I should start with a cautionary advice that this is an awfully dreary
and boring post. And the worst part is, even if I know it, I could not do
anything to make it better. Readers, forgive me for once for being so dull. These
days I am walking around with my finger dipped in far too many pies. And my
creativity is running at an all time low.
Even though I have never lived outside Calcutta so far, I am
quite proud of the cosmopolitan trait of my life. Most of my friends and
acquaintances are non-Bengali and they hail from different states of India. I
speak more Hindi and English than Bengali these days. And I often find myself
quite intrigued by the quirky diversity of mixed-ethnic Indian culture. Be it
food or fashion or language or music, I am always going through a continuous
process of learning about cultures that I don’t belong from. What’s life
without a mission anyway?
Out of the handful of my close friends, one is from Bihar
and it’s him I first came to know about Baati Chokha from. He currently lives
in Calcutta and this North Indian village themed restaurant is one of his
favourite food destinations. So it was his idea to take me out on a dinner date
and acquaint me with his native cuisine. I never tasted authentic Bihari food
myself and hence jumped at the opportunity.
Baati Chokha is vegetarian restaurant situated at the FD
block in Saltlake city. It’s not a very big or fancy place, but quite popular
among the Calcuttans owing to the great ambience and food quality. Oh yes, I
had looked it up on Zomato before visiting. My obsessive compulsive control
freak nature is always at work and doing unnecessary research on trivial things
has become a permanent habit of mine. Zomato had told me that this place is
high on demand and hence the waiting time is on the higher side. The waiting
area is nicely decorated with khatiyas
(cot) to go with the theme. And while waiting you can watch the cook making littis on the traditional clay ovens or chulhas. However we didn’t have to wait
as we were the first customers of the evening.
The interior of Baati Chokha is quite immaculately decorated
that would give you the false vibes of being in a village, except the modern,
tiled floor. The walls are covered in clay and decorated with traditional North
Indian painting and motifs. My companion pointed out at the piece of mirror on
the clay wall that it is a familiar sight in any village house of Bihar. However
this is not exactly a Bihari restaurant. For all I know, Bihari people are not
boring vegetarians and they have got some really amazing non-vegetarian dishes.
Baati Chokha is more for those north Indians who survive on trees and grass. God
knows how though.
Most of the names on the menu card were alien to me so he
did the ordering. We ordered a dish named Ulta Pulta for starter. Ulta Pulta
can be called the desi version of a
veg pizza. Different vegetables and paneer
(cheese cube) are cooked on the base of bason
(gram flour).
The menu card |
Ulta Pulta |
The pickles |
On main course we ordered Baati, Chokha and Daal. (I wanted to order the thaali though) Now let me tell you that
previously I had no idea what a Baati
was. Baati means bowl in Bengali so I
thought it was some curry cooked in a bowl. But my misconception ended shortly
thereafter when our order arrived at the table. Baati is nothing but grilled flour balls with stuffing inside. We
had ordered two different types of baati,
paneer and sattu (gram flour). Of which the later is the traditional one.
Although they look like small ping-pong balls, they are quite
heavy and just two balls were enough for me. Er.. no pun intended.
Baati and Chokha |
The chokha was a little bit spicy for me, too many chillies.
But it was delicious. And so was the daal. It was one of the best daals I had
so far.
There are five-six dishes on the dessert list and only the
name of gaajar ka halwa was known to me. After a brief discussion, we zeroed in
on moong ka halwa as it seemed to be the safest option to my friend. Personally,
I could order the entire list. Dessert is always my favourite part of the meal.
This was probably the first time I thoroughly enjoyed a
vegetarian meal and I am definitely going back for more. I have got to try out all
the dishes. OCD again?
Comments
Post a Comment