Vegan-friendly Bengali cuisine restaurants?

vegan

Not an oxymoron I hope. Next week I will be spending a day in Kolkata before taking my flight. Are there any vegetarian or vegetarian-friendly Bengali restaurants? Thanks. Note: Vegan means no dairy vegetarian.

kausiks

You are right. Its an oxymoron A Bengali restaurant without fish, mutton....
But, you need not be disheartened. Bengali cuisine consists of a large number of mouth-watering vegetarian dishes also. So in all the reputed restaurants that serve Bengali cuisine, you will find vegetarian dishes also. And as far as dairy products in Bengali dishes are concerned, some dishes are made of processed cheese or panir. You can avoid them. Some restaurants that you might consider are Kewpies, 6 Ballygunge Place, Aheli, Bhajahori Manna, Oh Calcutta.
Another very nice vegetarian restaurant that comes to my mind is Teej - though it serves Rajasthani cuisine only and not Bengali cuisine.
Another point - you will not find a vegan restaurant in Kolkata. So you just have to ask and select the dishes, ensuring that no dairy products are used.

__________________
The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see.

nayan

Agree with kaushik.
you will not find any vegan or pure veg(bengali)restaurants. You will find lots of pure veg restaurants but they cater to Marwari and other north Indian clientele and use dairy products extensively in the recipies.

In a bengali restaurant(the better ones are mentioned in kaushiks post) you can choose vegetable dishes. Just make sure it does not contain chhana(cottage chese) or doi(yogurt).

vegan

Thanks kausiks for the info you provided. I saw Oh Calcutta mentioned quite a lot on this forum in its topmost sticky thread. I recall having seen the name Aheli too. I will do some more research on the list of restaurants you gave me.

In my earlier internet search Teej came up as well as places like Anand, Banana Leaf, but none of them Bengali. Teej http://www.teej.in/ seems excellent though.

I am fond of Bengali snacks/chaats like veg cutlets, jhal muri, aloo chat etc. - with lot of jhal and tetul, and most of them are vegan!

vegan

Thanks nayan. You are so right about dairy products being used so extensively in Marwari and other north Indian restaurants. I believe some Marwari restaurants even do all their cooking in desi ghee. I checked Teej's online menu and the words paneer and yogurt are all over the place!

i think I am going to try one of the Bengali restaurants mentioned in kausiks' post.

kausiks

Banana Leaf is one of the best places to have South Indian snacks. Anand similarly has an elaborate snacks menu. And let me tell you, Teej is excellent!! The ambiance and the food...

Here is something that might make your life easier. This site (http://kolkata.foodiebay.com/) has the menus of some of the restaurants that I mentioned. You can check out their vegetarian spread before you make your selection.

gorigirl

Bhojohori Manna (http://www.bhojohorimanna.com/) is a Bengali favorite and has a lot of vegetarian and vegan options. (I'm vegan in the States, but don't have the same ethical issues w/ it here since the cows don't tend to end up on plates or factory farms.) There are several locations in the city.

vegan

Thanks gorigirl, Bhojohori Manna does look athentic and tempting. I am considering this too.

This the the second time I heard this logic today but I am not sure about this. My understanding is that dairy cows after being 'spent' are transported to West Bengal (Kerala being the other state that permits cow-killing) covering hundreds of kilometers in inhumane conditions, and then are killed to produce beef for Bangaladesh and leather for Indians. Of course male calves which are useless in dairy industry and become veal in Western countries somehow mostly go missing. Farms used to employ quite a few of them but the demand is falling. Forced impregnations and growth hormone injection should be common with other countries too.

On a few occasions though, I must admit, they are worshipped unlike elsewhere. And most Indians really seem to believe that cows want us to have their milk as their gift or prasad.

Prats

Being in Kolkata and being a veggie is tough, ask me, I recently turned a veggie and when I recently travelled back to kolkata, I so dearly missed the awesome biryanis !

Still, 6 Ballygunge is a good place, Bhojuri Manna, can be tried, though I am not sure, you would like it. wherever you go , just ask tell them you dont have milk products, and they would themselves suggest.

gorigirl

Well, in that case, I guess I'm either not as dogmatic in this regard or trust what my neighbors tell me over PETA propaganda.

vegan

I finally ended up having dinner with a Bengali family, friends of ours. They eat fish etc but cooked vegan meal for me. While we were chatting talk digressed to Bangladesh and they started talking about their experience in a border town between India and Bangladesh. It seems like they couldn't sleep during the night disturbed by the sound of cows crossing over to Bangladesh all night long. They also mentioned that the men in that town slept during the day and stayed awake during the nighttime to take care of transporting cows during night.

KABAARY

Oh well...guys will be guys...or should it be "with guys"...