Durga Puja season has recently wrapped up. It is that time of the year when Garba becomes a celebration throughout the night, the holy days of the nine forms of the Goddess, the time when Durga Puja becomes a cultural mark – the biggest festival of Kolkata. In Delhi’s Chittaranjan Park (CR Park), a mini Kolkata thrives with its Puja pandals and Bengali food. At such a time, when one walks into Kolkata’s iconic 6 Ballygunge Place, known for its authentic Bengali cuisine, in Delhi, they feel transported to the city of joy.
According to its founder Swaminathan Ramani, partner at Savourites Hospitality Pvt Ltd, the parent company of 6 Ballygunge Place, Delhi was a natural choice for the restaurant that had first started in Kolkata in 2003. He calls Delhi a ‘melting pot of cultures and cuisines that presents the perfect market for the restaurant.’ “Because of social media, even regional cuisines are being represented. So, we thought it was the right time to launch ourselves in Delhi because we are already leaders in the marketplace and in Kolkata. We felt this is the best time to launch in Delhi.” They opened in Delhi in September this year.
Talking about the evolution of 6 Ballygunge’s menu over time, Ramani says, “Until earlier, there was a fallacy that a true blue Bengali restaurant wouldn’t work because the cuisine is too elaborate and requires too much work. There was no as such true blue Bengali cuisine restaurant until we came. Restaurants were serving just a couple of items. But we were the first to say, why not? Let's break the tradition. We brought in our partner’s mother as our consultant and researched a lot of recipe books, right from ancient times. Since Bengalis are good travellers, there might be external influences as well.”
For their menu in Delhi, while the core remains the same, a few new items have been added. The staple includes mutton, chicken, fish, crabs, and prawns, unique sweets like Chhanar Payesh. For the preparation, traditional cooking methods like using of stones to grind poppy seeds, old methods of marination, frying and cooking are also employed. Their mutton and fish are sourced from Kolkata and they have tied up with SpiceJet airlines to fly them every three days.
He says inspite of a lot of pressure, they even refrained from adding the rotis and naans as there are plenty of restaurants in Delhi for the same. “Most Indian cuisines are limited to one, two or three courses but Bengali cuisine offers five or more. We wanted to present it in a true blue Bengali way, and we believe Delhi will love it.
Bengalis are generally considered hardcore sea food lovers however, Ramani says that vegetarianism is very prominent in Bengali cuisine. “In Bengali cuisine, nothing is over the top. Everything is subtle. There is something made of yoghurt called Doi Murgi. So even the fish marination is something else. Even the mutton preparation is done in a very elaborate way, so the entire non-veg meal would be lapped up. Another very held-up secret is vegetarianism. There's so much depth of vegetarianism in Bengali cuisine that once people of Delhi start tasting that, I’m sure they’ll love both ways equally.”
Surprisingly, Ramani, who has been in the business for 26 years now is a pure vegetarian. The only challenge, here in Delhi, he feels is that of manpower. All the chefs are being trained and hired from Kolkata so as to maintain the sanctity of taste. “Even the captain and the manager have to be from Kolkata because without Bengali knowledge and language, you cannot sell a kosha mangsho. Maybe you can sell fried fish but you can’t sell pathuri and daab chingri. Because until the heart is Bengali. you can convey it.” They plan to open in Gurugram and Mumbai soon. They later plan to expand to Pune, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru within the next 24 months. “Our goal is to establish a presence across India and to the major cities but the biggest challenge is the manpower. So we are opening a small catering school in Calcutta to train the chefs and FnB people.”
As for their spices, they will source their main spices from Kolkata and then gradually explore Delhi markets to find the right mixes or alternatives.
“Normally Bengali cuisine uses a lot of green chilies and cumin, while red chili is used sparingly, if at all. When chilli is used, it's done subtly. Cumin is one spice that we can bring from Kolkata, but for most things, they are sourced locally. For Delhi, we're currently conducting a market survey to check availability. As far as I know, most of these spices should be available in Delhi, but initially, we’re not taking any chances. Over the next 10 to 15 days, our focus will be on the product and our customers.”
Their Delhi restaurant is part of Savourites Hospitality Delhi Private Limited while Bank of India has invested in the venture. Their parent company Savourites Hospitality Private Limited holds brands like the The Wall and 6 Ballygunge Place under it.
During Navratri, the restaurant is swamped with customers and booking may start even a month earlier. He is hoping for a similar response here in Delhi.
6 Ballygunge Place has opened in Delhi’s Malviya Nagar. While the interiors have been done by a local designer, it has a representation of Bengali culture.
