This is a part of YUMMRAJ’s series called TIMELESS KOLKATA EATOUTS – reviews of Heritage Kolkata restaurants. Each restaurant has been rated as ‘Old is Gold’ or ‘Old is no more Gold’ based on the experience.
Year/decade of opening-1928.
We think this restaurant is OLD is GOLD for its food
In a nutshell:
A 94 years old bengali sweets & savoury shop, run by the Third generation, in a heritage building, some fabulous items & others good. Nothing we tried was average or bad.
Address & other details: 033 2475 3999
Facebook : mrityunjay
Meal for 2: ₹50 onwards
Cuisine type : vegetarian only
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
Paid in cash. No bill.
Short description- in case u r in a hurry
We heard about this shop when we went to a cousin’s house in Alipore & they served us Gurer rosh mundir payesh – we were stunned at the v brilliance of the dish. Our cousin who has lived in many cities in india & abroad, told us that they do make good savoury items also.
Google map pin showed us the right location – near maddock square durga pujo.
The shop is situated at a building in a corner plot. The signboard is right in the corner.
Below the signboard, the menu is painted on the wall in large font.
Interiors are totally retro not because it has been planned that way by interior designers, but because they did not change much in a century. There is scope for just a coat of paint which I don’t think will cost much.
The showboxes are teak wood frame with glass shutters. The ceiling has ‘kori kaath’.
On one wall are the photographs of the founder & his son, the latter being father of the current owner.
The people at the shop were indifferent- not warm, not cold. Just doing a job. It was nice to chat with the owner – he was sitting behind the corner. He mentioned ‘I can promise you that no one gives as much phulkopi (cauliflower) as I do, in singara (Samosa) in kolkata.
Loved few items too much. Rest were good, none average or bad.
Detailed description – in case u hv the time to njoy reading:
Phul kopir singara was awesome – the outer layer was somewhat flaky & crisp. The show stopper was however the filling – slightly sweetish tinge of moist potato & cauliflower filling, with full flavours of cauliflower. Absolutely loved it. 4.5/5
Koraishutir kochuri with aloo subzi was Quite simple, almost home like. It had adequate green peas filling & that made the kochuri very enjoyable & we munched a lot of it just as it is.
Aloo subzi was again very simple, without the skin, not too hot, not spicy, not in the face, cooked with care for long. The curry was not chatpata. Loved it. Rate it 4/5
Gurer kalakand was very different than the usual kakakand. The amount of fat was less than in the top sweet shops of kolkata. The gur maybe dried the Kalakand a bit & stifenned it. The sweet flavours reminded of nolen gur sondesh. Very good overall. Rate it 4/5
Kalojam was usual. Good. It had a bitter aftertaste. Nothing special . Nothing that stood out. Rate it 3/5
Gurer rosh mundir payesh was cottage cheese dumplings (balls of chhana) in a reduced milk base. The reduced milk was made to be as smooth as packaged condense milk, but with a flavour of date palm jaggery. Really nice play of textures & taste. We travelled 25km (up down) to buy this, after tasting this at our cousin’s house earlier in the week. Rate it 4.75/5
Overall rating of food at this 94 year old eatery averages out to 4/5. Highly recommended for the few items we mentioned.
Look forward to revisiting at least once before the winters are over.