“ You could really taste the history and culture in each dish.”
— Stanislav, 2025
01 Food tours
Original food tours, curated with our local tastemakers to showcase the neighbourhood kitchens, markets and family-run eateries that define Kolkata.
02 Meet the tastemakers
The local food experts who help us research, refine and lead every A Chef's Tour.
Mustard oil pungency, panch phoron spice, river hilsa, mishti doi. Bengali cooking is softer, sweeter and more aromatic than western India.
04 The pantry
- Mustard oil, pungent oil that defines Bengali cooking
- Panch phoron, five-seed spice blend of fenugreek, mustard, nigella, fennel and cumin
- Hilsa, prized river fish eaten in the monsoon
- Poppy seeds, ground into posto pastes for potato and vegetables
- Chhena, fresh curd cheese for endless Bengali sweets
05 In the kitchen
- Tempering hot mustard oil with panch phoron for Bengali dals
- Steaming hilsa in mustard paste and green chilli
- Kneading chhena curd for sandesh and rasgulla
- Roasting mustard seeds before grinding them into sharp kasundi
- Layering kathi rolls around egg-crusted paratha
06 Eat this first
- Kathi roll, spiced kebab wrapped in an egg-brushed paratha
- Shorshe ilish, hilsa fish steamed in mustard paste
- Kosha mangsho, dark caramelised mutton curry
- Puchka, Kolkata's crisp tamarind-water golgappa
- Mishti doi, caramelised sweet yoghurt set in a clay pot
What happens inside a hammam kitchen
A morning with the cooks who feed the neighbourhood before dawn. Charcoal, dough, the smell of a bakery working its second oven.
10 Field Notes
Quick field notes to help you get accustomed to Kolkata.
Weather
Humid tropical. Hot, sticky summers (35°C-plus, sweltering April–May), a heavy monsoon June to September, and pleasant winters (November–February, ideal).
Currency
The Indian rupee (INR). Cash for street food, hand-pulled rickshaws, and markets; cards in restaurants and malls.
Language
Bengali is the everyday language; English and Hindi are also widely spoken.
Etiquette
Modest dress at religious sites. Cover shoulders and knees. Kolkata is famously intellectual and welcoming. Expect long conversations over sweet Bengali tea.
Getting around
The metro (India's oldest) is fast and expanding. Yellow Ambassador taxis (metered), auto-rickshaws, and Uber all work. Hand-pulled rickshaws still operate in the old lanes.
Prayer
Predominantly Hindu with a large Muslim minority. Christmas is celebrated citywide thanks to a long Anglo-Indian and Armenian heritage. Durga Puja in autumn transforms the city.