Kasturi Restaurant - a no frills outlet serving yum food

A visit to Kasturi Restaurant was long overdue - given the kind of reviews I had heard about this place and the proximity of this joint to my home. 

I have always complained about the absence of good eating joints in my area - Nagerbazar.There have been times when I have just wanted to eat out with my family without having to travel much, but have been left with very few options. Yes, you have the Arsalans, The Aminias and the Alibabas for the biriyani lover, but what about other cuisines? I guess Kasturi has been able to meet my demand somehow.It was good to see a popular food chain opening here in Dum Dum. 

A lot of my foodie friends had suggested dishes I must try when at Kasturi. The most popular amongst them were 'sheelebata chicken' and 'kochupata bhapa chingri'. Honestly, I was the idea of shelebata chicken excited me. ( If I translate this literally, it should mean chicken grinded with spices and cooked). 

I went there on a Sunday afternoon and had to wait in a queue for around 15-20 mins to get a seat. When we entered, we realized this one is a no frills kind of place which takes its food very seriously. We saw a lot of families concentrating on their Sunday lunch.

Kochupata bhapa chingri at Kasturi

I was pretty clear on the things I wanted to order, thanks to everyone's recommendations. But I was in for a big disappointment when they told me that the sheelebata chicken isn't available. :( Thankfully, they had kochupata chingri bhapa. We ordered for shona mug dal, bhetki paturi(bhetki steamed in a mustard, coconut paste wrapped in banana leaves) and begun , bori diye pabda jhol( pabda cooked in gravy with eggplant) and chutney. Initially they told even the pabda jhol won't be available but thankfully they arranged for it later on, coz I wanted my dad to have a light gravy rather than having too much of mustard and coconut.

Begun and bori diye papda

First things first, the food was yum. Even the simple dal was delicious. And this is coming from a person who is not a dal fan. My favourite amongst the lot was the kochupata diye chingri bhapa. This was the first time I was tasting kochupata as I am not too fond of green leafy vegetables. And I have to admit that I liked it. The flavours of the dish were distinct with a strong aroma of mustard oil. Similarly the papda curry was a good dish to have. However, the bhetki paturi was not upto the mark. The fish wasn't juicy enough and did not taste that good. We teamed all this with steamed rice. The chutney was hit with my parents. They also have good deals on thalis if you want to try out all things bengali :P

Bhetki Paturi

The management of Kasturi should work on making the popular dishes available on any given day. The managers here mentioned that some dishes come from the main outlet and hence the availability is limited. 

The decor is not very fancy with walls being done with up with images of noteworthy individuals of both East and West Bengal, thereby implying the fact that this is a popular restaurant serving Dhakai Cuisine in Kolkata. The seating area is a little cramped but going by the amount of the people waiting in a queue, I guess this is justified. 

Kasturi is a no frills restaurant, hence you can't really expect flawless service. But they can definitely work on it. When it comes to food, they win hands down. I am definitely going back for the sheelebata chicken :) You must try this reastarnt for a simple bong lunch!

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