A day in Kolkata: your breakfast, lunch, and dinner options

Poha, traditional Indian dish. Image by Dheerajk88. Licence CCAA4.0. Cropped from original

Poha is a breakfast mainstay in many households of India. It’s a gift of the western state of Maharashtra to the nation; according to legend, the recipe was invented during the times of Mahabharata, one of the many Indian epics compiled when BC turned AD. Thus, this one is a very ancient dish.

Also known as avil, pauwa, chira, chivda etc. (this list is far from being exhaustive), poha is a simple matter of flattened rice. The grains used for the meal are de-husked and parboiled or soaked in hot water for about three quarters of an hour. After this thermal treatment, they’re dried, roasted, and put under a rolling pin. Served in a bowl with complements like peanuts, vegetables, legumes, and spices, poha fills you up with energy without loading the stomach with a lot of stuff to process, which means pleasant lightness once you’re done with this Indian breakfast.

Located in the ITC Sonar hotel, Eden Pavilion is a cozy restaurant with some of the tables offering views of the nearby Science City Museum grounds. For breakfasts, the place has a buffet deal and some a la carte options; finding poha, the flattened rice porridge, is an easy task. Don’t limit yourself to this one Indian dish, though, there are many other national cuisine gems you can eat here, all cooked with love and passion for the country’s gastronomic heritage.

Idli, traditional Indian dish. Image by Prateek Rungta. Licence CCA2.0. Cropped from original

Idli is a traditional Tamil dish that has been enjoyed for centuries. The process of making these steamed cakes involves fermentation, which augments their taste, texture, and dietary properties. Broken down, carbohydrates and proteins are easier to digest, i.e., no bloating and better bioavailability of the nutrients.

Idli is typically served with sambar, a spicy lentil-based vegetable stew, and various chutneys made from coconut, coriander, or tomatoes. Delivering plenty of energy and sufficient amounts of protein, these cakes are a very popular Indian breakfast/street food. Definitely a meal to eat one fine morning in Kolkata.

Jyoti Vihar is a no-thrills South Indian cuisine cafe located in the touristy part of town. Obviously established to cater to all audiences, locals and sightseers alike, this place is nice and neat even when it’s full. You can drop in for idli, which is the most praised item on the menu, after your morning walk in the park of Victoria Memorial. Add masala dosa and vada to your order for a filling Kolkata breakfast that’ll easily keep you exploring till lunch.

Upma, traditional Indian dish. Image by Nandhinikandhasamy. Licence CCAA4.0

Also known as uppittu, kharabath, upeet, rulanv, upma is a national breakfast dish based on semolina or coarse rice flour. The recipe of thick porridge was compiled in the southern parts of India, and it quickly became popular throughout the entire Indian subcontinent. The world is a portmanteau of “uppu,” which means salt in Tamil, and “mavu,” standing for ground grain. There are several regional variations of upma that substitute semolina for something readily available in the given area, from corn to vermicelli.

Cooking upma is a process of dry roasting semolina in a pan, then replacing it with lentils, onion, ginger, spices, etc., sautéeing them in ghee or oil, and finally pouring the roasted base back and mixing everything thoroughly. This authentic Indian cuisine dish is considered a good choice for those looking to lose some pounds, since the resulting meal packs considerable amounts of fiber, vitamins, and healthy fats while being low in cholesterol and calories.

For its size and population, Kolkata isn’t full of greenery, so if you have a chance to walk in the shade of one of its parks, especially when it is late morning already, you might want to take it. Deshapriya Park is one of such deals, “a serene retreat in the heart of Kolkata,” as one of the reviewers has put it. Prema Vilas is a nice little café nearby that you can visit for upma and other South Indian staples; the place has a Google Maps score of 4.2 at 2,282 appraisals, which is a good result for a basically local eatery. If you want to eat Indian food in Kolkata, this looks like one of the best and safest options.

Dal makhani, traditional Indian dish. Image by Soumendra Kumar Sahoo. Licence CCAA4.0. Cropped from original

A healthy start of a good lunch is a bowl of soup or stew. Looking for what to eat in Kolkata when it’s around noon, you’ve got plenty of options, since Indian cuisine has a selection of less solid recipes that is slightly wider than in other cookbooks of the world. Dal makhani, which means “lentil with butter,” is one of them.

In the 1950s, this stew was designed in New Delhi by Kundan Lal Gujral and Kundan Lal Jaggi, two famous Indian chefs of Punjabi origins. A popular choice for lunch, the recipe brings together everything healthy and filling lentils deliver with exquisite tastes and richness contributed by cream, butter, and spices. Given the outstanding culinary heritage of India, the fact that this recent invention became a staple speaks for its qualities better than anything else (although, there’s a theory claiming the dish is a version of an old Punjuabi recipe). But it’s always better to make your own opinion about food, so eat dal makhani in Kolkata when you have a chance.

Located next door to Gitanjali Stadium, Punjabee Rasoi is a full-fledged restaurant serving all the North Indian signature dishes, from adrak through chicken bharta to dal makhani. This establishment is one of the not-so-many places you may want to mark as a destination for a special foodie’s trip. The Google Maps score, as of this writing, is 4.5 at over 4,000 appraisals, which is very good for Kolkata. Add an extensive menu, great quality food, friendly staff, and reasonable prices to the mix, and you get the picture.

Butter chicken, traditional Indian dish. Image by stu_spivack. Licence CCAA4.0. Cropped from original

Kundan Lal Jaggi, the chef mentioned above, has more to his credit than dal makhani. He’s the one who came up with the recipe for butter chicken, a dish that’s currently considered one of the top Indian cuisine masterpieces of all time.

The story of the invention of this masterpiece involves a group of hungry guests popping into the Moti Mahal restaurant late in the evening; Jaggi on duty; a spontaneous gravy uniting purpose-designed creamy tomato sauce and leftover tandoori chicken. Thus, the chef saved the day, and the dish he made in the process was praised so highly that Kundan Lal Jaggi added it to the establishment’s menu under the name of butter chicken. Same as dal makhani, this recent culinary invention proved a total success. It quickly spread through the country, so today you can eat butter chicken in most restaurants of Kolkata.

Oudh 1590 Saltlake isn’t anywhere near the touristy part of Kolkata; it is located in one of the city’s relatively new districts, Bidhannagar. You can come here to have some fun in the Nicco amusement park, or to visit the said restaurant specifically, since its interior is the attraction in itself: the place claims to reconstruct dining halls of old Indian palaces, and it looks like that’s exactly what’s been done. With plenty of traditional dishes to order from, don’t skip on butter chicken, it’s delicious.

Rajma chawal, traditional Indian dish. Image by Shreya151994. Licence CCAA4.0. Cropped from original

While the above lunch-in-Kolkata suggestions, dal makhani and butter chicken, are mostly restaurant food, the dish we draw your attention to in this section is something people of the Indian subcontinent eat routinely, as part of their daily diets. Beans play a major big role in the local cuisine, same as rice; bring the two together in one bowl, and you have rajma chawal.

Also known as rajmah, rāzmā, or lal lobia, this recipe takes red kidney beans and cooks up a thick gravy around them, realizing the full potential of tomatoes, onions, and numerous spices and herbs. Rajma chawal is basically a vegetarian curry, so it welcomes a side of white rice, which completes it not only in the domain of tastes but also in the realm of looks. Order this Punjabi dish in Kolkata when you see it on the menu; most likely, you’ll start feasting on it with your eyes even before the plate lands on the table before you.

The Rice Guys is a good example of how you can do everything correctly and end up with a small eatery that is welcoming everyone. Eat in or take out, you always get high quality food (all things rice, rajma chawal included) with no compromises on such “minor” things as cutlery and tableware. You’ll find this spot easily on any of your exploration trips to and around Victoria Memorial.

Tandoori chicken, traditional Indian dish. Image by Kavi3d. Licence CCAA4.0

The Moti Mahal restaurant and its two Punjubi chefs, Kundan Lal Gujral and Kundan Lal Jaggi, were instrumental to the development of Indian cuisine in the 20th century. Above, there are two recipes they’ve added to the already rich trove that caught on and evolved into staple foods; tandoori chicken is their third contribution to national cookbooks. This one is a great choice for dinner in Kolkata.

A tandoor is a cylindrical clay oven; it’s been around since time immemorial. Throughout Asia, its primary purpose is to bake flatbread, but, being a container concentrating heat, it can be used to cook other food, too. Tandoori chicken is one of the best examples of what this oven is capable of; marinated in spices and yogurt, this bright red perfection (the color comes from the Kashmiri red chili powder) emerges juicy and tender. Rice is a traditional side here, but you may find different combinations in the restaurants of Kolkata.

Honey Da Dhaba is a Punjabi restaurant in Kolkata that caters primarily to locals, since it’s located outside of the city’s tourist traps, and there aren’t any major sights around (the Muslim cemetery across the road doesn’t count). As such, the establishment is rather fancy, so if you find yourself in the vicinity thereof, do walk in and enjoy the finer dishes of North Indian cuisine. Start with tandoori chicken, of course, and continue exploring new tastes through mutton saag to firni.

Biryani, traditional Indian dish. Image by Madhurima Mitra 31. Licence CCAA4.0. Cropped from original

No article about what to eat in India in general and Kolkata in particular is complete without biryani. This recipe was designed centuries ago, with some theories pinning it to Mongolia’s Timur the Conqueror, who approached the country in the 14th century. Having undergone some minor transformations through the years, biryani survived to this day as a quintessential combination of a source of animal protein (fish, beef, mutton, or chicken), vegetables, eggs, spices in abundance, and, of course, rice.

In addition to the options for carnivorous foodies, Kolkata restaurants usually carry vegetarian biryani on their menus. Even if “meatless” and “meaningless” are almost synonymous in your vocabulary, we encourage you to give it a try at least once. Chances are, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

The Saffron Tree is a Kolkata restaurant branded as “fusion” by its patrons. There is a good reason for that, and it’s the menu of the place: you can find a wide range of items from different cuisines of the world here. While some are better left untasted, those representing Indian culinary traditions, including the famous biryani, are definitely worth a try. If your tours through Kolkata take you to Rabindra Sarobar Lake (a good park, worth a visit), do find an hour to enjoy national dishes in The Saffron Tree, which is nearby.

Vindaloo, traditional Indian dish. Image by JIP. Licence CCAA3.0. Cropped from original

Our third and final suggestion for your dinner in Kolkata is vindaloo, also spelled vindalho. This recipe was compiled in India’s Goa, an arguably best known state of the country and positively the most popular tourist destination of Bharat. This curry is one of the dishes that aren’t from the Indian subcontinent originally: carne de vinha d'alhos, the meal from which vindaloo stemmed, was brought here by the Portuguese sometime around the 15th century.

In most Indian establishments in the UK, vindaloo is the hottest curry for the daring. The usual meat base is pork, and the gravy around it, in addition to caramelized onions and curry paste, includes a wide range of ingredients from coconut milk through ginger and chickpeas to jalapeños and Kashmiri chili powder, which grants this food its fiery red color. If you’ve had vindaloo outside of India, do order it in one of Kolkata’s restaurants, plus a glass of milk to remedy the burning if the curry turns out too hot.

The description of SurFiré The Coastal Café states that it is a “colorful eatery whipping up burgers, curries & biryanis, plus coffee & milkshakes.” Obviously typed in by the owners, this phrase actually catches the essence of the spot: it is colorful, and they do have everything mentioned on the menu. Know how to cook it all properly, too. SurFiré The Coastal Café is right by the Rabindra Sarovar lake of Kolkata, so if you’re there, don’t miss out on your chance to eat vindaloo at this spot, it's definitely one of its highlights.

Gajar ka halwa, traditional Indian dish. Image by Prerna Jaddwani. Licence CCAA4.0. Cropped from original

While some Indian culinary and gastronomic traditions may look rather peculiar to you, they are as fond of sweet things as everybody else in the world. Thus, finishing dinner with a dessert in India is a common turn of events.

There are probably several dozens of authentic Indian sweet dishes out there, including regional varieties; one of them, gajar ka halwa, can be the much needed touch making the picture of your dinner in Kolkata complete. It is a carrot pudding cooked with milk, sugar, and cardamom, all mixed together in a pot held over low fire for up to 3 hours. The result is as delicious as it is colorful.

Gajar Ka Halwa is a popular dessert in Kolkata, so you can try it in most local cuisine restaurants worth their salt. However, there are usually places around that specialize in the sweeter section of the national cookbook, and, in most cases, they serve better varieties of traditional treats. Haldiram is one of such spots. It’s actually a small chain with several outlets; grab your gajar ka halwa in any of them and learn how good a carrot-based dessert can be.

India is moving up in the world in giant strides. It has recently surpassed China in terms of population (1.408 billion, and counting); economically, the advancements are as impressive. As a tourist destination, Bharat, as the country calls itself, also opens up to the world, and Kolkata is positively a good example of how to handle things correctly in this respect. And it’s not the English heritage that’s driving crowds to the city but the authentic, rich history of the indigenous nation. Plus food, of course. So, have a great time as a tourist in Kolkata! For more guidance, check out these articles from Restaurant Guru:

– 10 Essential Indian Dishes You Must Try in Kolkata

– Get to know the flavorful soul of Kolkata, India

– Discover ancient marvels and recipes of Kolkata, India