Shim shim ( bright street, Park Circus KOLKATA)

In a nutshell:

A relatively new tibetan food restaurant in a very unlikely location that serves some great Tibetan and other oriental style beef dishes

Address & other details: shim shim

Meal for 2: ₹300 onwards

Cuisine type : Very few vegetarian, mostly 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.

5 of us over ate and rolled out of the restaurant after paying the above

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

When we were chatting with our foodie friend Indrajit (mohamushkil.com) on a place to have lunch with some ‘great food, no bull’, he suggested shim shim along with a few others. I was not initially convinced about oriental food as most shops serve very Indianised food. We are ones who love the hardcore flavours of ingredients rather than those mellowed down with tomato sauces and overdose of soy sauce.

When Indrajit mentioned in passing that shim shim serves a huge lot of beef dishes, that kind of excited us – since we stay in beef starved mumbai (in saffron states of india you can only get buffalo meat and not cow meat). Kolkata of course serves the real thing.

As we started going towards the restaurant I realised I have been there – situated behind quest mall, this Area has many mughalai restaurants and meaty street food stalls and shops.

Shim shim stands out in the lane as it is the only colourful facade among a bunch of plain painted and ‘not painted for long’ buildings. The facade has a Graphiti that is unique and unexpected.

The interiors r basic, clean and good.

The menu card is a one pager.

Except a handful, every item in the menu is non vegetarian – chicken or beef. The funny part is that all the items in vegetarian section have been blackened out by a marker!!! No longer served.

The boys serving food seemed to be not from Kolkata – they were not good in either Bengali, Hindi or English. Sign language worked well some times. Good service.

Super loved the food. Thank you Indrajit for pushing me out of my prejudice. Am open to try more.

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

Oxtail clear soup was a dish that attracted me like a magnet on the menu card. This happens to me every time I see oxtail on the menu. I am still searching for something close to the unbelievably good Mexican oxtail curry that I had Years ago in Miami. Oxtail is one of the most supple meats among meats from most other parts of the animal.

At shim shim they put thin matchstick like sized pieces of meat which they called oxtail. No idea why someone Wud do that to oxtail. The soup was watery and did not have any meaty flavours. It was refreshing to drink the hot, mildly flavoured water. Rate it 2/5

Beef phalay pie was a rockstar of a dish. It was a deep fried stuffed pancake with minced beef and onions in the middle. Super loved the extra crisp outer layer and the very juicy filling. Full of meaty flavours. Great to taste. Rate it 4.75/5

Beef thukpa, the noodle in a soup, was way better than the oxtail soup. The meat pieces were thicker and we cud understand the taste better. The noodles were perfectly soft, yet had independent strands. Veggies were crunchy. What I Wud hv loved was to have the stock made from bone marrow or general meat stock. That usually does magic. Most noodle soups I have had in China and Far East, including the ones I had last week, the soup is made from stock and that makes it fully flavourful. Rate it 3.75/5

Beef kothay was another rockstar. Simple beef momos pan fried (one side) and served. Juicy, intense meaty flavours and excellent to taste. Rate it 4.75/5

Chilly beef was a dry and chatpata beef dish. The meats were perfectly done. The onions and tomatoes added to the taste. The dish was a bit hot due to the chilies but perfectly enjoyable. Loved it. Rate it 4.5/5

Mongolian beef was another great dish. It was sweetish in nature. No idea what was Mongolian about it but it tasted great. The meat was perfectly done. Loved the greens. Rate it 4.5/5