pieces of potato.
When my friend’s mother asked if I was enjoying the meal, all I could do was smile.
What I had been craving, I realised, was a simple, home-cooked meal, served with love and affection. Now, every time my friend’s parents are in town, I seek an invite for that mutton jhol again and again, quite shamelessly.
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