We visited Oh Calcutta to celebrate my parents arrival in Bangalore. We made a reservation. It’s located on St. Mark’s Rd below Natural’s ice cream parlour. It’s in the basement. If you don’t keep your eyes open you may miss the place.
They have both indoor and outdoor seating. We reached at 8pm to a mostly empty restaurant and chose to sit indoors. We were given a beautiful and elaborate menu very promptly. The menu has descriptions of all the food. Keep an eye out for the prices. It is not mentioned in numbers at the side like other places but below the meal description in text. They serve alcohol. I tried the Kal Baisakhi which is vodka and Aam Panna. I liked that they had a bengali theme cocktail. The cocktail itself was very nice. The waiters were very attentive, courteous and smiling. Some places have such serious waiters!
For starters, we ordered the steamed crab and shrimp wrapped in leaves (I think it’s called something chingri bhapa). It was perfect – juicy and soft on the inside. Our next order was the kasha mangsho (mutton curry) with luchi (puri). This dish is heaven itself. The gravy was rich and spicy and the mutton was tender. The luchis were perfectly fried. We ended up ordering 2 plates of luchis.
For the main course we had golda prawn (apologies if that’s not the right name but if not it’s something similar), bekti in mustard and steamed rice. I initially wanted to order the daab chingri but the waiter suggested we order the golda. I had no idea what golda was so when it they showed up with a dish of 4 prawns the size of my face I was very happily surprised! The waiter said they get their produce from Calcutta. The prawns were fresh and succulent. The gravy had the light coconut taste I wanted. The bekti reminded me of meals at Bengali friend’s homes. Again, well done but nothing so special about it (maybe I was just too full at that point to do it justice). We wanted desert but the only interesting thing there seemed to be the gur icecream. Am not a fan of gur so decided to give it a miss. The bill came to about Rs.3500-4000 (includes 2 alcoholic drinks and a mocktail). The place was full of diners by the time we left (around 9) so mabe it’s a good idea to reserve beforehand.
It’s a great place to bring parents or a date. This place has the right ambience, service & quality to make for a perfect evening out. It was delightful!