Hotel Tarun Niketan (Pice Hotel) — Restaurant in Kolkata

There’s every chance that you would have walked past Tarun Niketan without noticing it. On the bustling route from Lake Mall to Kalighat Metro station, amidst the sensory overload of a busy street, this historic gem can easily escape the untrained eye. Perhaps you paused once, took in its façade briefly, and moved on, unaware that you had just crossed a century-old landmark in Kolkata.

Tarun Niketan, established 115 years ago, is one of the city's oldest pice hotels. Nestled at 88/1B Rashbehari Avenue, just off the main road and on the same side as Lake Mall, it remains inconspicuous yet enduring. Pice hotels, known for serving authentic Bengali home cuisine at affordable prices, once dotted Kolkata. Today, Tarun Niketan stands as one of the few survivors of this rich culinary tradition.

The term "pice" originates from the Hindi word 'paisa', the smallest denomination of currency, reflecting the hotel's modest pricing. Despite its unassuming nature, pice hotels were distinctive for their traditions, such as serving food on banana leaves. Every item, from the leaf to the slice of lemon, was charged, though always affordable.

Traditionally, patrons sat on straw mats (chatai) on the floor to dine. While modern habits have brought in tables and chairs, the essence remains unchanged. Brass plates and water containers, once a hallmark, have given way to banana leaves in some pice hotels. Menus were handwritten on blackboards, listing daily specials and prices, a practice still alive in many such establishments.

At Tarun Niketan, the menu is a testament to its heritage. Signature dishes include kochi pathar mangsho (tender mutton curry), kochu shaak ilisher matha (mashed taro leaf with hilsa head), and kochu shaak chingri (mashed taro leaf with prawn). The mutton curry is priced at Rs 350 for four pieces, while the taro dishes are Rs 100 per plate. Other beloved items unique to Bengali cuisine are alu posto (potatoes with poppy seed paste), kumro phool bhaja (pumpkin blossom fritters), and chingri machher malai curry (prawns in coconut milk). The humble alu chokha (mashed potato with fried onion, dry chillies, and coriander) remains unchanged over the years.

A notable dish is kobiraji jhol, made with cumin, coriander powder, and ginger, and often prepared with raw bananas or lentil cakes (dhoka). This dish is not only popular but also reputed to cure stomach ailments. The spices used are meticulously prepared in-house, ensuring the flavors that have become Tarun Niketan’s trademark remain consistent.

For dessert, traditional Bengali sweets like payesh (rice and milk pudding) and rosogollas, often made with fresh jaggery in winter, delight the more sweet-toothed patrons.

Tarun Niketan is a culinary journey through time, preserving the flavors and traditions of Bengali cuisine in an...

Heard a great deal about this place... From Facebook, Insta to friends. But despite living only 1KM away, never had an opportunity to pay a visit till date. (দেখা হয় নাই চক্ষু মেলিয়া কেস আর কি!)

So finally, this evening when I had an intense craving for Bengali authentic "মাছ ভাত", I decided to take a walk and my feets took me here.

Tarun Niketan is on Rasbehari avenue, near the Rasbehari crossing, merely a hundred meter walk from Kalighat metro. Hence, it has very good connectivity. The place is open till 10:30pm and they accept orders as well (over phone only, no swiggy or Zomato), however 1 hr buffer time is required as per the owner, Mr Arun Chandra Deb.

The first thing I noticed when I entered the small entrance that the cacophony of noisy Kolkata turned significantly low, which was very soothing. This place gives a vibe of 90's or ven older Kolkata when you could see Marble topped tables with iron chairs or wooden benches like Paramount.

The owner, Mr Deb sits right at the entrance. The menue card is a slate slab on the wall, where the daily menue is "uploaded" with chalk! This is a pice hotel, meaning you pay whatever item you take, separately. And the dishes do not contain onion or garlic (jain vegetarians, you're safe here!), except hardcore nonveg ones, keeping with the bengal culinary customs.

I ordered Rice, Masoor daal, Alu bhaja (potato fries, but bengali style, with kacha lanka; not French one), Chingri Bora (prawn pakora), Haanser dimer jhol (they don't serve chicken eggs) and Katla maachher jhol. What was really intriguing that they served the meal in Kolapata (Banana leaves). As soon as I took the first bite of the alu bhaja and bhaat, with a small bite of green chili, I knew I had come to the right place. The food was so tasty and light, as if custom made for me. Being a Bengali, I always had been very much partial towards my mother's cooking (if not obsessive). But I HAVE to say that hotel Tarun Niketan makes prawn pakora just like my mother! Duck egg curry was another delicacy! Though the fish curry was not up to my expectations, hence the 4star rating. The price is also a bit steep compared to other restaurants. The dinner cost me ₹ 372/- but I'd say it's justified, because good food is totally worthy of good price.

Lastly, I really enjoyed the meal, the ambience, the time travel to old Bangali Kolkata where things were simpler and healthier. Hoping to visit it again, probably for...

I saw this "Pice Hotel" in many videos of many popular youtubers and saw them giving such a good rating about the hotel, I'm sure either those are paid reviews or they never tasted good food from Pice hotel. We went there and faced many scams, I'm listing them below:

1. There was no menu card/ menu chart where we can see the menu and price. When we asked the menu card one of the waiter boy started telling us the menu, which was very annoying to decide.. Anyways we ordered Aar Fish, Chingri malaikari, kochu r saag with mach er kata and Rice.

2. Rice was overcooked and sticky, Kochu r saag quantity was too little and taste was average (7/10), Chingri Malaikari was very awful 🤢🤢🤮🤮, the malaikari was atleast 3-4days old and was kept in fridge, the Chingri/ Prawn 's hard skin was too hard and the prawn was too chewy and gravy was totally inedible 🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮, Now coming to Aar Fish, it was not fresh at all. The taste of curry and the fish again disappointed us badly 🤢🤢🤮🤮😓😓😓...

3. Now coming to bill paying, earlier when we asked the waiter while ordering the menus we asked the prices , they told us Prawn Malaikari : ₹300, Aar Fish : 200, Kochu r saag : 100, we didn't ask the price of Rice, they didn't told us either. After eating those unpleasant food when we went for bill payment they asked for an amount of ₹710 (we were shocked 😱). We asked for breakdown the bill , now notice it carefully :

4. Rice : ₹30/ person (total : ₹60)

5. Aar Fish : ₹200

6. Prawn Malaikari : ₹300

7. Kochu r saag : ₹100

8. Mineral water bottle : ₹20

9. Kola pata/ banana leaf : ₹15/ person

We were literally shocked by the price breakdown.. How rubbish was that?? When we sat they didn't told that banana leaf was chargeable, they neither asked for mineral water / normal water... They just put the bottle there, no other option.

So I would say if u want to waste your money they you must visit... Otherwise it's not worth the hype nor the popularity. ❌ ⚠️ HIGHLY NOT RECOMMENDED ⚠️ 🚨HIGHLY AVOIDABLE 🚨

⚠️ If anyone is watching from the "hotel administration" I would give advice that please do visit my home once any day suddenly, I will make u eat what is taste of the food actually is. Next day u will shutdown your hotel by your own by shame😂😂😂... Don't play with people's emotions and health, have some...