Kalika Mukhorochok Telebhaja - Kolkata's Best Snacks!!

 
If you have come near College Street in north/central Kolkata (Calcutta) and have not tasted the deep-fried snacks (Tele Bhaja) from "Kalika" then you are really missing something that can not be expressed in words. Kalika is a shop specializing in cutlets in central Kolkata. Frankly speaking I have had the best Beguni (fried slices of Brinjal dipped in gram flour batter) of Kolkata (Calcutta) in "Kalika Mukhorochok Telebhaja".

The roadside snacks shop is very small and it will be on your left if you take Surya Sen Street Towards College Square. The Address is 29, Surya Sen Street. It was established in the year 1965 by Mr. Sukumar Dutta, a freedom fighter, on the auspicious day of Kali Puja (Diwali). His main aim was to treat Kolkatans (Calcuttan during those days) with the best deep-fried snacks in the city. The Begunis here are not only Bigger in size but also tastier than Kolkata's any other snacks shop's Begunis.

Now it is run by the three sons of the founder - Gour, Nitai and Bablu, and according to them they follow the same recipe to make these snacks, that was handed over to them by their father Mr. Sukumar Dutta.

Some snacks like fish chops (fish Cutlets), Begunis, chingri chops, egg chops and mutton chops get sold out within a couple of hours. I must say they taste heavenly.

This shop starts at around 4.00 pm and closes at around 8.00 pm. If you don't reach there well in time then chances are that you may not get them because of the rush of the customers. The best part is that they maintain the quality and never increase the quantity of the snacks for people coz that can hamper the quality of the taste. If you pass this area in the evening then you will see the rush of customers fighting for placing their orders.

You can get many varieties of deep-fried snacks/cutlets (tele bhajas in bengali) in Kalika. Here's a list of the available telebhajas. Some of the items are also seasonal/special.

Amer Chop (Mango flavored cutlet)
Tomator chop (Tomato cutlet)
Aaloor chop (Potato cutlet)
Mochar chop (Banana Flower cutlet)
Peyanji (Onion pakoda)
Beguni (Fried slices of Brinjal dipped in gram flour batter)
Koomri (Sweet Gourd Bhujia)
Mutton chop (Mutton cutlet)
Chicken chop (Chicken cutlet)
Dimer chop (Egg cutlet)
Chingrir chop (prawn cutlet)
Fish Fry
Fish Roll
Fish Finger
Bhetki Chop (Bhetki Fish Cutlet)

These Telebhajas are made with the best quality ingredients. Unlike most fast food outlets, they use only refined soya bean oil to fry these items and soya oil doesn’t induce acidity. Special bhetki fish is bought for the fish chops. And the vegetables are bought from Koley wholesale vegetable market that is nearby. I bet it is the best place to have lip-smacking deep fried snacks in this area.

To complete your food safari, after having the mouth watering snacks from Kalika, you can have awesome sweets from Putiram that is near College Square and then have heavenly sharbet from Paramount that is just a few blocks from College Square.