Radu Babu's Famous Cutlets

Age old Lake Market and the famous Radu Babu's Cutlets! I have heard about this Tea shop so many times and from so many mouths, my curiosity became sky high! Food Critics like Nandan Bagchi has mentioned Radu Babu's Cutlet more than once. So it became a must visit place for me.

On the same day I visited Grub Club (mentioned in my previous blog), we had nothing to do in the gloomy afternoon. By that time one of our friend already left for Mumbai and we all were a little sad for him. It was me who suggested to visit Radu Babu's place just for experience. I thought it can be a little boost for people.

After all this curiosity and interest, we ended with more depression than bidding farewell to our friend who left for Mumbai. All we found a very; VERY oily chunk without minimum taste. The only chicken in the Chicken Cutlet I found, in the menu card. I had also heard that the tea was special but the one we tasted was worst than many tea stall. I believe the past deserves all the appreciation but the present needs serious attention. I doubt how they can survive with this quality of service. But still you must visit the place to know the place, where many great Bengalis had a snack or tea. The rating can be 2 out of 10 for being a heritage place.

Grub Club, Golpark...A Cool Retaurant to Hang Out...

If you loved you College Canteen, you will definitely love Grub Club!

It is not a place to enjoy leisure but a place to hang out with friends. No fancy chairs or tables, no fancy lighting, no AC and many no's. A few tables for 4 or 6 and rest is long row of tales joined together like our canteen, common plastic fiber chairs and of course anyone can share your table; no privacy at all. :)

Again I'll say, if you liked your college canteen, it's a place you will not complain. Definitely not a good place to take your girlfriend on a date but obviously a very good place to give your friends a treat from your pocket money. Once you have managed you girl then also it's a place you may like to save you pocket. ;)

If you know Gol Park crossing, it's very close to it on the right hand side on Southern Avenue towards Vivekananda Park.

As I said it is like a canteen thus facility here is also like canteen. You need to select your menu first and pay the money at the cash counter at the entrance and take the printed order (the bill in fact) to the service counter. They will take the order and will ask you once the order is ready. Yes! it's self service too!

But the menu card may surprise you a lot!! you will find a huge variety of dishes on the card with various Chinese dishes to famous Mughlai items. The day I visited Grub Club, I was with my friends and one of our friend was going to Mumbai on the same day. He actually planned a small get together near my home and later he asked us to have lunch together at some place. Another friend suggested Grub Club as none of us were prepared for such a plan and we all had very little in our pocket and thus Grub Club was chosen. I was not convinced by the name at all and after seeing the condition described above I was stunned. But finally when the dishes reached our table, I was more surprised. We had dishes like Crispy Lamb Chops, Chicken Lollypops with Honey sauce as starter and in the main course Mixed Fried Rice, Chile Chicken, Garlic Chicken (don't remember if anything else we ordered). I liked the Lamb Chops very much. Personally I do not like sweet flavors for non-veg items but the Chicken Lollypops with Honey was a different taste. Other were good too, nothing special to say but obviously worthy.

If you visit Lake area or Gariahat someday you can visit Grub Club if you feel these information impressive and trustworthy...

Flavors of Madras in Kolkata, Best South Indian Retaurant in Dalhousie

It's a place again near Dalhousie. If you move towards Lalbazar, leaving Writer's Building and Cathedral Church behind and take the first right turn on the way, it is R. N. Mukherjee Road. You will find Old Mission Church and Birla Building on the left hand side. Take a look on the other side of the road, just after crossing Birla Building, you may find our destination "Madras Tiffin House".

My first job was in Hindustan Motors Ltd. and with that connection I had to visit Birla Building, our Head Office quite often. I remember it was a winter afternoon and I was just feeling hungry and co-incidentally, with the same feelings my colleague suggested Madras Tiffin House for lunch. He was quite familiar with the place being an employee of our Head Office. He still don't know what he gifted me.

After returning from a South Indian trip most bengali people tends to loose weight and sigh remembering the torturing south indian dishes throughout their trip. The final conclusion says "South Indian Dishes are good in Kolkata only". I really do not know what they find there, because I am yet to visit any South Indian city. But I must say I am really bored of having only Idli, Dosa, Vada and Utthapam (rarely experienced) and the Coconut Chatni and Sambar which come as the part of the course. Madras Tiffin House is a bit different in this respect. You will find dishes like Pongal, Rava Dosa or dessert like Rava Kashori Halwa. There are many but I am yet to taste them all. I found no point having the same Idli, Bada, though the Idli available here is also made of Rava (thickly ground rice). Idli made of rava is more soft and delicious than normally available one and dosa made of rava is little different too. If you like paper dosa then you may not like the rava dosa but don't worry, the same is available too in many variety (once my friend tried Paper Butter Dosa. It was awesome).

The day I had Pongal, my wife was with me. She is fond of new dishes and in fact she ordered the Pongal. The dish amazed us both. It is like Khichdi of rice and Urad Daal with flavor of hole black pepper. It was so simple but an extraordinary item. We really enjoyed it. Then we tasted the Rava Dosa which is smaller in size [does not exceeds the boundary of your dish like the paper dosas :P] and a little thick but definitely crispy and tasty. After all these, Rava Kashori Halwa had it's turn to pleas us and it did well. It is quite similar to Suji Halwa but made of rava instead of suji and the saffron (kashori means made with Kesar or saffron) added a completely different savor. We tried all the new dishes and none of them was disappointing and that too for a quite little money. We could hardly raised the bill over Rs.125/-. Yes it is that cheap.

Another famous item available there is Pulao (or Pulav) which is a favorite item for daily customers. It comes with Dum-Aloo, Raita and Papad. The whole course is very tasty and complete. Last day I had coffee served in traditional South Indian Stainless Steel glass  :-) . I will give a 7.5/10 rating for this place. The truth is, there is no so called ambiance and thus keeping the cost and quality in mind I can give that much rating. A little ambiance would have added more points to it but it is not required if you visit Madras Tiffin House for the sake of your tongue!

Masala Dosa

picture courtesy www.ephotosworld.com