How Restaurants in Bengal are Celebrating Poila Baisakh

Poila Baisakh is the first day of the Bengali calendar. In Bengali, the word Poila means ‘first’ and Boishakh refers to the first month of the Bengali calendar. The festival is celebrated as the Bengali New Year.

As the city of Kolkata took a break today to celebrate Poila Baisakh, the Bengali new year, stand
alone eateries and restaurants of major hotels rolled out new dishes to greet the Bengali gourmet. Typical Bengali vegetarian and non-vegetarian items were served in some restaurants while lip-smacking street foods took center stage in some. 'Sonargaon' of Taj Bengal offered some of the specialties of the region like Topse Fish Fry, Kosha Mangsho, Echorer Kaliya, Shukto, Radha Bolobi, Kacha Aam ki Chutney. Another restaurant in the same hotel, 'The Junction' introduced a specially crafted menu drawing heavily from street food items - Machher Chop, Mangshor Chop, Mochar Chop to Postor Boda.

Bringing together two provinces of different frontiers, the Park Plaza introduced the 'Kapurthala to Kolkata' culinary journey where Macchi Amritsari, Masala Aloo Dum, Sarson Ka Saag will complement Chingri Malai Curry, Kadai Chicken and Doi Potol, The culinary route, reflecting the nature of both Punjabis and Bengalis to celebrate life, can be explored from April 13 to April 23. At Saptapadi Restaurant, fusion is the buzz word with typical Bengali items like Mochar Tarkari has been given a Latin American spin in 'Tex Mex Nachos With Refried Mocha'.

There are also other interesting dishes on the menu like 'Ranga Aloo, Karai Suti, Mangshor Pie' (A Scottish dish made with Bengal mutton and sweet potato served with garlic bread and house salad) along with 'Baked Dab Chingri Alaska' and 'Ilish Steak'.  The chef and co-owner Ranjan Biswas said, "Timeless songs from Uttam-Suchitra films will be played in the background while the food is served on earthenware cutlery."

'Durbari' and 'Café Swiss' of the Swissôtel offers a  a lavish spread of Bengali dishes at the ongoing 'Bengali Food Festival' like Gaach pathar chop (Crumb fried jackfruit patty), Agune Pora Parshe (Parshe fish marinated with freshly ground spices and cooked in tandoor), Posto Diye Potoler Dolma (Stuffed sweet gourd cooked in spicy poppy seed gravy). The festival is also majorly celebrated across Assam, Jharkhand and Odisha.