In a NUtshell:A restaurant manned by ‘cold’ people, members of ‘no laughter club’ , the restaurant has average ambience and serves very good food

Address & other details: The calcutta club

Meal for 2: ₹500 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:

We had heard about this place from friends. When aalok, our fellow food blogger wrote he absolutely loved the shutki maach here, we decided to pay a visit. On a Saturday evening in mumbai we set out for a 37 km journey (one way) from home!!!!

The restaurant has little space near the entrance, after which there is a door and then we entered the dining room.

The room was L shaped. The walls were full of framed photographs of eminent Bengali movie and music artists.

The furniture was basic and functional.

Menu card had a long list of items. I liked the design of the menu card and the fact that there was a small note on history anthropology of Bengali people in the first page – not too many people talk about it.

People – the two people whom we walked past after entering the restaurant behaved as if we were transparent. No facial reaction, no telling where to sit etc . They had uninterested, constipated look on their faces and they maintained a strict ‘no smile policy’, as if smiling at strangers was equivalent to sexual assault !!! No one said where to sit and we randomly sat somewhere. We had to call one of the haseenas (read ‘hasee’ na) to ask for a menu card.

The two young , junior boys who served us were much warmer. They were good.

Loved the food and that made us forget the other things. Was worth the travel. Won’t say they are among the best Bengali restaurants I have ever eaten at, but Wud surely fit into the next slot.

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

We started with kolkata Fish fry – crumb fried fish fillet. In kolkata these days this dish has fallen in most places coz they have thin fish and thick crumb and masala layer, to cut on costs. Thankfully shops like apanjan , bengal hotel etc serve a good perfect version.

At Calcutta club the fish was super thin ( thinner than u cud imagine ) and the outer layer was also very thin. This resulted in proportion of fish reducing. The fry tasted good as it is. Have had much better. Rate it 2.5/5

Shukto (bitter mixed vegetable curry with karela as a compulsory ingredient) was excellent. It had a great balance of bitter, salt and sweet. The limited thick gravy was so good that we licked it till last drop. Bori ( vadi/ lentil dumplings) were enjoyable. Rate it 4.5/5

Mochaar ghonto was a dry curry of banana flowers. In case u thought it was a typo, it was not. People of eastern india eat banana flower ( flower b4 the banana fruit is formed). It had mocha, potato and spices. Outstanding. Loved every bit of the mocha. Full of taste, full of flavours. Rate it 4.5/5.

Moong Daal with koraishuti (green pea) was home like. Thick, flavours of daal, koraishuti. Loved the texture. Great. Rate it 4.25/5

Jhurjhure aloo bhaja with the daal was very enjoyable. Super crisp and perfectly salted. Rate it 4.25/5

Parshe maacher jhal was thick mustard paste gravy of parshe fish (full fish, with head and bones). The intensity of the mustard was commendable and so was the balance in the gravy. The fish was very good too. Rate it 4.5/5

Pabda maccher jhol was a thin gravy of pabda fish , potato and bori. Very good I Wud say. Almost like in someone’s home. Rate it 4.25/5

Shutki maach was curry of dried fish. The strong flavours of dried fish were surely felt. The gravy was thick and intense and fish pieces were crumbled and was a part of the gravy. Tasted very good with plain rice. Rate it 4.25/5

Mangshor jhol was very nice. Unlike most goat curries served in mumbai, this one did not seem to be made from big goats. The meat was super soft and very good to taste. The jhol was slightly thicker than ideal. It was a bit more uniform than optimum. It had the unmissable aloo. Rate this dish 4.25/5

For dessert we had Roshogollar payesh. The kheer part was good – not too sweet. The rodhogolla used was of the kolkata sponge variety and not the suburban solid roshogolla (which incidentally is like the famous Pahala rasgulla of orissa). The kheer did not enter the roshogolla much. Rate it 3.75/5

Overall rating of food at the Calcutta club averages out to 4.1/5

Wud revisit if in that area.