TiSwa's Kitchen — Restaurant in Kolkata

What a wonderful experience we had at TiSwa's Kitchen and Calcutta Brew Cafe!

Frankly, our expectations were high going by the loads of reputation earned by Sutapa Ganguly (better half of my friend Arun Ganguly) in the corporate world with her timely supplies of quality lunch packs over the past several years.

The expectations weren't belied; rather they were exceeded, and we truly enjoyed the awesome food stuff dished out to us. It was super quality, I must admit, and my family echoed my feelings in no uncertain terms.

It's a multicuisine joint with the TiSwa's Kitchen (named after the two lovely daughters of Arun and Sutapa) on the 1st floor and Calcutta Brew Cafe on the ground floor. The former serves you authentic Bengali food while the latter satiates your desire for high quality continental stuff mixed with typical Calcutta delights. To cite a few examples, you do get those spaghetti and pasta based items, apple pies (a not-to-miss item here), chicken quiches, mutton pies, various sandwiches, cheese and garlic toast, cakes and the like, plus kabiraji cutlets, fish fries, meat chops and what not. And of course, you can't leave without savouring your cup of Latte or Cappuccino or Espresso Delight. And why not a Cold Coffee with Icecream, friends?

The highly tempting look of the Bengali cuisine notwithstanding, myself and my son beat my wife Rupan Chaudhuri by a 2-1 vote to settle for the ground floor - leaving TiSwa's pulao, luchi, chholar dal, bhetki paturi, mutton kasha, dak bungalow chicken and plastic chatni for another lunch visit.

An appetizing Prawn Cocktail was what we started of with, and let me say that we were very very happy. The prawns were bigger and the lemon grass, iceberg lettuce below the cocktail sauce enhanced the quality manyfold. My memories of Skyroom has certainly faded but I thought that the one served here was no less, if not better. Am I sounding biased here? I am not, period.

I was travelling in Europe extensively and quite recently (only two years back) and nowhere did I get this quality of a cheese, corn and spinach sandwich. Yesterday's was undoubtedly the best I've ever had. And the same comment goes for the blueberry cheese cake. The Fish n Chips (British style) impressed us to say the least. The batter was just too good, and who would beat the bhetki quality of Manicktala market? Pity the British there.

The proof of the pudding lies in its eating. Taken literally, I could only stare at the caramel pudding in the showcase with my tummy allowing no further intake. Next time, I am not going to miss out on the cream coloured truncated cone with a tempting brown top.

Needless to mention, we got a few items packed for home, and the mutton pies, strawberry muffins and bishop's nut cakes were amazing - as we found out today.

Thank you Arun Ganguly for this fantastic initiative of yours in the heart of the city (crossing of Rippon Street and Mirza Ghalib Street). Really appreciate the brilliant food and its classy presentation. And as I said, your Cafe looks so typically European and the one upstairs typically Calcuttan with those fine painting copies of Aban Thakur.

Wish you and Sutapa the very best with our promise to come back again and again in order to satisfy foodies like ourselves with all the variety you offer. My friends - go and enjoy...

My friend and I landed at Sutapa Di's TiSwa's Kitchen yesterday 21st November for a purely Bangali-ana, or what they lovingly call Bonediana, experience - an authentic, true-to-the-letter Bengali cuisine journey. We let Sutapa Di fix the choices for us, the best decision we could take, since none of us are Bongs (is this allowed?!), or have any credentials for Traditional Bengali food, except that we love good food.

Having known her and Arun Da (her branding wizard husband) for a few years now, I instinctively knew that we were in for a treat... and sure, we weren't disappointed at all, in fact, we were overjoyed with the classic spread, all served on simple earthen plates and bowls, enhancing the experience.

Starting with soft Atta (wheat flour) Luchis, specially, affectionately made as my friend is allergic to Maida (refined white flour) and Chhola Dal (with crunchy Coconut) with perfect aroma and texture, we were then served with Aloo Phulkopir Dalna (Potato & Cauliflower mix curry), delicately seasoned and palate friendly. And then the royal treat began...

Piping hot Steamed White Rice (simple, yet very tasteful), smooth Moong Dal (Split Gram Lentil Curry), crispy, crunchy Aloo Bhaja Jhuri (or as I prefer to call it Jhurjhuri, the quintessential crispy fried potato strips), all came together to complement that soft, absolutely fresh melt-in-the-mouth Bhetki Paturi (baramundi/seabass fillet steamed in coconut leaf). Yumm!

If that wasn't enough, we set an appointment with Pomfret Jhal (whole fish curry with delectable gravy), incredibly fresh and soft and drool-worthy and then rounded it off with Mutton Kosha, which was so juicy and perfectly cooked that it was almost falling off the bones.. the spicing was purrfect!

And did I mention my fave part, the Khejur Amsottor Chutney (dates & mango bar juliennes with blended spices) filled to the brim in those beautiful little bowls? I actually greedily polished 2 bowls leaving my friend nothing to recharge his palate.

Heavenly food, very well designed and constructed, the menu at TiSwa's is assembled with a lot of love, passion, experience and that personal touch, which leaves a lasting taste, even hours after the meal is over.

Actually, it is the beautiful experience. We were doubly fortunate that Arun Da was there to guide us with his suggestions through the journey, for which I will remain very grateful to him.

The 48-seater diner, is perfectly situated in the heart of Kolkata (Free School - Ripon Street crossing, next to the erstwhile Dunlop House, now rechristened as Pataka) and also serves Breakfast, Cafe delights on the ground floor (Calcutta Brew Cafe). All preparations are in-house and therefore absolutely fresh.

Thank You Sutapa Ganguly. Thank You Arun Da.

Sights now set for Chingri Maachher Malai Curry, Hinger Kochuri, Bhapa Doi, the beckoning Apple Cinnamon Pie and Creme Caramel Pudding.

Psst... You can also book their 20-25 pax nice banquet room for private parties, kitty parties, meetings and...

The food was really good and very fresh. The staff were nice. I really enjoyed the Rui posto gravy. A great balance of flavor without too much oil. We both had the Gondhoraj ghol which was quite flavorful.

Hubby ordered the Veg thali, a mutton curry and the prawn Malai curry. The food was full value for the money. Fresh and delicious …. except for the fact that I had ordered a peti maach (stomach piece) as I don’t really eat fish ( the fact was conveyed to the server so asked for a Rui posti , but the stomach piece. The cook apparently didn’t have the stomach piece so arbitrarily decided to replace it with the back piece which has too many bones. I couldn’t eat that piece. Then they gave me a fried fish instead, but charged me for two fish dishes (the 2nd was just a fried fish). Whereas the price isn’t too high, but I didn’t feel this was right that I had to pay for the mistake of the cook. I sent back the first fish piece as it had...