A Beginner’s Guide to Kolkata’s Ramzan Food Stalls

Food and Kolkata share an intensely syncretic relationship, and Bengalis take pride in being passionate foodies. There is no better display of this celebration of food by Kolkatans, irrespective of religious affiliations, than during Ramzan in the Zakaria street. Possibly one of the largest and varied street food festivals in the city, the month-long Ramzan fare is especially visible during the evening iftaar when the devout break their fast.

Initially, the food in the vicinity of the Nakhoda Mosque was popular among members of the Muslim community. It has gained in popularity of late among college-going youngsters across the city, spurred on largely by the influence of Facebook. Walkers groups, who have started curating Ramzan food walks in the area, have also contributed to this frenzy.

No wonder then, that there has been a distinct increase in footfalls since last year, with hordes of college students descending on the narrow gullies of Phears Lane and Colootola Street in Central Kolkata.

Stepping out from the Central Metro station, the first stop is at the renowned Adam’s Kabab. The mere mention of Adam’s Kabab has everyone, from hawkers to shopkeepers, pointing you to the direction of a hole in the wall. Famed for its Suta or Sutli kaba, the meat (beef) is so fine that it has to be held together with a thread.

With its popularity skyrocketing this year, Adam’s has had to start a separate queue and charcoal fire for chicken and mutton kababs across the street. While the beef kababs and “boti kababs” are still dished out by the original shop, both queues are serpentine. Taking care to avoid the cycle carts and goods vans that routinely ply through Phears Lane, otherwise a transport hub, customers wait patiently for an hour before they can dig into the succulent kababs.

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A few steps ahead is a nondescript shop, Star Biryani with its handi packed to the brim with kachchi Chicken biryani, where rice and chicken are cooked together from scratch.

If you have a sweet tooth, the glitzy interiors of Haji Allaudin, with its spread of sweets, is the next halt. The phirni, mava ladoos, gaund ladoo and mutton keema samosas, is simply divine. The large crowds have often meant that the shop runs out a Ramzaan speciality, Bateese halwa. Then there is the famous lachcha seviyan, packaged and sold at Rs 440 per kg in green cardboard boxes with white nest-like pictures on its cover.

For savouring haleem, the dish synonymous with Ramzaan, one needs to arrive early, by 5:30 pm. Within an hour or two, most shops run out of Haleem. At Bashir’s, famous for its beef haleem, members of a food-walk group dig into the fare, as plastic spoons and napkins are passed around. From Bashir to its rival next door, Islamia, ladles scoop out the broth of crispy meat floating in a spicy dal-millet mixture. Surprisingly, it is not an oily gravy.

We order Islamia’s beef biryani and are instantly transported to a foodie’s heaven, as the rice and meat melt into the mouth with the iconic potato. (No biryani worth its name in Bengal can be complete without the single potato.) While in other parts of the country, the presence of this type of meat is likely to land one in trouble, this is a beef eaters haven. Chicken and mutton are second preferences.

While on this food trail, I was reminded of Anthony Bourdain, the chronicler of people’s lives and their food. In a way, this was a vintage Bourdain fare. You can enjoy it only if you have the stomach for it. One must take the congestion, squalid surroundings, poverty, dirt and humidity in their stride to enjoy the humanity of their surroundings: people enjoying their food. Forget fancy restaurants and pretty menus, it’s about the community and feasting. And there’s a certain robustness to it all.

While the majority of those on food walks feast, the iftaar starts with dates. Then come fruits, fries and fritters, meats and finally, it is rounded off with sweets.

Back to the food trail, another round of kababs follow. My taste buds did not take a fancy to khiri kababs, made from cows udders. Dahi kabas and shammi kabab at Al Baik, again with a serpentine queue, were more for my liking.

Aftre all the meat and spices, it was essential to balance it with something sweet and syrupy. The mithais during Ramzaan may be overshadowed by the meats, but the sheer array of options is mind boggling. So, it was a pit stop at Taskeen, where everything from Shahi Tukda, phirni, falooda to fruit platter was readily available. The amazing speed at which they serve the customers could account for the queues coexisting peacefully alongside the thriving business of a narrow gully.

Sitting cheek to jowl beside it was a stall selling chicken fry, fish and “pron” fry.  Close to bursting at the seams, we had resolved not to tuck in anymore, but the double fried chicken, more akin to the changezi chicken in Delhi, was a must have. Incidentally, many Muslims in the area trace their lineage back to Uttar Pradesh, so its not out of place to have a restaurant named “Dilli 6” in the heart of central Kolkata.

Watch: Celebrating Being Queer and Muslim During Ramzan

The tandoors had been fired up after iftaar, so it was first the turn of the sheermals (a slightly sweet flattened bread) to be lowered into them by hand, followed by the khameeri rotis (flattened breads with yeast). Surrounding these food stalls were mountains of seviyan and all kinds of bread on roadside stalls. If you’re familiar with lachcha paratha, then there’s “lachcha seviyan”. The best of the lot is from Western UP and Moradabad, a tad more expensive.

We decide to break bread literally, tearing out portions from the ‘Bakarwal rotis’ a flakier variety than the ‘sheermal’.

Having packed and tasted a variety of foods, we walked towards the most famous tourist spot in the vicinity, the Nakhoda Masjid. Its late evening and the faithful have started assembling for prayers. At this late hour, it is crowded. So, we leave it for another time, admiring the light piercing through the jaalis on the masjid walls.

Sweat profusely, Rooh Afza glasses seemed cool and inviting. It did not disappoint, making us feel cool instantly.

And as we hit the congested traffic of Rabindra Sarani , the heart of Chitpore, where man, machine and business were churned in a chaotic motion that was propelled forward solely by incessant honking. To stay afloat, one has to flow with the rhythm; by then we had fully satiated our appetites and enthusiasm.

Kavita Chowdhury is a freelance journalist writing on development, politics, women’s issues and the arts. She is also adjunct faculty at the Asian College of Journalism.