Bengali food cravings on a weekday - Kolkata Food Plaza

Mid week and five of us got together for an impromptu lunch meet. The venue wasn't any flashy restaurant or humongous buffet places, instead a very ordinary looking little place almost opposite to Kondapur RTO. The place is named Kolkata Food Plaza (https://www.zomato.com/hyderabad/kolkata-food-plaza-kondapur). The first thing I noticed was the clean tables, and an almost full house. We settled down very quickly and started checking out the menu. After running through it a couple of times we ordered 3 Vetki Paturi thalis, 1 Ruhi Kalia Thali, 1 Mohurali fish Thali and a plate of Prawn Masala.

And while we were still catching up with each other, it took about 15 mins for our food to arrive. Nicely laid out on the table and on cleaner plates, the food was hot and definitely looked good. The thali consisted of a bowl of white rice, a serving of moong dal fry, deep fried bitter gourd chips, papad, a serving of veg curry and a choice of non-veg dish that we opted from the menu. Incidentally we all had ordered a variety of fish preparations for our non-veg thalis.

Vetki Paturi Thali

Vetki paturi is a Barramundi fish fillet covered with a mustard paste, wrapped in a banana leaf and steamed. It was still hot when I opened it and the typcial mustard flavor wafted over. The fillet seemed fresh and the mustard paste added a nice zing to it without being too pungent. The mohurali fish(Smelt fish) dish was quite well prepared. I tasted a spoonful of it, the fish had been deep fried and added to a light gravy with eggplant (and potatoes if I remember faintly). The gravy had a hint of sweetness in it. It was not spicy, as is common in Bengali cuisine. I didn't taste the Ruhi fish Kalia though.

Vetki Paturi

Mohurali Fish

We initially were contemplating on ordering a prawan malai curry, but we were told it had a single large prawn in malai curry(gravy), so we switched to Prawn masala. I somehow didn't like this at all. The prawns had been overcooked and were too rubbery, or rather hard. The gravy had a good layer of oil floating over. I probably wouldn't order it if I visit a second time. For Rs 200/- the quantity was decent, but a failure for me in terms of taste.

Prawn masala

The veg dishes - moong dal and the veg curry were quite decent enough. The curry was not chilli-spicy and yet packed a lot of flavor in it, giving out the signatures of typical Bengali preparation. We decided to end our meal with rasagulla. It tasted fresh, soft and optimally sweet. I did sense that it wasn't pure chenna(a part of suji/semolina might have been added during preparation), but that didn't mar the taste. For Rs 15/- a piece, it was quite a small piece and pricey from the viewpoint of an economy food joint. Not sure if I would like to have it if I visit again.

This has been my first visit to this place so far. I am not sure if I can really say this place has consistent taste unless I make a couple of more trips. Being an economy place, it did impress me to some extent. If you are looking for some decent Bengali food and dont want to loosen your wallet too much then this place might be just right for you.

Ambiance - 2/5(nothing to write about literally, except for the cleanliness)

Food - 3.5/5(hits and misses)

Service - 3/5(decent enough even when its packed to full house)

VFM - 4/5 (around Rs 1000/- for 5 persons and considering the amount of food we ordered, Rs 200/- each is economical in my opinion. It could cost even less than this to fulfill your hunger pangs)