A dinner party in Kolkata like no other
Get an inside look into India’s cultural capital with an extraordinary host who welcomes you into his home and serves a delicious banquet.
The rollcall of past diners at Kolkata’s most exclusive dining room includes minor royals, politicians, artists, writers, a Nobel prize winner, a Greek shipping magnate … and me. Our shared connection is a man called Surajit Iyengar, known to all as Bomti. For the past 20 years he has hosted visitors at his apartment in the landmark Metropolitan Building on Chowringhee Road, offering a privileged glimpse into society and the cuisine of India’s cultural capital. And lunch (or dinner) here is not your average restaurant experience. In this mercantile city plastered with advertising, there is not so much as a sign for Bomti’s.
The veteran shopkeepers I meet on central Chowringhee have never heard of the place or the man. Despite its age, Bomti’s is still an insider secret, that most coveted of prizes among travellers.
I arrive at the neo-Baroque Metropolitan, built in 1905 as the Whiteaway Laidlaw & Co department store (once regarded as the Selfridges of India), not knowing what to expect. Lunch has been arranged by the luxury travel agent Banyan Tours and by Glenburn Penthouse, one of Kolkata’s finest hotels, as part of a whirlwind tasting tour of the 15 million-strong city. It was Husna-Tara Prakash, Glenburn’s owner and Kolkata’s most sought-after guide, who convinced the cosmopolitan Bomti – former tea taster, interior designer and art dealer extraordinaire – to start hosting meals at his home and give visitors an authentic taste of old Kolkata.Bomti’s penthouse flat, No. 9, is reached via an ancient grille-gated lift and a long walkway lined with marble tiles and fretted windows framing the city. His family has lived here for 52 years; theirs is one of only two remaining occupied apartments in the building, a last vestige of aristocracy in the rapidly modernising metropolis.
The door opens to a beaming man in canvas jeans and polo shirt who ushers me into his extraordinary home, a maximalist salon where artworks – paintings, sculptures, ceramics, masks, metalwork – adorn every inch of the 6m-high walls. Antiques and collectibles crowd every table and credenza. The teak floors are dressed with carpets while potted palms and vases brimming with lilies, roses and chrysanthemums soften the museum vibes. “What you walked into is pretty much similar to what it was in the 1970s,” says Bomti.
“This is all from my grandparents, it’s exactly the way it was. OK, maybe with more paintings.”
On the walls of his informal gallery are Indian masters such as Ram Kumar and M. F. Husain – “he’s like the Picasso of India” – alongside rising stars of the local art school. Bomti has hundreds, quite possibly thousands, of canvases stacked on every surface of a neighbouring room and will happily facilitate any Indian art investments guests care to make. Prices start at 10,000 rupees ($180).
He leads me to the balcony, its arched portico blooming with hot-pink bougainvillea, for a brief orientation; its panorama captures the sprawling parklands of the Maidan, the cricket ground, the Second Hooghly Bridge and Raj-era architecture such as the Gothic High Court. It’s too hot to linger so we retire to the sofas where waiter Somnath Tiwari fixes drinks, including an excellent G&T made with gin from Goa distillery Stranger & Sons.
Bomti is a natural host, turning the warmth of his attention to each guest in turn, drawing out their stories and sharing his own. Then, at some unseen signal from Somnath and chef Sankar Patra, it’s time for lunch. The brightly clothed table is set with heirloom silverware and crockery laid around a dozen dishes, all typically Bengali and all true to Bomti’s mother’s and grandmother’s recipes. He urges us to start with some short-grain gobindobhog (feast of the gods) rice, drizzle it with sweet brown ghee, a pinch of salt and gondhoraj lime, and enjoy. “That’s real comfort food,” he says. “You could have it and just not eat anything else.” But there is plenty else.
Highlights of the banquet include banana-blossom croquettes, puffy fried luchi breads, potatoes in a spiced poppy-seed paste (aloo posto) and filleted bhetki fish (described to me as “similar to barramundi”) in a punchy mustard-seed sauce. And his famous sweet and sour eggplant, which is in Australian chef Christine Manfield’s latest cookbook, piquant with tamarind and vinegar. “Most of the recipes here, you won’t generally get in restaurants,” Bomti says. “They’re all from home.”
Several Kolkatans I speak to lament that their city’s food scene is eclipsed by those of Delhi or Mumbai. But this is not my experience. Over a hectic few days I join Muslim revellers for a halal feast at Hotel Bombay on the last night of Ramadan. At Glenburn Penthouse, surely the city’s most sumptuous dining room with its Mughal-inspired wallpapers, gorgeous antiques and aerial views over Kolkata, chefs Shaun Kenworthy and Ranjit Shaw serve a sophisticated degustation menu of best Bengal ingredients including rainbow trout and soft-shell crab.
And in the hip neighbourhood of Hindustan Park, a brigade of young chefs led by ex-lawyer Avinandan Kundu channel the diverse influences of Kolkata and West Bengal into an exciting menu that includes a deliciously funky, Chinese-inspired XO rice with fish offal and roe, and a decadent duck-egg rice drizzled with caramelised crab. Their restaurant Sienna, attached to the chic Bengali design store of the same name, has just closed for renovations but is set to reopen in September.
Back at Bomti’s, we’re onto dessert – a mango flavoured, milk-based sandesh and mishti doi, tangy yoghurt with caramelised sugar – when I ask how he manages to entertain strangers at this table almost every day. As much as I’m enjoying every moment, I confess I could never do what he does. “It’s quite a high actually, Kendall,” he says. “I’m an extrovert and enjoy entertaining so this is the perfect job. I get to meet somebody fascinating every day. And for visitors, it’s a different insight into Kolkata.”
In the know
Book a seat at Bomti’s table through Banyan Tours or Glenburn Penthouse (if you are a guest). Reservations can also be made via Instagram @bomtiiyengar or bomtiiyengar@yahoo.com. Dinner is 5000 rupees ($90) including premium drinks and wines.
Kendall Hill was a guest of Banyan Tours and Glenburn Penthouse.
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