Chef Ahana Dutt became a talent to watch while working at Raja and Firedoor. Now she offers an inviting crash course in Bengali cuisine at Kolkata Social.
Bengali cuisine is charged with the livewire taste of mustard oil, which ripples across the menu at Kolkata Social in Newtown, even in the martinis. This restaurant is the latest venture for Plate It Forward, the social enterprise behind Kabul Social and Kyiv Social, but it does more than showcase regional Indian fare. For Kolkata-born executive chef Ahana Dutt, the food doubles as family portraits.
“They’re dishes my grandmother used to make, my mum made and now I’m making them,” she says. “I think that’s a beautiful way to honour them and where I come from.”
You might remember Dutt from hatted Raja in Potts Point (its Milo kulfi with hazelnut praline ruled) or Surry Hills’ acclaimed Firedoor (her tamarind spiced potatoes with smoked yoghurt – an ace take on Bengali alur dom – appeared on the restaurant’s lockdown takeaway menu when Dutt was junior sous-chef). She’s been a talent to watch and Shaun Christie-David’s Plate It Forward smartly hired her after Raja’s sadly too-short run.
If you’re not familiar with Bengali cuisine, Kolkata Social offers an inviting crash course. The way the menu spins through memories of Dutt’s birthplace makes it extra effective, too. Crunchy bites of moong dal el boram (described on the menu as Indian falafel) are spiced with bhaja moshla, a mix of toasted cumin, coriander and dried red chilli – evoking the chef’s visits to aromatic markets where vendors fry lentil fritters in big woks and finish them in a shower of seasoning.
The tamarind-chutney tang of potato salad (aloo kabli) is sharpened with lime juice and bhaja moshla. “That to me is [what] Kolkata street food smells like,” the chef says. When her mother was a child, vendors would sell this snack outside school: her mum would barter stationery for it.
Mustard oil fuels many dishes here, from sweet and sour eggplant flavoured with panch poron (Bengali five spice) to Kolkata Social’s popular barramundi with smoked yoghurt – a local twist on her mum’s recipe.
Kolkata’s multicultural history is also felt across the menu. Zucchini dorma is inspired by potoler dorma: a dish apparently introduced to Bengali cuisine centuries ago by Armenian migrants fleeing Turkish persecution.
“Back home, we’d make it with potol (pointed gourd), which is extremely difficult to find here,” says Dutt. She’s opted for zucchini instead, stuffed with legumes, toasted coconut and sweet raisins – all delivered with a spiced tomato punch.
The dry chilli chicken, with its fragrant sauce of soy, garlic and green capsicums, comes from Dutt’s regular visits to India’s oldest Chinatown in Kolkata. This fried chicken dish has an especially vocal fan club: Christie-David tells us it’s his favourite when introducing the menu. Another waiter ranks it as her No.1 pick. My boyfriend backs their calls. The table next to us also orders the chicken and if my eavesdropping skills were better, I would probably confirm their praise, too.
Other creations worth championing are the angel hair potatoes (aka Bengali string fries); birista pulao (with grain-perfect rice and ultra-crisp eschalots); radhabollobhi (fried mungbean-filled bread that is a finger-greasing joy to eat); and plastic chutney (which wins for its name alone, a reference to the transparent look of this papaya-mustard palate-cleanser that Dutt makes local with Australian desert limes).
Meanwhile, tastebud-cooling saffron lassi helps temper chilli-spiked dishes, and pound cake with saffron cream is another recipe you’ll be glad Dutt has shared beyond her immediate family.
Kolkata Social echoes its sister restaurants in various ways. Its charitable focus sees meals being donated to Calcutta Rescue and locals in need. It’s a training ground for migrants and refugees and features a mural celebrating a maternal figure – here it’s Dutt’s mother, who was unaware of the restaurant’s existence until she visited in March, just as it opened. Kolkata Social is singular, too: a direct passage to West Bengal’s capital city, reinterpreted with flair by a promising young Sydney chef.
Three more Indian restaurants to try
Flyover Fritterie
This vegetarian diner is rightly known for its dosa potato jaffles and ginger cardamom chai, but you should check out its specials menu, too. Expect fries with the herbal, feisty flavours of Agra chaat masala and green chutney, plus cool swirls of Indian filter-coffee soft serve.
88 Regent Street, Redfern, flyoverfritterie.com.au
Dragon House Indian Chinese Halal Restaurant
Sure, you can find pakoras and pappadums here, but there’s also a focus on Indian-Chinese specialties such as gobi Manchurian (battered cauliflower) and “triple” Sichuan, which combines twig-crisp noodles with fried rice and a fiery sauce.
38-40 George Street, Parramatta, dragon-house.com.au
Adyar Ananda Bhavan
Head down Little India’s cottage-lined main strip to find “A2B” as it’s called. Here, diners seek out savoury bites of idli and vivid rows of sweets: the cashew-based strawberry kathili and rose-flavoured Raskatham Bengali special are highlights.
116-118 Wigram Street, Harris Park, instagram.com/adyaranandabhavansydney
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