This is a part of the series of eating out at pice hotels in kolkata ( decades old, sometimes century old eateries that still serve authentic Bengali food).

In a NUtshell:

A decades old eatery that serves YUMM and authentic Bengali food, super fast, efficient and warm service.

Address & other details: Adarsha Hindu hotel

Meal for 2: ₹100 onwards

Cuisine type : vegetarian and non vegetarian

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.

We spent ₹785 for all the food that we had. No bill. Payment by cash.

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

Short description- in case u r in a hurry:

It is a decades old pice hotel (eatery) in the heart of south calcutta that always is buzzing with people from all walks of life.

For the uninitiated, pice hotels used to thrive from about a century back to cater to numerous students, office workers who would stay in kolkata away from their homes and would look out for places to eat home like Bengali food everyday – cheap but not overtly spicy and hence easy to digest. The name Pice hotel seems to have come from the fact that everything served by them has a value e.g. They charge separately for everything from a slice of lemon to banana leaf to everything that appears on the plate 

There is separate rate for first portion and repeats.

As mentioned above, this eatery is situated in the busy Gariahat market on the rear end. One can get here from inside the market and also thru a rickety metal staircase that goes up from the footpath in the rear end of the market.

Like in the olden days, a staff member sits at the gate and call out aloud to passers by to come in and enjoy a hearty meal.

As we entered thru the staircase, we walked into the kitchen storage area. On one side was a heap of (bhaar) kulhars and on the other side was all the curries stacked in racks neatly.

This led into the main dining room. The dining room was much better Maintained than what we thought it Wud be. It was surely much better than jaganmata bhojanalaya that we visited the same week ( prices of food are much lower in jaganmata though).

It was as neat and clean as possible. There was a wash basin in the corner of the room. Electric wall fans cooled the low ceiling dining room.

Furniture was basic and functional.

Food was served in disposable plates with a banana leaf top. Water was served in bhaar ( kulhad / earthen glasses).

The person serving us was very warm and hospitable. Made us feel at home.

Detailed description- in case u hv the time to njoy reading:

We started with rice and jhurjhure aloo bhaja. The aloo bhaja was less crisp and had sub optimal salt. The one at jaganmata was much better. Rate it 3/5

The dal was simple and home like. It did not have spices screaming out of it nor was it hot. There was full whole chilly for people who wanted their food extra hot. Rate it 4.25/5

We had a mixed vegetable curry – potato and potol ( parwal, a green vegetable). Loved it . As good as it could get. Both potato and Potol retained their respective textures, yet the curry overall harmonised both the veggies. Rate it 4.25/5

First fish that we had was chitol macher peti ( belly area of chitol fish). For those not initiated to this fish, lemme try to describe it. It’s a fairly large fish which is halved into a peti (belly area) and gada (back area). The back area has extreme number of bones and unless u r a discerning bong foodie, you might want to let go of that. A boneless fishball curry made from the gada is famous though – chitol machher muthi. 

The peti has two sections – a ‘small bone’-ful area) and a large bone area. The large bone area is the fun part. This usually has a lot of fish fat and has a unique buttery texture- marvellous to taste and what a feel!!!

The peti piece of fish served at this eatery was fresh and very good. It was as buttery as it cud get and as good. The mustard based gravy was very enjoyable too. Rate it 4.5/5

Parshey fish was made into a thick mustard based gravy. The fish was very fresh and very good. Curry was intense, rustic, robust – loved the pungency of the mustard. The fish was a tad over fried. Rate this 4.25/5

Pabda macher jhaal was very nice. It had a bit of tomatoes, kalo jeera and mustard. The jhol ( gravy) was thin but strong in terms of taste and flavours. The fish was not over fried like the parshey and hence loved it. Rate it 4.5/5

Kochi pathar jhol (baby goat meat in thin gravy) was excellent. It had the unmissable aloo in it. The spices very well merged with the jhol and were enjoyable. The dish was not hot. Meat pieces were super soft and overflowed with meaty flavours. Intense, thick and just too good gravy. Rate it 4.5/5

Aam chutney was ok. The jhol was predominantly sweet and raw mango was sour. The texture of mango was not the best – was a bit harder than enjoyable. Rate it 2.5/5

Overall rating of food at Adarsha Hindu hotel averages out to 4/5

Wud revisit to try out the other dishes as well.