6 places to try Bengali traditional food across India

What makes a meal memorable? Not just authenticity but a sense of a journey. A spread of Bengali traditional food does exactly that. “Every Bengali meal starts with something that’s either bitter (like shukto—vegetables flavoured with celery seed radhuni which has a bitter mint taste) or pora and bharta (burnt vegetables or fish made into a mash, with rice). This is followed by a lentil-based course with something fried alongside. Then the meats, fish, and vegetables take over. Popularly, dab chingri (prawns roasted inside tender coconut) and Hilsa Bhapa (hilsa fish marinated with mustard paste and steamed), outside Bengal,” says Sushanta Sengupta, chef-co-founder of 6 Ballygunge Place, which has grown from a Kolkata mansion to now having multiple outposts. 

Too often, Bengali traditional cuisine is reduced to rice and fish, overlooking a vast vegetarian repertoire. “Bengalis love their peyaz posto, dhoka’r dalna, paneer too in chanar kofta, and paneer paturi. As a community that has seen a lot of deprivation due to colonisation and famine, scraps are integral to Bengali traditional food, like lauki ke chilke ki sabzi,” says Toonika Guha, 32, who started a Kolkata-style supper club in 2025.

Celebratory dishes like mutton kosha (mutton curry), chicken dak bungalow (a colonial twist to a chicken or mutton curry), Ilish macher jhal, and chingri malai curry sit alongside pantry staples like kasundi and Gondhoraj lemon. Together, they form a cuisine that represents survival, celebration, and adaptation. 

What is traditional Bengali food? 

In 2025, it’s not just East Bengal’s spice and fish that is popular but West Bengal’s sweeter plates too. Both live on in Kolkata’s iconic Pice hotels—unpretentious eateries serving home-style meals.

“Bengali traditional food has also been influenced by the European settlers (British, Dutch, Portuguese, Armenian), a Mughal influx in the 1970s with the Nawabs in Murshidabad, and migration of people from China, which is how the cooking method of steaming was incorporated,” says Sengupta. That’s how Kolkata biryani, chicken bharta, kati rolls and Indo-Chinese chilli chicken entered the canon. “It isn’t a mindless putting together of noodles with aloo bhaja, but preparations like chilli paneer or chilli potato incorporated in chowmein,” says Guha.

In its essence, Bengali traditional food is largely mustard-forward cuisine–oil, seeds, paste, and leaves, paired with posto (poppy seed paste), ginger, and cumin. Everyday dishes range from aloo bhati to dhoka’r dalna, ghugni to bhaat-bhaja-bharta platters. 

“People think Bengalis mostly eat Ilish and other expensive variants. But, rohi or katla fish or river fishes like kajuli maach or pabda maach are more common in Bengal,” says Guha. Her eight to 10-course meals also include dhoka’r dalna, a dal-based mock meat made by widows from Bengal who were not permitted to eat meat. The dish is similar to what is known as gatta in North India. 

“Ghugni is a traditional Bengal snack, popular in Odisha as well. Bhaat bhaja bharta platter, inspired by a plate of rice that people eat in the mornings: shortgrained Gobindobhog rice, gawa ghee—a Bengal ghee that’s ground a version of jhorna ghee), posto, chilli macher bharta, begun bhaja, badi bhaja (fried dumplings made out of dal), kumro bhaja (mashed pumpkin bhaja), aloo bhati, and mashes,” she adds.  

Bengalis and their mishti are inseparable. A sweet shop is never just about the rasogolla—it’s an endless catalogue. Chini mishti, kacha paker mishti, the winter-only nolen gur, cham cham—each variety carrying its own season, texture, and memory. 

6 places serving Bengali traditional food across India

1. 6 Ballygunge Place—Kolkata, New Delhi 

Visit for: Celebratory and homely dishes that showcase technique

When it opened in Kolkata in 2003, standalone restaurants serving Bengali traditional food were rare outside of Pice hotels. Today, 6 Ballygunge Place has expanded to New Delhi, where it draws the city’s Bengali community and curious diners alike. The menu reads like a Bengali traditional food list: Aloo Ghee Aur Posto Bharta, Ilish Paturi, Daab Chingri, Bhapa Ilish, Basanti Pulao, Koraishutir Dhokar Dalna, Bhetki Paturi, Chingri Malaikari and Kosha Mangsho. For many, these are not just Bengali traditional food names but markers of memory and celebration. Dessert carries its own weight too, with the famed Baked Rasogolla, a staple beyond Bengali New Year traditional food and festive tables.

Address: 6, Ballygunge, Kolkata; Eldeco Centre, Shivalik Colony, Saket, Malviya Nagar, New Delhi

Phone: 6292291004

Price: ₹ 2,000 (per person) 

2. Peetuk—Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune 

Visit for: Wide range of rolls and for solo meals

Launched in Mumbai in 2008, Peetuk has since built a loyal following with its economical yet authentic plates of Bengali traditional food. Its snacks alone could form a Bengali traditional food list: Double Egg Roll, Egg Mughlai Paratha with Aloo Dum, Chicken Cutlet, Bhetki Fish Chop, and Egg Devil Keema.

The everyday meals—Chapati and Chicken Kosha, Half Kolkata Egg Biryani with raita, or kichuri with an omelette—are staples that feel both homely and transportive. But Peetuk also slips in rarer finds outside Bengal, like Chicken Chaap, Egg Torka, Double Omelette Curry, and a delicate Bengali pulao, a version of ghee-laced rice. For those who grew up with these Bengali traditional food names, it’s a nostalgic return. For others, it’s a way into flavours usually reserved for festive tables. 

Address: Across Mumbai (Andheri West, Kandivali East, Mahakali, Bandra West, Lower Prel, Vashi, Powai, GB Road); Bengaluru (Marathahalli, Dolmur, and HP Nagar); Pune (Viman Nagar)

Phone:7400147270

Price: ₹ 150 onwards (per person) 

3. Kewpie's, Kolkata 

Visit for:Simple, traditional thaalis

Stepping into Kewpie’s feels like stepping straight into a Bengali home. This family-run restaurant keeps the interiors understated, letting the complexity of its Bengali traditional food do the talking.

The menu ranges from Chitol Petir Jhal to Daab Chingri, Pabda Jhaal, Doi Begun, and Bangla Polao—dishes that easily belong on any Bengali traditional food list. But it’s the thaalis that capture the essence of the cuisine. Each comes with Gobindobhog bhaat and ghee, or phulko luchi and polao, surrounded by bhajas, daals, and chutneys. The Sadharon Niramish Thala features shukto, alur dom daal, papor, mishti doi, and seasonal sweets, while the Maacher Thala spans daab chingri, rui, kakrar chorchori, bhekti paturi, and elish bhape—names instantly recognisable to anyone who grew up with Bengali traditional food names.

For many, these plates echo festive spreads like Bengali New Year traditional food, but here they arrive in the rhythm of an everyday meal.

Address:No. 2, Elgin Lane, behind Netaji Bhavan, Sreepally, Bhowanipore, Kolkata, West Bengal 700020

Phone: 98316 77610

Price: ₹1,200 (per person)  

4. Spices and Friends (cloud kitchen)—Mumbai, Thane 

Visit for: Bengali desserts

Operating out of Thane and Mumbai since 2018, Spices and Friends has built its reputation on delivering Bengali traditional food straight to the door. While biryani, curries, and dals like Kalo Jeere Masoor Dal and Murgi’r Jhol anchor the savoury side, it’s items from the snack and dessert menu that make it to every party list.

The line-up could pass for a Bengali traditional food list: Vegetable Chop, Aloo’r Dum, Koraishuti’r Kochuri, Rui Maach Dim’er Bora, Potol’er Dalna, and Chingri Posto. But the real draw is the sweets. Large orders go out for Lobongo Lotika, Gur’er Payesh, and Gur’er Sandesh—dishes tied not just to festivities but also to Bengali New Year traditional food celebrations. For those who know these Bengali traditional food names, the flavours are memorable. For others, they’re an initiation into Bengal’s sweet tooth.

Address:Delivery anywhere in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane.

Phone:9136043005 

Price: ₹ 200 onwards (per person) 

5. Charubon's—Bengaluru 

Visit for: A taste of Bengal in Bengaluru

Charubon’s brings Bengali traditional food into Bengaluru with a menu that spans the iconic and the everyday. From Fish Fry and Golbarir Mutton Kosha to Chicken Bharta with aata ruti, Basonti Pulao, and Ilish, it captures the crowd-pleasers. But it doesn’t stop there. The simpler comforts—bhat daal, luchi with aloo, Fish Kobiraji, Posto Bora, and Aam er Chutney—are reminders that a Bengali traditional food list is as much about homestyle balance as celebratory indulgence.

The thaalis reflect this range. A Bachelor’s Siddho Thali with rice, aloo siddho, omelette, and dal keeps it stripped back, while larger spreads layer in chicken kosha, mutton kosha, Rui Macher Kalia, Katla Kalia, Pabda Jhul, Ilish Sorse, and Pomfret Sorse. For anyone searching for authentic Bengali traditional food, this is as close as Bengaluru gets to a festive spread or even Bengali New Year traditional food.

Address: 4th Floor, Umashankar Avenue, Landmark: Umashankar Avenue, Hagadur Main Road, Whitefield, Bengaluru.

Phone: 8837398546

Price: ₹ 200 onwardhttps://www.theestablished.com/culture/living/the-food-of-the-himalayan-belt-and-north-east-india-goes-way-beyond-the-momos (per person) 

6. Hotel Tarun Niketan—Kolkata 

Visit for: The Pice Hotel experience

More than a century old, Hotel Tarun Niketan is a living archive of Bengali traditional food. This cash-only Pice hotel still serves meals on banana leaves or saal plates, following a first-come, first-serve ritual.

Its dishes are as authentic as they come: machher dim (fish roe), kochu muro (fish head with greens), mocha torkari (banana flower curry), and parshey jhol, made with the small river fish unique to Bengal. On any given day, you’ll find staples like Jhuri Alu Bhaja, Bhetki Paturi and a slow-cooked mutton curry—items that appear again and again on every Bengali traditional food list. Unlike modern restaurants that adapt recipes for wider audiences, Tarun Niketan’s plates remain untouched—proof that some flavours resist reinvention.

Address:Metro Rail Station Gate, Ward 88 88/1B, Rash Behari Avenue, Street Number 4, near Kalighat, Kolkata.

Phone: 9836358614

Price: ₹ 200 onwards (per person) 

The adaptation of Bengali traditional food

As younger generations have left Bengal in order to work in cities like Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, and Mumbai, they’ve carried their cuisine with them. “There’s not been so much innovation in homestyle cooking because Bengalis are very emotional about their food. But they have adapted dishes, according to the unavailability of ingredients. Like the lau patai or bottle gourd leaves that are steamed or fried with prawns. People use Bok Choy instead,” says Guha.

These quiet substitutions don’t dilute the cuisine; instead, they underline its resilience. Whether it’s dishes linked to Bengali New Year traditional food or everyday plates from a Bengali traditional food list, the crux of the cuisine remains intact, anchored in flavour, history and emotion, even when far from home.