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Food Blog Mohamushkil-a bong foodie's quest about best foods in India

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"kolkata foodscape"parsi cuisineparsi foodparsi restaurant

Mancherji’s – probably the only parsi food joint in Kolkata

written by Indrajit Lahiri February 17, 2015

Of all the Indian cuisines, Parsi cuisine is one of the most underrated ones. As per the history and Quissa-E-Sajan goes (and as usual, I’m extremely bad with both), the parsi community came down to India during around 8th century and settled in the western coast. The cuisine is, for some reason unknown, very closely guarded and kept the secret only to the community. As I could find out from my Mumbai stay experience, the food is prepared using the “Khatto-Meetho” philosophy– which means a little of sweet and little sour in taste. And in reality, the dishes are neither too spicy, nor too sweet (barring off course, the desserts). Fish and meat are heavily used along with the staple dose of rice and Pao. Probably, this is due to the fact that the Parsi population in India is slowly diminishing.

However, there is a joint in Kyd street where we could find some authentic Parsi dish. It’s named after the owner ‘Mancherji’s”. The place is owned by a Parsi gentleman and his family. But, the problem is, due to market demand, they’ve started making Bengali regular dishes and makes Parsi items only on request. So, we met there, made some prior appointments and started our journey into Parsi cuisine. 

You can check my experience at Parsi club here …

Mohamushkil at the Parsi food festival at The Parsee Club

How to go and when to go: 

The formal address for this joint is 14, kyd street, near MLA hostel. If you start from the chowringhee towards kyd street, on your right will be the MLA hostel. Near to its gate no 2, there is an SBI ATM. Just opposite to that, lies Mancherji’s- a small shack. It’s extremely easy to locate, provided you know what you’re looking for. 

You can check the location on google map here

Inside:

Statutory warning: do not expect any of the fine dining experience here. You’ll see some plastic chairs and tables were thrown around and the daily menu written on the white-board on the wall. You may start cursing me because probably, all you can find is some Bengali item’s names but behold- move a little down and you’ll find those Parsi items. You’re now allowed to rub your eyes again seeing the price. Yes, they’re that cheap, but not quality/ quantity-wise. Go ahead, gorge on them, eat your heart out- it’s difficult to cross 400/- per head for even a heavy-eater like me. 

DSC_7277

DSC_7276

The food:

We asked the owners for their suggestion and we were offered a typical 6-course Parsi meal.

The fist item was chicken farcha. Its basically a Parsi version of KFC styled batter-fried chicken. One portion consists of one big piece (what else can you expect in 50/- ???) only its more on the softer side than the crunchier version. Wholesome, very very less spicy and was really a good start. 

Chicken farcha

Chicken Farcha

The next item was Egg akuri with tawa roti. This egg akuri is the Parsi version of scrambled egg. Only its more full-bodied with onion, tomato, coriander leaves, and some indian spices. We had it with tawa roti, but I personally felt it would go better with some pav / buns. This item can be tried during the lunchtime and will be a good choice. 

Egg akuri

Kuchumber is a sharp, small diced Parsi salad with cucumber, onion, tomato and green chilly and was promptly served next. Along with it we got brown rice. It was rice tossed with caramel water, bereshtah (sliced, deep brown fried onion) and garam masala (particularly cinnamon) and thus got its typical color. This brown rice is the standard accompaniment with the normal Parsi dishes, as we were told. 

Kuchumber

Brown rice

Next, we got the main course of the day- chicken dhansak. This is a unique meat dish from the Parsi kitchen. This is dal or rather diced meat with 4 varieties of dal (arhar dal, chana dal, red musoor dal and brown musoor dal). Its typically flavored with dhansak masala comprising of 15 masalas (kept secret) with ginger, garlic, coriander, and mint leaves and green chilly. This is a heavy thick-gravy dish. It’s normally cooked with mutton, but here, in mancherji’s they normally prepare it on every Saturday with chicken due to low-market-demand. It’s very mild tasted yet keeps its distinct flavor intact. Here, they give a full bowl of gravy and one good-sized meat piece. And, brown rice comes complementarily with it- a complete meal. 

The second main course that we got was Sali Murg. Its normally a chicken dry curry cooked with apricot and covered with fried potato straws. In mancherji’s however, all we got was chicken kassa covered with potato straw and lacked the taste of apricot, which normally makes it distinct. The taste is still good. 

Chicken Sali

Its dessert time finally, and we got the dish of the day- Lagan Nu Custard. This is the normal egg custard with lots of dry fruits and nuts. Tastes heavenly and was the perfect ending of a good meal. Sadly, they don’t make this dish on a regular basis and prepares them on bulk order (min 10 no). This dish is a must-have in this place and not-to-be-missed. 

Lagan Nu Custard

 

Final take:

This joint prepares some good food but is poorly managed. They’ve succumbed to the market demand and started preparing Bengali food than sticking to their original dishes. However, if one wants some Parsi food in Kolkata, this is probably the only option. They can prepare other Parsi delicacies also on request and confirmation and does outdoor-catering also. The food here, may not be that great, but being one of the very very few places which serve Parsee cuisine in the city of joy, this place is definitely worth. 

They can be reached on 9830254120. 

Cheers and bon apetite !!!

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

Please comment and share if you like …

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Indrajit Lahiri

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21 comments

Ishita Ray February 18, 2015 - 1:45 pm

Thank you for saving my usually pinched up pocket. Now I know where to take my friends out for a treat 😀
very informative review btw.

Reply
Chaitali Das February 18, 2015 - 1:53 pm

Darun review; I think I can find the place. So akdin jete hobe.

Reply
indrajit Lahiri February 18, 2015 - 2:35 pm

sure…

Reply
Maniparna Sengupta Majumder February 21, 2015 - 4:33 am

Great review… will visit it for sure… 🙂

Reply
Mancherji’s – probably the only Parsi food joint in Kolkata | Parsis, Iranis, Zarathushtis - ALL Under One Roof February 21, 2015 - 11:16 am

[…] https://mohamushkil.wordpress.com/2015/02/17/mancherjis-probably-the-only-parsi-food-joint-in-kolkat… […]

Reply
Mancherji’s – probably the only Parsi food joint in Kolkata | PARSIS.IN February 21, 2015 - 12:01 pm

[…] https://mohamushkil.wordpress.com/2015/02/17/mancherjis-probably-the-only-parsi-food-joint-in-kolkat… […]

Reply
Nabamita Dutta Gupta February 23, 2016 - 12:58 pm

thank you for this information. really surprising that there r no takers for parsi food.. infact I was wondering someone should open up a parsi restaurant since kolkata has all kinds of cuisines except this one. will try it out.

Reply
Kasturi Guha February 24, 2016 - 12:59 am

Its really a tough job to know my city in so much details…. Thanks for the information …. As a lover of good foods , it would my pleasure to visit the place… must visit for me…

Reply
indrajit Lahiri February 24, 2016 - 1:01 am

Thanks

Reply
Debashish dasgupta March 15, 2016 - 11:55 pm

is the food joint air conditioned?
after reading about the dishes and the weather in March-April at Kolkata, as of now?

Reply
indrajit Lahiri March 16, 2016 - 7:20 am

No it’s not an AC joint. And take-away is advised.

Reply
Mohamushkil at the Parsee food festival at The Parsee Club – A Bong পেটুক's quest ….. January 11, 2017 - 11:26 am

[…] western India, Parsi food is not readily available in Kolkata (barring a couple of places like Mancherji’s and the hidden gem Parsee Dharamshala. So, this year, when Rukshana invited me and Debjani the […]

Reply
BIJIT BASU May 27, 2017 - 5:54 pm

thanks very informative . though left kolkata 19 years ago though i go some times i will definitely visit this place. curious but like to know some more about the manchi mancherji, could u help

Reply
indrajit Lahiri May 27, 2017 - 5:55 pm

I visited this place around 2 years back. But still based on the feedback, I guess they’re good on a special order

Reply
Gina Shrestha August 21, 2017 - 9:16 pm

I beg to differ when you say this is the only place for parsi food in Kolkata! I cater from the house and I am a parsi -you can order parsi food and other cuisines on an advance notice of 48hrs. So feel free to call on 9830165734 whenever the taste buds tingle for some parsi food!

Reply
Indrajit Lahiri August 22, 2017 - 8:36 am

Thanks for the update. This is a pretty old Post and I didn’t know if yours. My apologies.

Reply
Mohamushkil at the Parsi food festival at the Parsi Club March 6, 2018 - 8:05 pm

[…] western India, Parsi food is not readily available in Kolkata (barring a couple of places like Mancherji’s and the hidden gem Parsee Dharamshala. So, this year, when Rukshana invited me and Debjani the […]

Reply
Mohamushkil at the Parsi food festival at the Parsi Club March 22, 2018 - 3:03 pm

[…] western India, Parsi food is not readily available in Kolkata (barring a couple of places like Mancherji’s and the hidden gem Parsee Dharamshala. So, this year, when Rukshana invited me and Debjani the […]

Reply
Mohamushkil at the Parsi food festival at the Parsi Club Kolkata August 16, 2018 - 7:48 am

[…] western India, Parsi food is not readily available in Kolkata (barring a couple of places like Mancherji’s and the hidden gem Parsee Dharamshala. So, this year, when Rukshana invited me and Debjani the […]

Reply
A listing for best Kolkata food- not cuisine or genre spefic- a general listing November 22, 2018 - 5:14 am

[…] Mancherji’s – probably the only parsi food joint in Kolkata […]

Reply
Mohamushkil at the Parsi food festival at the Parsi Club Kolkata March 27, 2019 - 5:39 am

[…] Mancherji’s – probably the only parsi food joint in Kolkata […]

Reply

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About Me

I, Indrajit Lahiri, am an entrepreneur by profession. After heading the Education BU of one of the largest OEMs globally, in 2012, I felt like starting something on my own and thus formed Pickle Solutions Pvt Ltd (http://picklesolutions.in/ ), which in turn became one of the leading IT roll-out firms, mostly working in the North-East part of India.

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