Mohamushkil at Bohemian Bullygunge

Fusion bengali food is not everybody’s cup of tea. Wherein some places think of fusion food as mixing multiple contrasting flavors and creating some unpalatable shit, few, very few chefs understand which flavors complement and use them to create something different.

I’ve heard a lot about this place called Bohemian near Bullygunge Phari and moreover, chef Joymalya Banerjee. But this time, surprisingly, my mom wished to go there. She had read about this place in some magazine and was curious to try out the so-called fusion food. And frankly being the poor person I am, I always study the offering of a place beforehand.

You can check the location on google map here

So, from Zomato, I understood, there’s an offer for combo meals there and that gave me the courage to go. So, off we went on one humid evening. The parking was not a problem and smooth, the place had 2 floors, wherein we chose the ground floor for the mother’s easy access.

 

Service was super-prompt. And the service staff was trained really well and for the betterment of the owner. They offered us the regular menu-card and not the combo one- which is pretty understandable. But, upon asking, we were given the same. And off course, the main menu items were ordered from there. So, we ordered the combo for 3 of us and one portion non-veg phuchka combo.

First, let me take the liberty of talking about the non-veg phuchka combo. There were 6 phuchkas (3 varieties of 2 pcs each). The best of the lot was the Hilsa phuchka with mustard and tender coconut water. The hilsa (thankfully) was having a subtle flavor and the filling water made its day. Wherein, the Mutton Keema phuchka was slightly spicy and the water was having a distinct flavor. My son loved the crab and prawn phuchka.

The tamarind cooler was a regular one and nothing special. But, it was a refreshing change from the usual bottled soft drinks.

The starters were served with 2 pcs in each dish. The prawn cheese wrap was more like samosa and was pretty regular, the chicken and mustard honey bag was good. It was properly spiced and the mustard flavor was prominent. Unlike the regular joints, the steaming was done just perfectly and it was not soggy. But, out of the 3 starters, the best of the lot was pork in banana leaf. It was basically a minced pork meat paturi and simply mind-blowing. And, if they’re available on an a la carte menu, it’s a definite must-have.

Being a bong, my family loves fish. And, we ordered for the Topse fritters with poppy seeds and Kalo jeera, apart from the regular combo. In a bong layman’s language, it was boneless topse fried with a regular batter flavored with Kalo jeera and the crispiness owed to the poppy seeds. Though the taste was damn good, I would prefer a slightly bigger portion size for that price range.

After all these starters, the guava and rock-salt sorbet was a great palate cleanser. Anyhow, a good classic sorbet is pretty difficult to find in the city in mid-range restaurants and definitely Bohemian is an exception. Without this combo also, the sorbet is a must-order-item.

And, though we were kinda half-full, it’s time for the main course. We ordered for Betki rolls with pomegranate and mustard, mutton with gandharaj & coconut milk and spicy pork curry. Frankly, the betki rolls were extremely average. Though the pomegranate seeds gave few interesting bites in the gravy, the rolls were pretty average. Mutton was sublime. It had a strong flavor of Gandharaj lime and subtlety of the coconut milk, which gave the gravy its smooth texture. The good part is, all the dishes are served with a good amount of rice, a spied potato chorchori and some saag bhaja with bori (I am ignorant about these saags, apologies). So, one dish made a complete meal.

But, the surprise element was the spicy pork curry. It was out of the world. We packed some pork vindaloo for home but found out the next day, that we should’ve actually packed that spicy pork curry instead. No, it was not that spicy, but the punch was rather prominent and it went extremely well with the plain rice. Another good part is the pork quality. All the pork dishes had lean pork meat- without the fat and it made my day. If I go back again (which I will), I am going to order this one dish, definitely.

By this time, my son was bored with all the food and it’s actually evident from his facial expression above and we were hurrying for the dessert. For all the 3 portions, we’ve ordered for the green mango mousse with spicy condiments. Wherever I am not sure, I tend to take advise of the server (instead of applying my under-prepared brain) and it had saved me numerous times. Such was the case here. Of recent times, I’ve hardly come across any dessert such as this and I can vouch for that. The mousse had the required smoothness with the crunchy bite of burnt garlic (I am not so sure) and the effect inside the mouth was outstanding. We were speechless for a few minutes. Impressed by this, we went ahead and ordered the Gulab Jamun baked Alaska and frankly, it was a semi-disaster. In Kolkata, let authenticity be damned, we are spoiled with baked Alaska that Mocambo makes (rather the amount of meringue). So, when this one came with less meringue and a layer of vanilla ice cream inside and with the filling of some mini Gulab Jamun (a days old may be), we wished, we should’ve stayed with another portion of the Green mango mousse instead. But, like a good one-night stand, we were full to have another portion.

Overall, a few suggestions,

• With the main dish in the combo, instead of plain rice (however long-grained it might be), some flavored rice would’ve given us the perfect orgasm … after all, who’ve prepared such sexy beauties, won’t mind preparing some jasmine rice or some other variety for the otherwise good-food-deprived city
• And, the day-old Gulab Jamun seriously hurt our near-perfect dinner-experience
• But, keep up with the mousse and it was simply divine

Bon Appetit !!!

Comments and critics welcome.

I can be reached at 9903528225 / indrajit.lahiri@ymail.com