Souk ( Taj bengal, Alipore, kolkata)

In a NUtshell:A memorable culinary journey of middle eastern food, friendly service and good ambience

Address & other details: Souk

Meal for 2: ₹1500 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.

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:

This Restaurant is located inside Taj Bengal. We got to know about it while searching for a good option to have a family dinner.

The set up was classic. No special middle eastern elements in it.

One side of the restaurant we could see a live kitchen dining bar

The other side had glass thru which the aisle leading to the hotel lobby was visible.

The menu card was a thick book wth detailed description of each dish.

The gentleman serving us was not the classic 5 star ‘formal & cold’ person but a very warm, lively and a great guy. I loved the informal chat and also the fact that he cracked a few jokes as well during our conversation.

Loved the food.

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

We started off with Mezze sampler vegetarian. It had hummus, pita bread, babaganoush, asparagus makhli and yoghurtulu ispanaki.

The hummus was a bit textured, not plain mashed. It had a small heap of olives on top and of course olive oil. Tasted very good and rate it 4.25/5

babaganoush was again very nice. The aubergine had a good smokey flavours. It was a bit lemony but we liked it. Rate it 4.25/5

We were blown out with asparagus makhli – the baby asparagus item on the platter. The asparagus pieces were super YUMM, juicy and just so soft and good. Garlic & Pine nut Sauce was to fight for. Rate it 4.75/5

yoghurtulu ispanaki was warm spinach and garlic salad with crisp onions. It had spinach on the base and hung curd on top. Again very nice. Spinach flavours and taste came out to b very good. Loved the individual parts of the dish as well as together. Rate it 4.5/5

Kabab Istanbul was goat kabab. The mince was not the typical machine (extra fine grains of almost paste like) but seemed to be hand made and thus lumpy and uneven. The kababs were hand shaped and hence irregular. Absolutely juicy inside. The juice was intense and just too good. There were pine nuts and bold spices in the kababs. Meat and spices were Full of flavours and kept complimenting each other. Lovely dish. Rate it 4.5/5

Next dish we ordered was Lamb dolma (vine leaf covered minced meat). The gentleman serving us told that many people do that not like it (coz it had a slight bitter aftertaste) but those who do, go ga ga on it. We tried the dish and we absolutely loved it.

The meat inside was juicy, bursting out with flavours of meat. Vine leaf was strong enough in character, to contribute well to both taste and flavor. It fought well with the mighty meat. This dish was all about the game of textures between the meat and the leaves. Super good. Rate it 4.5/5

We also tried Samak moroccaine, oven baked fish in Moroccan spices. The fish used was kolkata river water bhetki. One of the best fish dishes we have had in a month’s time. Absolutely super Super flaky and juicy. No excess spices. No spices on the face. Just the right amount for a perfect ‘jugalbandi’ with the fish’s flavours. Rate it 4.75/5

We had two different kinds of Fruit juices which were very good.

For dessert we chose B stilla au lait – puff pastry with crushed almond, almond cream and a sauce that was poured from the top. The layers of the puff pastry were placed on top of the other. Very flaky. Very light. Very good. The almond cream and crushed almond had full flavours of almond. Loved the sauce. Rate it 4/5

We were strongly recommended Rose petal ice cream. We were told that the ice cream was made inhouse. It was a revelation. I have very seldom come across a full bodied rose flavor such well presented. Memorable. Rate it 4.75/5