In a NUtshell

Absolutely worth our drive of 1 hour 57 minutes, one way, only to eat biryani here. Super enjoyable only when it is not seen with the lens of kolkata biryani. It is different from both Awadhi & kolkata styles, I call this barrackpori biryani.

 

Address & other details: dada boudi hotel

 Meal for 2: ₹400

 Cuisine type :  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.

 No bill

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 biryani place from many people in the past. The reviews were mixed. Most conversations were comparisons with Arsalan or Shiraz. So it was good blogger, writer & social media star Indrajit Lahiri who demystified the situation – he described the product & mentioned he had been here several times.

So one fine day we started off on our 2 hour biryani drive (for benchmark: delhi – kolkata flying time is about 1 hour 40 minutes, flights take overall about 2 hours to reach).

Very close to barrackpore station.

Onway we stopped at Chitranjan sweets, between Girish Park metro station & Shyambazar metro, to have some freshly made gorom (hot) roshogollas (rasgulla). Full post coming up soon on that experience.

As we reached the spot in barrackpore as per google map, we saw a frame with signage of the restaurant on it. The building in the background was razed to the ground. The signage stood alone among the rubble. After initial responses starting with F.

We decided to drive ahead a bit & that’s when we spotted a pandal .I remember such pandals about 30 years back – people in kolkata used to have marriage and other events in such pandals that were made with bamboo structure & waterproof cloth on the outside. Inside the pandal would be long strips of colorful cloth stitched to one another. There were both ceiling fans & table fans to beat the heat. The walls were open in some areas (covered with net) – so lots of fresh air was coming in.

A signage above the pandal read ‘dada boudi hotel’. We got off the car & walked in, still with a bit of suspicion. In one of the bamboo pillars was a framed photo of probably the owners & some popular bengali actresses. That made us think this place was genuine.

It was 1.30 pm. As we were about to sit, a man came flying. He said ‘you are two people. Sit side by side. Opposite side others (read strangers) will sit’. Not that we mind eating with strangers, but I said ‘third person is joining. He is parking the car’. Hearing that We were allowed to occupy the table.

By the time we left, there was a huge crowd outside. No wonder they were being strict on seat sharing.

Menu was written on a card hung from the wall. There was a very good option available here – extra meat. That’s good for people like us who find it challenging to finish one full plate of rice each. So we took 1 biryani & 1 extra piece of mutton.

Tables were made of plastic. Benches (on which we sat) were wooden.

It was a pleasure to the the huge sealed handis full of biryani.

A man was non stop packing biryani for takeaways – we saw this thruout our stay of approx 30 minutes

Loved the biryani.

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

Mutton liver fry – Indrajit told us that only the biryani is great & others are just around good. We still decided to try this dish – as we had not eaten a liver curry in kolkata for a long time.

Yes, it was good. The mutton liver cooked well, was soft, not brittle. The gravy was good. It did not have a sharp taste but nothing in it stood out. However it was good. Rate the liver 4/5. Rate the gravy 3/5. The overall dish rating averages out to 3.5/5

Mutton biriyani (that’s how it is pronounced in Bengal – the biryani at dada boudi hotel was not kolkata biryani. It was surely not Lucknowi biryani (even more subtle than kolkata biryani). Dada boudi biryani had similarities to both – it was inspired by both. Yet it was different. Yet it stood out with a distinct point of view. I call it barrakpori biriyani.

The flavors & taste were bold, robust & rustic. The rice was soft, long, aromatic & was slightly sticking to one another. The biryani was way more moist than the other two biryanis we mentioned. Loved the flavors. The chilly in the mouth was much higher than kolkata biryani. The general spice level was also higher but very enjoyable.

The meat chunk was consistently huge. Never seen such big pieces of mutton in a biryani in india. The pieces were super soft & falling off the bones at the slightest provocation – yet they stuck to the bones till nudged. The fat content of the meat was high – meat from a riwazi goat that, on a lighter note, I guess had a habit of drinking beer regularly & almost never hitting the gym…. ha ha.

On a serious note, it’s incredible how they have mastered the art of softening large pieces of mutton to perfection. I can only remember Persian Darbar mumbai where I had such huge chunks of goat meat.

Rate the biryani 4.5/5

Overall rating of food at dada boudi hotel averages out to 4/5

Absolutely worth the long long drive just you eat here.