Cup e bong (Kalikapur, next to EM bypass & Prince Anwar shah road crossing, kolkata)

In a nutshell:

A cafe conceptualised by one man & fully run by himself as a one man army (one lady to help) – we had some really unforgettable, artisanal, small batch, hand crafted meats, cooked just right, with great attention to detail.

Address & other details: cup e bong

Facebook: cup e bong

Instagram : cup e bong

Cuisine type : vegetarian & non vegetarian

Meal for 2: ₹500 onwards

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.

YUMMRAJ rates all the food items & then gives 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

Bill – proof of payment

Short description- in case u r in a hurry

As most of you know, team YUMMRAJ goes to any restaurant in anonymity, never meets the chef, lest a human bias creeps in. In case of cube bong, team YUMMRAJ went in anonymity but there was no option not to meet/talk/chat with Amit Halder – founder, designer, raw material sourcing head, marketing head, sous chef, executive chef, cook, bartender (non alcoholic) – all rolled into one. Huge respect.

Darjeeling maharaja pork platter

A lot has been written & videos made of how Amit started a cafe from being a medical sales professional.

He started this business from scratch after he discontinued his job in medicine. He knew some cooking but picked up everything to do with running a cafe, on the go. In his late thirties. Hats off. It’s like creating a new career totally unrelated.

Here are a few links that were on Amit’s top of mind when we were chatting. Incidentally they are all in bengali.

Link 1

Link 2

Link 3

Amit has a magical personality that slowly opened up as we started speaking.

There was initial restraint, measured sentences, leading to slightly eased conversations & finally a full blown adda – as if we know each other for years.

This was written at the door near the exit. So true

We had heard about him & his cafe from many people in kolkata earlier but experienced the magic for the first time last week. In delhi NCR no one except a few focussed 5 star restaurants serve meats as good (of course, at 4-5 times the price). मज़ा आ गया:)

As we reached the cafe, we saw an easel board with some ‘today’s menu’ written with chalk. Some colourful lightweight seats were neatly stacked on a side.

The first room that we entered after walking past the door was an open kitchen.

A second room on the left was an enclosure for seating a largish group

The room straight along the alley was the main dining/ cafe seating area, with multiple tables.

There was a bookshelf for people to browse from. I noticed a ludo & I think some other indoor games.

On the bright coloured wall, was a ‘hall of fame’ frame (if I might call it so) – Polaroid pics of celebrity & other important guests.

Loved the poster on the door of a super clean & very well maintained washroom – remembered a sentence from the book ‘kitchen confidential’ by Anthony Bourdain where he mentioned – you will get a sense of how hygienic the kitchen of a restaurant is, by visiting the guest washroom. If the washroom isn’t well maintained, most likely the kitchen is in a mess, coz cleanliness is an attitude & a way of life & work’.

Food was outstanding. Will go back here once again before heading back to gurugram this month.

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

Icecream soda was really nice. Amit suggested this when I said I usually don’t order any drink unless the extra sugar is really offset by a great taste.

The ice cream soda was less fizz than my memory of Bijoli grill ice cream soda we had as a kid in kolkata. The taste balance was fabulous. The flavours were just right. Not too much. Not Loved it . Rate it 4.5/5

Home made ginger ale was mentioned in the menu. Many people write that & served from bottles – made at someone else’s home I guess.

Ginger ale at cube bong genuinely seemed to be home made. It had fresh juliennes of ginger, which packed a punch. The balance of sweet was perfect. Flavours of ginger were expressed very well. Rate it 4.25/5

The meat lovers platter named Darjeeling maharaja pork platter, was a revelation – fab bacon, meat loaf, cold cuts of two kinds, momos, sunny side up etc.

Darjeeling maharaja pork platter

Bacon – hand cut (In-house) bacon was fried perfectly ensuring a burst of juices & flavours in the mouth, resulting from a very good fat to meat ratio, a fat cut & patience while frying. Have not had this level of fried bacon in india for years. Rate it 4.95/5.

Pork ham – pork ham was very good to taste. Would have been a very good add-on to a salad or a sandwich. Rate it 4.25/5

Pork salami was made in-house from scratch. Unlike in most other places, the non industrial methods used, probably led to a really enjoyable meat texture. Would have been a very good add-on to a salad or a sandwich. Rate it 4.25/5

Pork liver salami – this salami had liver as well, in addition to the meat. The liver added to flavour while the meat added to texture. The proportions were very good. Would have been a very good add-on to a salad or a sandwich. Rate it 4.5/5

Pork handmade sausages – after really long time we ate good artisanal, small batch, hand crafted sausages, cooked just right to retain the maximum juiciness & intensity of flavours. Bowled over. Rate it 4.95/5

Eggs Sunny side up – as good as it could get. Loved the runny yolk. Rate it 4.5/5

Pork dumplings – loved the filling. The outer cover was perfect in the middle but had more than optimum thickness in corners (folds). Rate the dumpling meat 4/5 & the cover 2.5/5. Overall rating averages to 3.75/5

Pork meat loaf was very good as well. Never had it so meaty & with real meat texture in india. Most that we have had so far was industrial paste – not lumpy, not irregular, too uniform, lacking character. We really enjoyed the one at cup e bong. Rate it 4/5

For dessert we had apple pie that looked like apple pattice (colloquial bengali pronunciation of patties). Taste – outstanding balance of salt (crust) & sweet & sour (filling). Texture – murder in microwave. Rate the taste 4.5/5. Rate the texture 2.5/5. Overall rating of apple pie averages out to 3.5/5. I am very confident that if you are in the cafe when the pie has been made fresh, you will love it. There is something outstanding about it.

Overall rating of food & beverages at cup e bong averages out to 4.4/5

Wud undoubtedly revisit.

2 thoughts on “Cup e bong (Kalikapur, next to EM bypass & Prince Anwar shah road crossing, kolkata)

  1. Amazing bro yummy! This is the kind of stuff we like to read on your blog….never ever take your readers for granted by posting commercial crap (..the manger hotel)

    cRry in the great work..more of manzilat, more of tassalibaqsh…power to you

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