- Check it out, guys.
It's Trevor James.
We are in Kolkata, India.
I'm so pumped because this is part three
of our Kolkata food series, and today we have a ton
of delicious food to try.
Check it out.
(upbeat, exotic music)
- [Trevor Voiceover] This is Kolkata, a street food heaven
that you'll fall in love with as soon
as you taste the flavors on the street.
There's so much food here that our five part series
is just the beginning.
And with so many friendly people,
delicious Bengali food and a bustling atmosphere
like no other.
- The pure energy.
- [Trevor Voiceover] You'll have a crazy
and fun travel experience that you'll never forget.
We had an amazing six meals,
starting out with a brunch thali platter feast,
then going on for a huge Bengali lunch,
and then moving on for four more amazing street foods
that you're gonna love.
So make sure to watch until the end
to enjoy them all.
But before we begin our huge street food tour,
I want to give a big shout-out
to this street food tour sponsor,
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Let's eat.
- So first thing to start the day that we're gonna get,
one thing you'll become addicted to
when you travel to eat in India is the thali,
big platter with tons of selections of gravies
and curries, and we're gonna get that to start the day.
- [Trevor Voiceover] This is thali, the spread of dishes
that's a world of its own in India
with variations in each city and province
that would a lifetime to try.
And when you open up a menu at a thali restaurant,
you're presented with a huge variety of thalis
to choose from, including Rajasthani thalis,
Gujruiti thalis, Punjabi thalis and more
from across the whole country.
But since this was a warmup
for our huge Bengali lunch feast,
I chose the classic Rajasthani thali vegetarian platter
and instantly fell in love.
- Oh, thank you.
Beautiful selection here.
Wow, this is one of the most beautiful, colorful meals
I think I've ever seen.
And the idea here is that you get a full spectrum
of flavor, sweet, salty, bitter, sour, astringent and spicy,
all on one big platter of different selections
of curries and gravies.
The basics here, we have different types of bread and papad.
There is also desserts over here on the side.
We have a sweet custard topped with pomegranate.
We have a beautiful, this is like a fried dry kachori
topped with dahl, and then this I believe
is a sweet almost like dried sugar flour,
and then over here, classic gulab jamun,
fried dough ball covered in sweet rose syrup.
And then we have a selection, oh.
Look at this beautiful selection of gravies.
This looks like a papaya curry,
and then over here, pickled cabbage.
Looks like there's some tomatoes.
There's some chilies.
Oh, there's a bit of pomegranate, and then this here
is classic palak paneer, which is paneer cheese
in spinach gravy.
I believe this is garam flour curried,
and then here are a couple types
of dahl curry, lentil curry.
We have a sweet chutney, I believe, a mint chutney,
and this I think is a mango chutney,
probably very sour and spicy,
and then a cooling, refreshing cucumber and tomato.
And then there is also pakora here,
which is fried garam flour filled with black fennel,
cumin and I believe some coriander, as well.
And then over here,
I think this is also another sweet flour,
almost like powdery sugar topped with pomegranate.
We are gonna try out a little bit of the chapati.
It's got some nice mango chutney on there,
and we're just gonna get some of that pickled cabbage.
Oh, oh, look at that.
Ohhh.
Mm, mmmm.
Oh, that one is actually slightly sour.
There is so many different types of seeds in there,
like fennel seeds, cumin seeds.
That is probably the best cabbage I've ever tasted.
There's also some coriander.
It's soft, yet there is a bit of a crunch to it.
We're gonna take a bunch.
Oh, look at that.
Palak paneer, spinach with paneer cheese.
And then we're gonna take some of this garam curry,
just put a bit on there.
Different flavors in one mouthful.
And then, look at that!
And then a bit of dahl, lentil curry.
Oh wow.
Look at that.
Look at that beautiful, beautiful joy.
Wow.
There is so many amazing spices going on in each bite
of each curry that you take.
And I am just gonna pour some of that dahl over this naan,
over all of this different type of bread
and also maybe a bit of this garam.
That is heaven.
- [Trevor Voiceover] The best thing about thali
is the unlimited refills
and the healthy yet flavor packed curries
and the huge variety of spices you can taste in one setting.
And after finishing up some amazing desserts,
we made our way to our next destination
to taste a traditional Bengali lunch feast.
- You will fall in love with Kolkata the minute you arrive.
The vibrancy, the action, the hustle and the food
is enough to travel here for, solely to eat,
and we are on the hunt for our next meal.
We're going for lunch number two.
Here we are, 6 Ballygunge Place, Flavors of Bengal.
Let's try it out.
Hi.
We're going for a Bengali food heaven up the stairs.
Right here's okay?
Okay, thank you.
Awesome.
We are gonna have a Bengali feast, and I hear the flavors
of Bengal are all about fresh seafood, spicy
and actually a lot of mustard.
So starting out, there's lots of drinks, starters,
prawns and fish, a fish fry.
I think we're gonna just take a quick look
and see what we can find.
Prawns, oh yeah.
Look at that.
Oh, look at this, dab chingri.
I think that's what we're gonna order,
prawns roasted inside a tender coconut.
It melts in your mouth.
Spicy crab curry, we are gonna get that, as well.
And then look.
I think this is fish here.
Oh yeah, beckti paturi, fish wrapped
in a banana leaf roasted.
Yeah, we're gonna get that, as well.
And look at that.
Jumbo prawns, we're gonna get that, as well.
So we're gonna get jumbo prawns and the dab chingri,
prawns in a tender coconut.
Okay, we're gonna need some bread for all of this.
Maybe some naan or roti.
Let's see.
Oh, there's just an unbelievable selection
of Bengali specialties.
Okay, here's the rice and bread.
Let's a kachori bread stuffed green peas
and bread stuffed with lentils
with the subtle flavor of anise seed.
Oh, thank you.
- [Server] This is crab cracker.
- Crab cracker, okay.
Thank you so much.
(speaking foreign language)
- Okay, it looks amazing.
We have jumbo prawn in a rich, thick curry gravy.
Oh, that looks so beautiful.
And then over here, we have white river fish wrapped
in banana leaf in I believe that is a mustard paste.
And then look at this.
This is beautiful.
Let's see what's inside there.
Oh, it's a coconut stuffed with little baby shrimp.
Oh, and that gravy is creamy from coconut milk,
and I think that is also mustard flavor.
And then there is a lentil dahl here.
Look at that lentil dahl.
And then oh ho, this is amazing.
Oh, spicy crab claws in a thick curry paste.
That looks thick.
They must've simmered that for hours.
First thing we're gonna try is this coconut prawns,
coconut beautiful little shrimp in that nice gravy.
Let's try that out.
Mm, mmmm.
There is such a light curry and mustard fragrance in there.
The main flavor you get is a creamy, smooth coconutty joy.
And then look at this jumbo prawn.
Wow!
Look at that beauty.
It is soaked with that super rich gravy sauce curry
from heaven.
Oh yeah.
And then we're just gonna pour a little bit
of that sauce over top.
Oh, beautiful.
India is where your food dreams will come true.
Look at that head.
You can just suck the head butter.
Look at that head butter.
I think I'm just gonna go right in
and suck all of that head butter off.
This is a double hander.
This is a double hander, messy feast from heaven.
Oh, that is incredible!
That curry sauce, that curry sauce is the most incredible
thing in the world.
It is actually slightly sweet.
You can just suck out all the head butter.
You could drink that.
That's what I'm gonna do.
Mm, it almost has like a honey fragrance to it,
and the head butter gives it a real buttery, creamy delight.
- [Trevor Voiceover] After enjoying these amazingly potent
and flavor packed seafoods and curries,
we made our way to North Kolkata
to try another famous dish, the mutton kosha mangsho,
and found a classic old shop selling plate after plate
of this spicy mutton curry that all the locals love.
- We are on the way for more delicious street food.
It's been an amazing day so far.
You having fun, Ting?
- Yeah.
- It's good fun, delicious food, amazing Bengali food,
and we are on the way for our next meal, kosha mangsho,
delicious, spicy mutton curry.
Look at this action.
We are in the heart of North Kolkata right now, guys.
Right up ahead there is a famous kosha mangsho joint.
We're gonna cross the street and try it out.
It's alive with energy here in Kolkata.
Look at this, guys.
Okay, (speaking foreign language) kosha mangsho
and (speaking foreign language) please.
- Then one then two?
- One please.
- Can I eat here?
Okay, thank you.
Amazing.
So we're just scooping the kosha mangsho
onto the plate here.
This is the most, this looks like the thickest,
richest curry I've ever experienced.
Look at that kosha mangsho.
This is a rich mutton curry, famous in Kolkata,
and we found this beautiful little hole in the wall
to try it out.
Look at that.
This is packed with chili and garlic, spicy masala powder,
chili powder.
Oh look at that.
It's quite oily.
You know when you see something that thick,
that pasty and rich, it's gonna be good.
Oh!
Whoa!
Oh yeah!
The mutton is absolutely tender.
It just melts in your mouth.
Oh wow.
And there is a ton of flavor in that.
Wow, it's good.
Thank you.
Very good.
It is just condensed, raw flavor.
The spices in there.
I think I taste a little bit of cloves,
maybe a bit of cinnamon.
That was amazing.
(speaking foreign language)
Very nice.
Thanks so much.
Wow, and now we're back on the street looking for more.
This looks like the biriyani hot spot.
Oh, the noodle hot spot.
Look at this.
So we just found a little stall that has momos and rolls.
Calcutta is famous for its variety of rolls,
and you can see there's a ton of rolls here,
mutton rolls, egg rolls, chicken kebab rolls, beautiful.
And then there's also fried noodles, Chinese style chowmin,
fried rice, and momos, dumplings,
and we are gonna get some chicken momos.
- [Trevor Voiceover] If you love Chinese and Indian food,
you're gonna love the food in Kolkata
because you can find Chinese food with an Indian influence
almost everywhere.
It's just part of the food culture here.
And on almost all menus, you can find not only Indian food,
but there will be a Chinese section, as well.
So when we walked by this random street food dinner joint,
we knew we had to order up some momos.
- We just ordered up non-veg chicken momos,
and it looks like they serve a nice,
healthy soup here, as well.
But the main feature here is the momo.
Amazing.
(car horn beeping)
Mm.
Oh wow!
Oh, that's my first time having momos in India.
Full of onion.
It has an onion pit.
It's actually quite peppery, as well with that chili sauce.
The chili sauce is a little bit sour and spicy.
That is really good.
So we're exploring down a deep, dark back alley
because we have a recommendation just around here
for some delicious beef kebabs.
See if we can find them.
And this is a really, really deep recommendation
that we've got.
We're on the hunt for these beef kebabs.
We found it, Adam's Kebab.
Hello.
(speaking foreign language)
Adam's Kebab.
Wow.
Oh, look at these kebabs, guys.
And they're actually tied together with a cotton string.
Look at that.
(metal rattling)
Thank you.
Beautiful.
Look at this.
We just go the minced beef kebab.
They removed the string
because the string was keeping it all together.
They give you a little bit of lime,
and that is marinated in a lot of spices.
Squeeze a little lime on there.
It comes with onion and green chili,
and we're gonna get a bit of both.
Oh, and it's crispy.
Try that out.
Oh, wow!
That's really nice.
Oh, look at that, guys.
It almost tastes like a, it almost has the consistency
of pate, and then it's full of spices.
I can taste cumin in there.
Definitely has a chili kick
and a strong lemon kick, as well.
That is really nice.
Mm.
It was good.
Thank you.
So just as we were exploring this back neighborhood,
we walked up into this little shop,
and they are making fresh sweets, fresh gulab jamun.
Oh, gulab jamun, and we just had that
earlier today for lunch.
It is an amazing spectacle here
to see how they make the sweets
in these little backstreet shops.
So gulab jamun being fried dough balls covered
in sweet rose syrup.
Thank you.
We're gonna keep exploring here.
So just out of that sweet shop,
and we've gotten invited to taste a fresh gulab jamun.
Gulab jamun?
Okay, so we're gonna try the gulab jamun.
- Okay, yeah, sure.
- Okay, thank you.
- So look at that, guys.
It's freshly made, hot off the street gulab jamun
in this deep neighborhood in Calcutta.
Fried dough balls covered in rose syrup, syrup, sugar?
- Yeah, yeah.
- Sweet.
Oh, oh, thank you.
It is plump.
It is plump and saturated with that rose syrup.
(car horns honking)
Mm hmm.
- How is it?
- Oh wow.
Oh wow, that is really nice.
Oh, it's good.
Thank you.
(speaking foreign language)
Oh, it's so sweet and soft.
Oh, it just melts in your mouth.
Look at that.
It's just saturated with that syrup.
It's very satisfying.
Mm, it's warm and fresh.
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The food we had today is off the hook,
and this is just part three
of many Kolkata street food tours.
Thank you so much for watching.