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Running from April 15 (Noboborsho) through April 19 is a daring spread at K3, JW Marriott Aerocity’s specialty kitchen in Delhi – a shot at curating a fine-dining affair out of an emotionally rooted, traditional Bengali table that welcomes the new year.
Before we began our meal, he told the table that while he comes from a Bengali family, he was brought up in Mumbai, and he doesn’t curate Bengali spreads as a chef very often. He even confessed that he doesn’t have Bengali food often. ‘I’m adulterated with travel,’ he smiles. As it turns out, this is a relief. It means the spread isn’t an unnecessary amount of experimental, out-of-pocket fancy or fusionesque. This is because he knows, as all probashi (expat) Bengalis do, the value of returning to homebase. At the same time, has tradition ever prevented a reinterpretation of itself? Here’s what’s on the menu, and what we thought of them.
The soup and salad
The palette-cleansing aam panna is on the sweet side, to my slight dismay. Chef Sircar’s batati lebu salad is an entry point into the zang of gondhoraj, balanced with the crunch of aloo bhaja. The real highlight here, though, is the soup: called aam musurer jhol, it’s lentil broth with a restrained infusion of raw mango that still has the comfort of dal, introducing a very familiar flavour earlier on into a meal that you’d typically expect. It makes complete sense, given that you can expect to be too distracted by other dishes later to fully appreciate that home-state style nostalgia.
The appetisers
For the non-vegetarian side of things, you’ve got lovely picks of macher paturi (fish in mustard and coconut, steamed in banana leaf) or channar paturi, dimer devil (Kolkata’s dearly beloved crumb-fried stuffed egg), or – a winner, personally – the gondhoraj kachalanka chicken. This has the precise mix of green chilli and citrus that makes gondhoraj lime such a strong contender in the Bengali palette, but it’s also creamy enough to be a hearty beginning. Vegetarian offerings are a channar paturi, which is a cottage cheese take on the fish, posto bora and a neat phulkopir singada.
The main course
Comes plated in delightfully Bengali style cutlery with side choices of basanti pulao, luchi, radha ballavi, and maccher kochuri. Chef Sircar didn’t mess around with the usual suspects, as old as love itself: richly cooked and flavoured kosha mangsho, chingrir malai curry, goalondo steamer murgi, kosha aloo dom, begun basanti, and dhokar dalna. Despite the soup earlier, the dal (cholar dal with coconut) is also remarkable. And lest I forget, the shukto (a cornerstone to this cuisine) is easily my favourite item on the spread.
The desserts
A three-pronged army of mishti doi, lichi payesh (!), and makha sandesh. I’m surprised by how much I like them, especially the sandesh – it’s almost a play on caramel custard that still acts as a light, resolute end to a heavy meal.
The cocktails
Naturally, this is where we got the most playful. Choices: Nolen Gur Old Fashioned, Paanch Phoron Punch, Kasundi Bloody Mary, Shorshe Jhol Highball. I tried the Nolen Gur Old Fashioned, which was an interesting, enjoyable pairing: a time-old sickly sweet date palm sap with a cocktail of bitter reputation. Orange zest makes all the difference in this one. The other one I downed was the Kasundi Bloody Mary. I happen to be very fond of bloody marys, and the kasundi’s punch could have been turned up a notch or two more, given that the cocktail is itself an acquired taste. But it was great with the food nonetheless.
When: April 15-19, 7pm-11pm. Brunch on Sunday (April 19) only, 12:30pm-3:30pm.
Where: K3, JW Marriott New Delhi Aerocity, Asset Area 4, Hospitality District, Delhi Aerocity, New Delhi – 110037
Price: Starts at ₹4,199 for dinner. For brunch on Sunday, ₹4,399 without alcohol, ₹5,499 with alcohol.
Reservations: +91 92895 80051