Restaurant Review: Fire and Ice, Kolkata

“Pizza makes the world go round” 

Location:  41, Jawaharlal Nehru Road,Kanak Building,Ground Floor, Near Russel Street, Kolkata

Contact :033 66064206

Cuisine: Italian

Hours: 12.00 noon -12 Midnight

Rating: 2.5/5

This time we, a group of food bloggers as a part of Kolkata Food Bloggers and CaL Bloggers Table, ventured out to  explore out some flavours from  Italy in our own City of Joy - Kolkata. Destination targeted to Fire and Ice, one of the popular Italian Pizzerias of Kolkata established on July 2005, located just opposite to Jeevandeep building on Middleton Street. The ambiance was a perfect blend of the casual, vintage at same time trendy decor. Old pictures from the 60s or 70s hanging around the wall...Some Madhubani scrolls laminated on the wall with a modern touch, at the first look gives a very pleasing satisfaction in your mind. We, all the happy souls made ourselves comfortably settled with a stirred up excitement and waited for the right moment to dig down our fingers in the Italian delicacies. 

"Fire and Ice Restaurant-Pizzerias, founded by an Italian chef from Naples has been dedicated for years to providing our patrons with many of the best Italian regional dishes. We use the finest authentic imported ingredients available on the local market, others we prepare ourselves, like for example, the mozzarella cheese. Our expert Chefs stir up the fantastic flavors which will let your taste buds take a trip to Italy with one mouthful."( Source:http://www.fireandicepizzeria.com/ )

We started our order with Drinks. A good lot of tantalizing drinks are offered on their list. And we didn't waste any single moment to make a quick choice of drinks to order and then fixed our eyes on the 'Antipasti' offerings.

Farcita (Price: not sure but somebody told its 400/-) came first which was recommended by one of our members. We were told it was only served to the regular customers and therefore it is not in the menu. Italian round bread stuffed with Mozzarella cheese and fresh raw tomatoes didn't make happy my taste bud. I found the bread a bit hard and the cheese too chewy and over all  too pale in taste. Next came Speidini Alla Griglia (Price: 495), grilled  boneless chicken pieces along with coloured bell peppers, smoked garlic and pearl onions in skewers  served with herbed melted cheese. I liked the taste. The taste incorporated very well all together with the pungent of the herbed melted cheese. Then came Rondelle Di Patate Fritte (295/-). It is nothing but the sliced potato fries served with tangy tomato sauce and Pesto dip. I loved the crunchy and crispy taste which was very much similar in taste with the banana chips famous in India.

For our main course first came Bolognese (Price: 435/-), choice of pasta with traditional meat sauce. We chose to have penne pasta. But to our disappointed we missed the tomatoes in the meat sauce. The Pasta was not seasoned well. Overall the dish didn't make me a bit happy after I tasted it. Next came the house special Fire and Ice and Pepperoni Pizza (We preferred to go for half and half. Price: Fire and Ice Pizza: 400/- & Pepperoni Pizza: 525/-). I loved the taste of both. The pepperoni tasted the typical pepperoni pizza with smoky flavour of the pepperoni. But the star of the dish was the Fire and Ice Pizza. I never had pizza with fried potatoes on top along with the Mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce seasoned with Oregano and Rosemary. We all enjoyed each bite whole heartedly. When we were in the world of Italian cuisine if we didn't order Lasagna then the meal would not get completed. So Lasagna Tradizionale (495/-) came next. The very first look of the dish foiled our mind. Layered Pasta with the meat sauce and Parmesan cheese again left us with full of disappointment. The meat sauce tasted similar to the Bolognese. Though the Lasagna melted in the mouth but I expected more savoured in taste with some more addition of tomato sauce and the pasta's cooked a bit less.

Last but not the least came the turn to indulge ourselves with the mouthwatering dessert. It became a hard choice to go for which one. At last we came to a joint decision to go for Apple pie topped with Ice Cream and Chocolate Mousse.  I found the apple pie was a bit overpowered with cinnamon and the pie crust was not that flaky as expected. The Mousse was very nice and chocolaty in taste but a bit dense.

Our overall experience was nice but the quality of taste of the dishes did need to enhance more. The ambiance was really nice. But the service was little poor which also had to be taken care of. 

To read more reviews on it:

1. Amrita & Vishal

2.Sarani

3. Megha

4. Poorna

5. Sanoli

Fusion Chicken With Antara Ray

This week the Star of the event "Know your Kolkata Blogger Friend" is  Antaray Ray who blogs from Antypasti. A busy working lady who works in a multinational Company, a passionate foodie that led her to administrate the famous foodie  group Chef at Large and we are lucky to have her as a part of our Kolkata Food Bloggers' group, She is our sweet, energetic friend Antara. I can still remember the day when Antara was frist introduced to me by many food  pictures of her wedding with her name tagged in. I was then newly joined the Chef at Large group. I never knew then this girl would be such a good friend of mine, ours. Our Kolkata Food Bloggers group was then just taken birth and I was in search of more food bloggers from Kolkata. Lucky me suddenly got introduced with Antara by a common friend and the first interaction I had with her recollecting the lines: " You are the one who newly got wed right? The food pictures of whose posted in the CAL group." And yes she was the one.  She is the one who introduced us with the CaL Bloggers table and helped to form one in Kolkata. Fair, Balanced headed, always there to help, passionate foodie, loved to stand for the truth, at any approach she is always ready to help with the cutest smile. I never thought in such a short span of time she would become such a good friend of mine.

Antara's Blog Antypasty is a collection of easy and very short time taking recipes. One will get some quick restaurant reviews too which will give a fair idea of the Restaurants.  I love the crisp and precise manner she writes and  delivers  in her each post. LazyTart is the one of the recipes which I loved most but that dish Archita has already recreated. So today I have picked up her Korean Chicken Curry recipe. This dish actually calls for the Miso paste and the Korean Red chilly Paste. But none of these are available here. So I have given it a Thai twist by adding the Tom Yum Soup paste and made few variations to it. So here is my dish:

Ingredients:

Chicken: 600- 700gms (with bone)

Onion: 2 medium (diced)

Tomato: 1 large (cubed)

Garlic Cloves: Hadnful

Wine Vinegar: 2 tbspns

Tom Yum Soup Paste: 2 tbsps (Heaped)

Red Chilly Powder: 1 tspn (More or less, depending on the hot ingestion)

Salt : As per taste

Sigar: 1 tspn + as per taste

White Oil: 4 tbsp

Method:

1. Marinade the chicken with wine vinegar, Tom Yam Soup Paste, Red Chilly Powder and Salt for 15mnst.
2. Add oil in a Kadai/Deep dense pan. Heat the oil. Add  1tspn sugar. Let it get caramelized. Add the garlic cloves let it turn brown. Then add the diced onion.
3. Fry the onion till they become semi soft add the cubed Tomato. Sauté for couple of minutes. Then add the chicken and fold nicely with the onion and tomato. Cover it with a lid. And cook in a low flame till the chicken is well cooked.
4. Then take off the lid. Increase the flame and cook the chicken in high heat till it gets a dry texture.
5. Serve with hot Rrice, Roti , Paratha or Noodles.

Hunan Style Cucumber Chicken with Jayati Saha

You all might know that we are having an event called  "Know Your  Kolkata Blogger Friend" on our  Kolkata Food Bloggers group. I will literally like to thank our dear friend Amrita who came up with this brilliant idea to know each other. And the importance of the event I realized while being a part of it.  This event leads us to each one of our blogs and to make us to read and surf the blog recipes to recreate one and write about the person. Jayati Saha who blogs from Jayati and Tito's Food Journey,  is the featured person of this week. I hardly know her from the personal level. She has joined us in the recent past and I didn't get an opportunity to meet her yet or to interact more.  But when I surfed her blog, I found a mother more than a lady who loves to cook and enjoys to feed her family. Her passion for cooking reflects in her each recipe. Being a Full time working Lady she didn't let go her passion for cooking and that exactly what she features in her blog. She shares her mouthwatering dishes with the world whenever she gets time from her busy life. The best part that really touches my heart that the blog she started only on her Son's inspiration. From this you can guess how he is the fan of her mamma's food and wants to make it acknowledged by others too. The title of the blog reflects in such an adorable manner the mother son duo's food journey. Her blog is full of delectable dishes. Therefore it became so hard for me to choose a particular one. I have bookmarked many but here I can share only one, so more later. I loved her Tandoori Pomfret, One Pot Chicken Roast, Lagan NuCaustard, and so on and so forth. But I was eyeing from a long time to make her Chicken in Hunan Sauce which is one of my favourite dishes. I have given a little twist by moving a bit away from her original process of making Chicken in Hunan Sauce (Click to find our Jayati's version).   I have added Cucumber as when I opened my fridge I just got those to add. And make the recipe a bit healthy by not frying the chicken pieces separately. 

After making the dish I was so satisfied as my daughter loved it most and now her acknowledgment counts to more than others. The Man also reacted in the same way. Mainly the addition of the cucumber made the dish more flavourful that I felt after tasting it. I served the dish with Dinner Rolls and enjoyed wholeheartedly. I would like to thank Jayati for sharing such a sumptuous dish on her blog. So here goes the recipe of my version of Hunan Style Cucumber Chicken:

Ingredients:

Boneless Chicken: 200 gm (Diced)

Soy Sauce: 1 table spoon

Tomato Sauce: 3 table spoons

Sweet Chilli Sauce: 1 tea spoon (more or less can be adjusted as per the spice intake)

Garlic Cloves: 6-7

Roasted Peanuts and Cashew - 1/4 cup (Jayati added only Cashew nuts)

Salt & Sugar as per taste

Oil: 3 table spoons

Cucumber - 1 medium sized (Cubed)

Method:

1. Take the chicken cubes marinade them with all the sauces and Salt.
2. Take a Kodai/Pan. Heat the oil and then add the garlic cloves.
3. Let the garlic turn light brown. Add the chicken pieces and keep on stirring in medium heat.
4. Add sugar nad cashew after 5mnts of cooking.
5. Let keep on frying till the chicken is well cooked soft and tender.
6. Add the cucumber. Fold nicely and take off the flame.

Note:

1. After adding the cucumber just cook for a minute. Otherwise the cucumber will get soft and soggy)

2. If you want to fry the chicken first then too make the dish then pls follow Jayatis version HERE.

Spaghetti tossed in Pasta Sauce with Baked Meatballs

It’s a very quick post on one of my dear readers' request. I made this dish a long back. Posted the picture of it on the Silence Sings's FB page and totally forgotten to blog on it and share the recipe. It was only for her when she requested me to post the recipe and then  I came out of my forgetful memory. I felt so happy at the same time too to have such readers who follow my each recipes with so much care. She has requested me two recipes (both I posted the picture but forgotten to blog) will be coming soon. So let us move to the Spaghetti tossed in Pasta Sauce with Baked Meatballs recipe which very easy to make, takes very less time. Very filling and at the same time very healthy too.  When we talk about Spaghetti it definitely takes us to Italy. Being one of the main ingredients of Italian Cuisine it has become spread all over the world and very common in most kitchen too. Spaghetti is one of the most common and favourite pastas in my kitchen and to my family. And you can make so many versions with this too. I will be coming up soon with a very easy cheesy spaghetti dish that I prepared yesterday for dinner. Till then enjoy this version. So here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

(Yields 3 persons)

For the Meatball:

Chicken Keema/ Minced Chicken: 200gm (apprx)

Pasta Sauce: 2 tbspn

Salt & Sugar as per taste.

Spaghetti: 200gm

Pasta Sauce: 4 tbspn

Garlic: 1 tbspn (Chopped)

Spring Onion: 1/2 cup chopped (optional)

Salt as per taste

Olive oil: 1 tbspn

Method:

1. Add all the ingredients with the chicken keema/ Minced Chicken.
2. Take a oven proof tray. Line it with aluminum foil and grease the foil with oil. (See notes)
3. Make small balls out the chicken mixture and bake at 210 degree C for 10 mnts. Then turn the balls and bake for another 10 mnts. Take them out and reserve.
4. While the meatballs are baking boil the spaghetti with little bit of salt. Take them off the flame till they are nicely done. Strain the excess water and reserve.
5. Take a Kodai/ deep dense pan. Heat oil. Add the garlic. Let them turn brown then add the meatballs. Fry for a while then add the spaghetti and the remaining pasta sauce. Fry till they are well mixed. Taste if more salt and sugar is needed. Add the spring onion and cooked for a minute. Your dish dish is ready to serve.

Note:

1. Whenever you bake or grill  meat on a tray always line with aluminium foil. It will make your work easier to avoid the cleaning of the greasy burnt trays. Just peel off the foil and trash after the dish gets cooked.

2. For me marinating the minced chicken with pasta sauce came out wonderful and very tasty at the same time very easy too. But you can always add loads of spices and more sauces to enhance the taste more spicy. 
3. I have baked it in Microwave Conventional Oven. I didn't pre- heated the oven but baked directly to the given temperature.

Don't miss another exotic version from my friend Deepa. Find out her version HERE.

Restaurant Review- Tangerine, Kolkata with Four Seasons

Picture Courtesy: Archita Chanda Ray

Location:  2/1, Outram Street, Theatre Road Area, Kolkata 

Contact : 033 22815450, 033 22815460

Gourmate Indulgence Package: 1099/- plus Tax

Cuisine: Multi- Cuisine

Hours: 12.00 noon - 3.00pm and 7.00pm to Midnight

Rating: 4/5

An invitation from the Team GingerClaps led us this time to Tangerine, a multi-cuisine restaurant (that serves a wide range of food varieties covering the world cuisine) in one of the narrow streets of Kolkata just behind the St.Xaviers College back gate. We, Kolkata Food Bloggers are offered three restaurants in Kolkata to review and to visit each outlet with another Food Blogger only. So my fellow blogger Archita (blogs at My Food My Life) and I chose Tangerine  (and 4 Kolkata Food Bloggers the other two) and reached there around 2.30pm for Lunch. Tangerine, located on Outram Street, just beside the Outram Club, looks like an old fashioned Building. To reach to the main lobby of the restaurant one has to climb up the rustic wooden stairs to the first floor and then to enter in the romantic and low light set up. At the entrance upon our introduction we were greeted very warmly by their manager Kuntal Dey. We made ourselves comfortable at a corner table just by the wide window panel which was the most attracted sitting area of the Restaurant. We were invited to review the Four Seasons Gourmet Indulgence Food Package which comprises of a 4 Course meal paired with the Four Seasons Wine served shortly after we settled down. The main concept behind the package is to aware people more of the food pairing concept with wine and the meal package menu not only saves ones money but also offers a very satisfactory wholesome sumptuous meal spread.

The first course a glass of Shiraz was served to each one of us and we concentrated on the menu.  Shiraz hails from the red wine family and a bit dry in taste. As my personal taste is concerned I am not so much fond of the taste of Shiraz. We decided to go for one Veg and one Non-Veg dish. The very courteous manager helped us to choose the the right dishes that we could really enjoy. For the Starter we chose Cheese Barrel from the Vegetarian section and Chicken Ceaser Salad from the Non-Veg.

Though it is written Cheese Barrel, the Tangerine family calls it Cream Cheese Barrel. The concept of the dish has been adapted from the Italian Cuisine. The Chef informed that they always love to give some innovative names to their dishes. Crispy and Crunchy, coated with seasoned bread crumbs, at the first bite it will melt in your mouth along with creamy soft cheese with a tinge of mild spicy flavour. The taste was just perfect with the balanced commixture of all ingredients.  6 pieces of Cheese Barrel were served with Nachos dressed in Salad dressing. The dish is totally a comfort dish that will really satisfy ones taste bud.

Next was served the starter Chicken Ceaser Salad from the Non-veg section.  Grilled Chicken tossed in salad dressing along with the lettuce, croutons and cherry tomatoes honed our satisfaction too. Though we were so busy in discussing about the just finished Cheese Barrel, the salad got finished in no time and we saw our vegetarian entrée dish was ready to serve for us.

Torhino (they pronounce it as TOR-TINO, a name of an Italian dish), we were told that recipe was adapted from Mexican cuisine and the name was given by the Chef team.  It is basically a pie crust very similar to tart shell stuffed with juicy vegetable with rich tomato flavour and creamy cheese served with boiled veggies and some cheese sauce. We got a combination taste of Quiche and Quesadilla. The savoury is class apart with the balanced spice incorporation. We enjoyed the taste of this one too. It was very satisfactory and whole some too.

 Poulet Apulia (pornounced as pu-le a-pu-li-a) came next from the Non-veg Entrée section. Tender Chicken breast stuffed with mushroom served with mashed potato and boiled vegetable topped with brown gravy was a sumptuous preparation.  The chicken was so well cooked and juicy that at each bite we whole heartedly appreciated the dish. While talking with the chef he informed that this dish mainly was adapted from the French Cuisine. Poulet in French means Chicken and Apulia is a name of a place in Italy. So they have given a combination name to highlight the European style culinary adventure. It is the chef team who decides the menu and then they give the name of it.  So mostly all the names they have hired from their experimental journey. We were informed that the secret behind this soft well cooked tender chicken was the three stage processes that they highly concentrated on. Marinade, shallow fry and then oven baked. The taste of the dish really touches our heart.

The dessert came next. Apple Aspen Tart, as they call it is the Chef’s special dish and the signature dish too, again satisfied our taste bud. Two sweet flat tart shells sandwiched thinly sliced apple and then baked. Served with a dollop of scooped ice cream, Caramel and chocolate sauce. The taste was just heavenly and each bit gave an immense pleasure to bask in the contemplated dessert experience.

Lastly we were served our last dish from the dessert section. Noughat(as it is written in the menu card, not Nougat) Chocolate Mousse, topped with fresh fruits, Chocolate Wafer sticks and crunchy nuts in it, was good too. But what we felt it exactly didn't give us the taste of the mousse which melted in mouth because of the soft and creamy texture. This dish was a little thick though taste wise very nice, more tasted like a cake frosting than a mousse. But as I told you the taste was very nice.

After having all these scrumptious delectable dishes along with the smoky red wine, the best experience we cherished the conversation with the chief Chef Subhash Basu and the team Manager Mr. Goutam Kapoor.  We discussed about their food journey, the food culture of Kolkata People and the enhancement more on the package meals that people should know more about it and trust on the food. Our overall experience was wonderful. The food quality was excellent and the atmosphere was very cordial and the team Tangerine very courteous. I will love to visit Tangerine again with my family and friends.
Read Archita's version HERE.

For more Photographs pls visit to the following link. I will really appreciate if you take my permission first before using any of my taken pictures:

 https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.300485686757551.1073741838.157011837771604&type=1

Dulce De Leche & Dulce De Leche Brownie with Amrita Gill

A Building may not be formed if you don't have the strong pillars to withstand the roof. Amrita Gill is one of such strong pillars of our Kolkata Food Bloggers group on whom you can blindly trust and give responsibilities. I may have created the group. But without the members of Kolkata Food Bloggers there would be no existence of the group. And every week through this ongoing event "Know your Kolkata Food Blogger Friend", we will keep on introducing each member of Kolkata Food Bloggers group. First let me tell you it is Amrita's idea and concept only to start this event. She is too energetic, vibrant and always ready with lot of innovative and creative ideas just like she posts her awesome recipes on her blog Sweet 'n' Savoury. Oh, make me correct, its not solely her blog. It is their blog. The sweetest couple- Amrita and Vishal of our group, who complement each other at every phase of life, have given the birth of this blog. Apart from having the cutest little 2 years old little princess they are very fondly bonded with the blog too. Amrita who is mainly head over heel in love with baking, proudly takes

care of the Sweet part, on the other hand Vishal, who is the lover of seafood, minds the Savoury part. Amrita has made baking so easy for us with are awesome recipes and within a very small phase she proved herself one of the competent Daring bakers too. The best part of her recipes is, the measurements always lead you to make a dish in very small amount. So after making a dish from her blog you will never feel guilty of gulping up the walloping portions for three /four days. The couple, with the sweetest smiles, is totally devoted to the foodie world and passionately enjoy the group of like minded people too. By profession a physiotherapist, Amrita has chosen to stay at home for the time being to take care of her little princess. She is not a good friend of mine but a very matured and honest lady who has the courage to fight for the truth and a treasure of the Kolkata Food Bloggers group. Intelligent and lovely here I have presented Amrita and now would like to share her two dishes Dulce De Leche & Dulce De Leche Brownie (Click to see her recipe)that my family and I literally enjoyed which I made after her given recipes.

Dulche de Leche 

 (Amrita has adapted the recipe from David Lebovitz)

Ingredients : 

 Condensed milk ( Milkmaid)- 1 can (Amrita has used 1/2 can)

Method:

1. I made it in OTG. So I pre-heated the oven for 10 mnts at 220 degree C.

2. Pour condensed milk in an ovenproof glass dish. Make sure it should stardy enough stand the heat for apprx 2hrs.

3. Place this within a baking tray add hot water till it reaches halfway up the sides of the glass dish. Cover the glass dish with an aluminium foil

4. Put it in the oven very carefully so that you should not spill water in side the oven. Bake for 2 hours. (See Note)

5. Keep on checking the water level in between and keep adding hot water as per requirement. Make sure the glass tray should always been half covered in water.

6. Check the condensed milk if it has become thick and changed the colour to brownish.

7. Remove from the oven and let it cool.

8. Once cooled down, store it in an air tight container and refrigerate. It can stay for  2/3 weeks .

NOTE:

1. If you are making the Dulce de Leche out of 1 can it will take more than 2hrs. Make sure don't bake at a stretch in your oven for this long 2hrs. At every hour give the oven break for 8-10mnts. 

2. I highly suggest to start with a small quantity as Amrita did.

3. There is a pressure cooker version too. You may check for the recipe HERE.

(Amrita has adapted from David Lebovitz. She halved the original recipe and reduced the quantity of butter, chocolate and eggs. And I followed exactly hers)

Ingredients :

                            Unsalted Butter - 50 gm (I used Amul Butter)

      Dark chocolate (chopped )- 50 gm

Cocoa powder - 2 tbsp

 Egg - 1

Icing Sugar - 1/2 cup

Flour - 1/2 cup

Dulche de leche, - ¼ cup (room temperature)

Vanilla extract - 1/2 tsp

Milk – 1-2 tbspn (Optional- See Note)

Method: 

1. Preheat oven to 170 degree C for 10 mnts. (I baked in OTG)

2. Grease a loaf pan (I used 6X3). 

3, Melt butter in a pan or microwave not more than  15 secs. If it is already in the room temperature then just melt it in to liquid but don't heat it much.(apprx for 5-7 secs)

4. Add the chopped chocolate pieces and stir well till all the pieces have melted. (If the chocolate are not melted then you can melt them in a double boiler or in micro-oven just more few second. Don't over heat).

5. Add cocoa powder and whisk until smooth.

6. Add egg and stir in the sugar, vanilla and the flour. (When you add the egg be sure that the chocolate mixture is not hot. If it is hot then just keep the container on a water filled tray for few mnts to cool it down.)

7. Mix well so that all the ingredients get incorporated well. If you feel that the batter has become too sticky and thick then add milk. Otherwise don't use the milk.

8. Pour half the batter in the prepared tin. 

9. Take a spoonful of Dulche De Leche  and pour like drops all over the batter.

10. Take a knife and slowly just by inserting a bit in the Dulce De Leche drop move in a swirl to give the latte art effect.

11. Spread the remaining brownie batter over.

12. Drop the remaining Dulche De Leche and use a knife to swirl it in the same manner you did for the first layer.

13. Bake for 20-25 mints or till the center feels just slightly firm. 

14. Remove from oven and allow to cool.  Slice, serve and enjoy.

Note:

1. The use of Milk is optional. But I will suggest to give it handy as if the batter by any chance gets too thick you can use it.

2. When you are baking this brownie pls keep on checking in between. Over baking may turn the brownie too hard.

Last time I am the one who got featured in the "Know your Kolkata Bloggers Friend". I am so glad to see the bunch of posts gloried by trying one of my recipes and writing about me such sweet words. If you you want to see what recipes my friends has tried and written about me then pls visit the following links:

Archita

Amrita

Poorna

Indrani

Jayati

Antara

Sarani

Sanoli

Sayantani

Restaurant Review- Bongoan, Kolkata

Picture Courtesy: Sarani Tarafdar of  http://cocoawind.blogspot.in/

Location:  17/4, Opposite State Bank, Kalikapur Road, Kalikapur, Kolkata

Contact : 033 24842480, +91 8420291730

Price for two: 600/- to 800/- (Apprx)

Cuisine: Bengali, Goan, Chinese

Hours: 12.30pm - 3.00pm and 6.30pm to 10.30pm

Rating: 2.5/5

Picture Courtesy: Sarani Tarafdar of  http://cocoawind.blogspot.in/

Bongoan, a small cozy corner situated on the main road of Kalikapur Road, just in a stone's throw from E.M. Bypass Road, was our this time's destination for the Restaurant Review program that we really enjoyed as the members  of Kolkata Food Bloggers group and Kolkata Chef At Large Bloggers' Table. Specialized mainly in Bengali and Goan cuisine and also with a handful dishes from the Chinese cuisine, the name Bongoan apprises the customers with an intricate attraction to visit the restaurant. With a sitting arrangement of approximately 8-9 tables in a not so small room and with a cozy little kitchen, the limited stuff members were very active to attend each and every customer with full attention that we found right after entering the restaurant. They very nicely accommodated us, a member of 7 giggling girls and helped us to feel comfortable at every aspect.

The day after was my birthday. So we started our meet first cutting the awesome cake Sayantani baked for me. The girls sang the HAPPY BIRTHDAY song for me and at the same time we heard in the background the HAPPY BIRYHDAY music echoing in the room. That was such a sweet gesture from the Bongoan family.

Chicken Sweet Corn Soup

In the dreamy low light of the neon rope light all the 7 cameras started to play the music with the clicking sound as soon as our starters were served on our table. Chicken Sweet Corn Soup (120/-) was served not so hot and we were not able to do justice with the soup. It’s too thick and lumpy. Along with the soup we ordered three more starters.  

Spicy Chilly Baby Corn ( 90/-), did really the justice by crossing the  parameter of spiciness. It is spicy and hot and tasty too. If you are a spicy food lover then it’s the right choice for you. But if you are not then never try this as the heat of chilli may burn all your taste bud {WARNING}.  

Lottya Fry (Bombay duck) served with French fries (120/-), this fish I tired for the first time and didn't liked that much. It looked very crispy from the out side but the thickness of the batter  needed to be fried  more as the crunchiness got totally missed when the bite reached till the fish. Therefore it tasted little bit soggy and stinky.

Sesame Fried Prawn, Continental Style (300/-) was the real taste changer and star among all the starters we had. The crispy and crunchy fritters with the soft prawns inside left the sumptuousness in our mouth until we were served the main course. We all really enjoyed the Sesame Fried Prawn. Though it’s a bit spicy, the savoury of spiciness paired perfectly with the fry.

Next came the three main courses that we ordered along with two steamed rice. Pork Bhuni (150/-) as they call it a signature dish cooked with diced pork, potato and onion with some flavourful spices, tasted quite nice. Though we munched Pork fat much rather than the Pork cubes. The scarce little Pork cubes gave little wild smell what we felt tended to be spices up a bit with longer marinade. But over all we liked and enjoyed the taste.

Mutton Vindaloo (250/-) comes along with steamed rice. It is another rich Goan dish which usually tastes like a pickle as it gets marinated in a good amount of vinegar/red wine and garlic to give the pickling flavour. When we tasted the dish it gave us too much of the aroma and flavour of the vinegar which left a pungent tanginess with an unusual taste and didn't hit the satisfactory bud of the foodies like us. 

Both the gravy of Mutton Vindaloo and Chicken Xacutti (200/-) looked like same but believe me the Chicken Xacutti really touched our heart with the balanced incorporation of the spices with coconut amalgamated in the chicken. Each one of us really enjoyed the dish. 

The choice of the dessert that evening was Bebinca (120/-), the famous Goan Dessert that people die to taste. But to our utter disappointment the first appearance of the dish dismayed all our cravings for this delicious dessert. And after tasting it we landed up in a total disappointment. It tasted more like a caramel coated gooey sticky bite nothing near to the layered soft pudding flavour. 

We really enjoyed, giggled and shared hearty laughs with each other. It was a memorable evening for me as after a long time I celebrated my birthday with my friends and in such a surprising and unexpected manner. I was totally touched by the sweet gestures of my friends/fellow bloggers. But the food experience was not that satisfactory as we expected. The restaurant guys need to work a bit hard by comprising more of the authentic dishes by working on it.

More reviews on Bongoan by my Fellow Bloggers:

1. Archita Chanda Ray 

2.  Sarani Tarafdar
3. Amrita Gill
4. Sayantani Mahapatra
5. Antara Ray
6. Megha Jhunjhunwala 

[Disclaimer: This review is just an opinion of an individual and not compensated monetarily or otherwise. ]