In a nutshell:

A 60 year old eatery in Kolkata’s food street Dacres Lane that serves some great food.

Address & other details:  Chitto Babur Dokan

Meal for 2: 200 onwards

Cuisine type :  vegetarian & nonvegetarian

Disclaimer: All restaurants / eateries reviewed by YUMMRAJ were visited by YUMMRAJ himself & he has paid for the full Bill & tips also. http://www.yummraj.com does not have even one featured / sponsored reviews. YUMMRAJ believes in going to a restaurant in anonymity, as a normal guest, experience everything & give a honest account of the same to you.

I rate all the food items & then give a final overall rating which is a simple average of the individual item ratings. What the ratings stand for: 5 = Excellent, 4 = Very Good, 3 = Good, 2 = Fair, 1 = Disaster.

Meal for 2 + 6 fish fry packed = ₹690. No bill.

Short description – in case u r in a hurry:

We came to know about this place from our friends.

We reached Dacres Lane assuming we wud walk into a small eatery. However on reaching there we realized there was no eatery. A hole in the wall was dishing out food to people standing in the lane and also to people sitting along the wooden benches placed on the corner of the lane.

The lane was busy and it had two or three wheeler traffic in it, including an occasional car. People (mostly office goers come here for lunch) were standing in groups, holding the food with one hand and eating with the other.

The eatery had waiters who were walking around in the lane, collecting orders and delivering them.

They also had guys constantly sweeping the road for keeping the eating area clean.

The current owner, a young guy in his twenties, is the nephew of the person who started this shop – Chitto babu. He was amused seeing us as he took few seconds to understand we were new.

So we asked for suggestion and he gave some. We accepted. Later we had a little chat about the shop.

He was seated on a high pedestal and was monitoring the whole process and doing the cashier’s job. He asked me if I was from the press (seeing a camera with me) and I said ‘no’.

There was obviously no menu card.

The waiting staff was really good to us and he took care.

Food was very good in general.

Detailed description – in case u hv time:

Fish fry – crisp outer cover, flaky juicy fish in the middle. Good thickness of fish. A masala layer between the outer crumb layer and the fish within. Very good taste and great texture. Flavours of fish was enjoyable. Rate it 4.25/5

Fish roll had a huge chunk of mashed fish and masala in the center.

It was then covered by a layer of fish and then finally the bread crumb layer on the outside. Loved it and rate it 4.25/5

Chicken stew was a revelation. I cud not believe I was having it on the streets of Kolkata. It was as British / Irish as it cud get. It looked bland, plain. It had a large thick piece of papaya in it and a large carrot in it as well. The papaya and the carrot were soft enough to b bitten but retained their original texture. They were not ‘melt in the mouth’. The veggies also retained their flavour. The chicken pieces were excellent.

Super soft and juicy. They had specs of fat on them. Super enjoyed it. Rate it 4.5/5

Mutton stew was on exactly the same lines. Papaya, carrot etc were there as well. The mutton pieces were very soft and yumm to taste. Rate it 4.5/5

Chicken pakora was unique and nice. It was batter fried chicken.

Crispy on the outside, besan and small chicken pieces inside. It had a hint of chilly. It had a chatpata taste. RAte it 4.25/5.

Overall rating of food at chitto babu averages out to 4.4/5

Look forward to revisiting …