Traditional Bengali restaurant Khanti Damodaar Seth is hosting a mouthwatering ilish festival called Mile Mishe Ilishe at their
outlet in Lake Market, near Kalighat. The festival will go on every weekend for one month starting tomorrow, August 4. The name Khanti Damodaar Seth was chosen from a popular Bengali poem, Damodar Seth by Rabindranath Tagore. This light-hearted poem of Tagore features a pot-bellied person who is extremely picky about his food. The uniqueness of the restaurant lies in its taste and the speciality Bengali food menu including food from Bengali literature. They use their handmade masalas to prepare the dishes. The eatery is much liked by celebrities such as Sourav Ganguly, Mir, Jisshu Sengupta and Mithun Chakraborty among others.
(l-r) The perfect comfort dish for Bengalis on a rainy afternoon is steamy rice paired with ilisher tel (the oil in which the hilsa is fried) and Bhaja Illisher Dim (fried hilsa eggs), The elaborate menu also has the Epaar Bangla and Opaar Bangla combos. Epaar Bangla Thali which consists of steamed rice, khichudi, ilish oil, ilish egg fry, fried chilli, kochu saakh with ilish head, sorshey ilish or doi ilish and ilish begun jhol. Opaar Bangla Thali has steamed rice, bhuna khichudi, ilish oil, ilish egg fry, fried chilli, ilish bharta, ilish bhuna, Barishali ilish or Meghna ilish.
The menu of the ilish festival includes a variety of eye-catching and delicious thalis; Ilish Khichdi, which consists of bhuna khichdi in Bangladeshi style or plain khichdi in Epaar Bangla style, Ilish Bharta, Ilish Bhuna and Ilish Fry. Khichdi and ilish maach is a unique combination, which will make any Bengali drool on rainy days. The dishes wooed everyone with their delectable taste and transported diners to the grand bygone time with the untold stories that they bring along. Here’s what t2 liked from the festival menu.
