I am still undecided on what exactly took me today to Kolaghat – a town some 80 odd KMs away from Kolkata...was it in pursuit of the untasted or just a ruse to flee the urban cacophony? To most, until ten years ago the name Kolaghat used to stir up images of sparkling Ilish Maach (Hilsa). Now decidedly it's 'Sher-e-Punjab' dhaba that brings more guests to the town than the elusive Queen of fish. Initially the 90-minute drive seemed fruitless as the teeming Dhaba couldn’t promise a table for three in foreseeable hours. So that took us to the next door restaurant called ‘Express Plaza’ – apparently modelled after the American diners…and again that turned out to be a pleasant accident of landing me at the right place at the right time.
A visit of ours to a Dhaba unfailingly starts with ordering for Tandoori Chicken [we just love it that way...period] and today too we clung to that pattern. It was good but not perfect – fresh from the tandoor, not desirably succulent but served perfectly warm with the usual thick green chutney and onions on side – just the love that cookery thrives on was lacking. Although the tandoori was definitely nowhere in the neighbourhood of the finest I had had until now, it was not insipid either. Admittedly clinical cooking never awards a delicacy the immortality that love, ingenuity and sincerity together can. Wait! Not being good somehow leaves one with the room to improve and eventually excel. I can at best wish them that awareness!
The prerogative, or ordeal, of ordering at an eatery usually rests with my ‘best’ half as then only she lets me focus on the ‘deliverance’ part – in short 'eating'. I saw both my wife and son siding with Kulchas for main-course leaving me happily alone with the pristine ghee-phulkas. Dark and heavy Dal-Makhni then had to be the matching side. Those dishes surprisingly turned out to be delicious leaving us little to say about the taste and authenticity. Perhaps the staidness of the attendant was the singular thing we could find fault with! A meal at any Dhaba has to close with a round of cooling Lassi and today, the sullen summer turned the drink exceedingly sweeter, tastier and doubly coveted – so we ordered twice and felt happy!
The drive back home was strikingly breezier than usual – I dozed off!
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