Visitor guide · Food trail
In Kolkata, Pujo is as much about eating as looking. These are the places with a dish worth crossing the city for, grouped by what they do best, with the one thing to order and when to go.
4 stops
Kolkata biryani arrived with Wajid Ali Shah, the exiled Nawab of Awadh, in 1856. The potato, the story goes, came soon after.
Park Circus
Must try
Mutton biryani
Kolkata biryani is lighter than Hyderabad’s, gently perfumed, and always has a potato in it. Arsalan’s Park Circus branch is one of the busiest places in the city to try it.
New Market
Must try
Mutton biryani and chaap
One of the old New Market biryani houses, feeding shoppers and office crowds for generations.
Chitpur, near Nakhoda Masjid
Must try
Mutton chaap with roomali roti
One of the oldest biryani houses in the city, in the lanes of the old town. Many people swear by it for chaap.
Shyambazar five-point crossing
Must try
Kosha mangsho with paratha
Mutton slow-cooked until it is almost black. North Kolkata has queued for it at the Shyambazar crossing for decades.
5 stops
Pujo runs on food eaten standing up. These are the stalls and counters people make a detour for.
New Market, Hogg Street
Must try
Mutton kathi roll
Widely credited with inventing the kathi roll: skewer-grilled kebab wrapped in a flaky paratha.
Park Street
Must try
Double egg chicken roll
A counter, a tawa and a queue. Eaten standing on the pavement, the way rolls should be.
Esplanade
Must try
Mughlai paratha
A cabin in the old Calcutta sense: a small, busy room where the paratha stuffed with egg and minced meat is the reason to come.
Behind Esplanade
Must try
Chicken stew with toast
A lane of lunch stalls in the office district, where clerks have eaten stew, toast and fish fry for generations.
Off Bentinck Street
Must try
Pork momos and fish ball soup
What remains of Kolkata’s first Chinatown sets out a street breakfast every morning, cooked by Chinese-Indian families.
3 stops
Fish, mustard, coconut and rice: the food Bengali families cook at home, served properly.
Hindustan Road, Gariahat
Must try
Chingri malaikari
Home-style Bengali cooking, named after a Manna Dey song. This branch is a few minutes’ walk from Singhi Park and Ekdalia Evergreen.
Ballygunge
Must try
Daab chingri, prawns cooked inside a green coconut
Classic Bengali food, named for its address, with a long list of fish dishes.
Sudder Street
Must try
Shorshe ilish, hilsa in mustard
Dhaka-style Bangladeshi cooking: mustard, green chilli and river fish, served without fuss.
3 stops
No Pujo visit is complete without a box of mishti. Sandesh and rosogolla, from the shops that made their names.
Esplanade
Must try
Rosogolla
The family firm of Nobin Chandra Das, who is credited with inventing the rosogolla. Also the people who first put it in a tin.
Park Street branch
Must try
Baked rosogolla
One of the great sandesh makers, with counters full of seasonal sweets. The original shop is in Bhowanipore; this branch is easier to reach by metro.
Ramdulal Sarkar Street, Hedua
Must try
Whatever sandesh is fresh that day
A tiny shop in a north Kolkata lane that sandesh lovers cross the city for. The range changes with the season.
3 stops
Kolkata’s restaurant street since the days of jazz bands and cabaret, and still the place for a big night out.
Park Street
Must try
Chelo kebab
Iranian-style kebabs on buttered rice with a fried egg on top. A Park Street institution since the 1970s.
Park Street
Must try
Devilled crab
Red banquettes, low light and a continental menu that has barely changed in decades.
Park Street
Must try
English breakfast, and a rum ball to take away
The pink tea room on Park Street, serving cakes and breakfasts since 1927.
4 stops
For the morning after a late night, and the long afternoons of adda before the pandals light up.
College Street
Must try
Infusion (black coffee) and a chicken cutlet
The high-ceilinged café above College Street where students, poets and arguers have met for generations. Come for the adda as much as the food.
College Square
Must try
Daab sharbat, green coconut sherbet
A century-old sherbet shop on College Square, a short walk from the College Square puja.
College Street
Must try
Kochuri with chholar dal
A breakfast counter by College Square: puffed kochuri, a bowl of chholar dal and a sweet to finish.
Shobhabazar
Must try
Fish kabiraji
A north Kolkata cabin famous for kabiraji: a fish fillet fried inside a lacy net of egg.
Eating well at Pujo
Many neighbourhood pujas serve khichuri, labra and payesh to everyone on Ashtami. It is free, it is delicious, and it is the most Pujo meal there is.
The famous places have hour-long queues at 9 pm in Pujo week. Lunch at 3 or dinner at 11 often means walking straight in.
Choose busy stalls where food is cooked in front of you, skip cut fruit and ice in the heat, and carry your own water.
Most places take UPI, but networks jam in crowds. A few hundred rupees in cash saves a stalled payment at the front of a queue.
Hours change during Pujo. Opening hours are shown only where OpenStreetMap records them, and many places stay open later, or close for a day, during the festival. Call ahead before a special trip.
All five metro lines on one map, the pandals near each station, and the suburban trains that reach the rest.
Hotels by neighbourhood and budget, with the nearest metro, the pandals within walking distance and a number to call.
Police, ambulance, fire, hospitals, women’s and child helplines and tourist help, each one tap to call.
What to wear, where shoes come off, how to offer pushpanjali, and how to queue without annoying anyone.
Every date and tithi timing, with Sandhi Puja to the minute.
Ready-made routes that group pandals you can walk between.