May 15, 2002 10:14 AM
4436 Views
(Updated May 15, 2002 12:25 PM)
I happen to have couple of Bengali friends and I love Bengali food. If you have read my review on a Chicken curry receipe, You would have realised the Bengali influence in it. There aren't may places in Chennai serving Bengali food, the best so far I have encountred is Sree Annapurna Of Calcutta, which claims that its the Most Reputed Bengali Hotel in Chennai
Where it is
Annapurna is a shabby run down place in Egmore, Chennai. To be exact, its on 23, Pantheon Road, and ask any 'autowallah' for the 'Bengali Restaurant called Annapurna near Egmore' and he will take you to the place. Don't go by the looks as looks can be deceiving and it happens to server really authentic Bengali food.
Ambience & Seating
There is nothing much to write about it. The seating if hardly enough for 20-30 people, the place is bit rundown but clean, atleast the seating area. Soft bengali music in the background adds to the ambience. Most of the times, (Particularly during lunch hours) you may have to wait 10-15 minutes before getting a place to sit, but its ok.
Foodfare
When you take the first bite of any stuff, you can taste the mustard and it tells you that its Bengali. I normally go to Annapurna for Lunch and have rice and Chicken Kossa (Curry). Other disnes are of course the Kossa's, Egg and Mutton.
Like Kerala, Bengal too is a land of fish eaters. Some of the popular Fish preparations over here are:
Machher Jhal which is the typical Bengali fish preparation with Mustard
Doi Mach may be the fishy version of Chicken Dahi-wala, yes it uses curd as an ingredient.
The Vegge selections includes
Aloo Posto
Potatoes with strong Mustard flavour, I just love it
Potoler Dorma
Parwal curry, tastes really good.
Louer Ghhanto
Lawki semi-dry dish, Bengali style.
Sorry, I don't know What Lawki and Parwal are called in English.
The Vegge selections rotate each day I think and I don't think you can order from the menu, that's what my friends told me, who normally order the food in Bengali. But all the Vege's are extremly tasty. But they serve the Daal everyday. The rice is of sufficient quantity and the curries are also ok, they tastes so different from the normal stuff you get in other places, they are extremely good.
To end it all..
After eating all these mustard stuff, you can cool yourself with Misthi Doi, ie basically sweetened curd which is frozen I think. I normally skip it as I don't like sweet stuff, instead I go out and have a Paan at the Paan wallah sitting outside the restaurant.
The prices are extremely affordable, I don't remeber the exact prices cos normally my friends pay for it whenever we go :-) (I pay when I take them to a Mallu joint).
I know that for 3 of us, for a sumptous lunch, with One Chicken, One Egg , One Mutton and One Fish preparations, 3 Pepsi's, and two Misthi Doi, the bill was around 190 /- Rs. Next time you are in Chennai, or if you are already in Chennai, give Annapurna a try. Its not very impressive to look at, but the food they serve are extremely tasty, authentic and affordable.
Hey, but remember one thing Go to Annapurna only if you Love Mustard, hence the title. :-)
Peace
Ranjith
