Sonargaon Fest @ Beyond Indus, Taj Club House, Mount Road

My experiences with Bengali cuisine have been limited. My earliest experiences happened when I was in the 3rd std. I had travelled along with my dad to Calcutta and had a small dose of Bengali cuisine. Then later while I was in college, I had a sample of Bengali food at Sigree. Which was the worst experience of the lot and I had completely written off Bengali cuisine. But this meal at Taj was simply fantastic. A new chapter of Bengali food in my life!

Sonargaon Fest is all about Bengali  Zamindari cuisine with influences of north western frontier. My assumption of Bengali Cusine until this day was: MUSTARD in every dish! But this meal showcased the usage of Mustard, cumin seeds in a different ways. End of the meal I was quite supried that I did not end up having a pungent meal. Kudos to the chef Ranjib who blew us away with the meal. For once I found all the dishes served - amazing.

Food:

We started the meal with Aam Porar Shorbot which was a roasted mango pulp with cumin. Felt refreshing!! This was followed by bunch of short eats. Chips served with assorted sides. My favorite was the curd along with corn.

This was follwed an array of starters. We kicked off with Hara Matar Bhutte Palak Tawa Kebab. Yes it is a big name for a kebab. Maybe it would get the big name award. (LOL). It was a kebab made of corn kernels, green peas and spinach and fried on a tawa like a cutlet. Very very minimal oil. Taste mind blowing.

Next up I munched on Vegetable Chop which was a crumb fried mixed vegetable patties with ground nut served along with mint chutney. Soft and bloody brilliant.

Moving to the non-veggies we had the Beckti Macher Fry and Murgh Chakori Kebab. The Beckti Macher Fry was a deep fried crumbed fish fillet. This was simply splendid because I did not expect an Indian dish which was so similar to a continental dish, yet had a distinct Indian flavour. The crumb coating was thick, while the fish fillet was thin. Inspite of this it was simply out standing. The thick crumb did not affect the taste of the fish in anyway.

The Murgh Chakori Kebab was my pick of the starters lot which was char grilled star anise flavoured chicken pieces. Usually I avoid star anise in biryani. But here it was totally different. It was one explosive starter fare.

The main course was a selection of gravies to go with Tulsi Olive Naan. Badi Palak, Narkel Diye Chholar Dal, Khus Mehak Paneer and Sunheri Nalli were the selection gravies served.

Badi Palak was more like the porial of sorts. It was a mix of fresh baby spinach and garden veggies cooked with radooni. As such it was brilliant.

Narkel Diye Chhalar Dal is your regular dal but with Bengal gram in it. Simply superb. You can have it with roti or poori or even just your plain old steamed rice.

Khus Mehak Paneer was a paneer dish cooked in tomato gravy something on the lines of paneer butter masala but a little less rich.

Finally the non-veg gravy of the lot Sunheri Nalli which was essentially tender lamb shanks cooked and served with subtle gravy. It was just devine. The meat just fell of the bone with ease. The combination of this gravy with roti and Basanti Pulao or just the steamed rice was fantastic. Finally the Basanti Pulao was kind of your kashmiri rice but a little less sweet.

My pick for the carnivores who are just dying to try this
- Aam Porar Shorbot
- Murgh Chakori Kebab
- Sunheri Nalli
- Basanti Pulao / Indian Bread

Finishing touches were done with Patisapta ( Paati saaptala - LOL) I know it sounds like that. It was a rice flour pancake with coconut. This to go with Slices of Kulfi which was a stunner!

Ambiance:
A typical Taj Club House formula a contemporary mix with Indian.

Price:
A meal for two should roughly cost around Rs 2500/-

Sonargaon Festival is on till the 10th of May for both lunch and dinner. Chef Ranjib has been specially flown down from Taj Bengal for this splendid food festival.

The regular menu is also available even during the food festival.

Disclaimer : Invited review.

Beyond Indus is located inside Taj Club House on Mount Road.

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*A review about a place holds good only for 6 months as there can be a change in quality and quantity of the food, the service and the staff, due to reasons best known only to them. So kindly consider these factors while visiting the places.