One of Kolkata’s oldest food joints, the 250-year-old Adi Haridas Modak in Shyambazar is famous for its loochi and aaloo-r torkari — deep-fried Bengal-style flatbreads and a light potato curry seasoned with turmeric, kalo jeerey, coriander seeds, kasuri methi, and aamchoor — served on a banana leaf. The loochis are light and flakey, and the aaloo-r torkari has a savoury-sweet aftertaste that lingers in the mouth. The menu is seasonal — always changing with the availability of produce. During winter, when green peas are in season, the Bengali classic koraishooti-r kochuri — a variant of the kachori stuffed with mildly spiced mushy peas seasoned with hing, kalo jeerey, cumin, and coriander paste — served with chhola-r daal is popular with regulars like Asit and Deepika Ghosh who shared a table with me on a recent visit to the shop.
“Have you been coming here for long?" I asked them.
“Oh, so long,” Deepika said. “Must be decades now.”
“What makes you keep coming back?” I asked.
“It’s part of our culture, of course,” Asit answered.
This was a sentiment shared by many of the regulars I spoke to — a sentiment I, as a Bengali, understand all too well. We are a stubborn lot set in our ways — with one foot firmly placed in the past, high on nostalgia, reluctant to let go.
We call this Bangaliyana or Bengaliness — a deeply ingrained connection to Bengali history and culture that forms and informs, shapes and reshapes the ever-evolving, never-changing experience of being a Bengali in Kolkata. When a Bengali says, “it’s part of our culture,” this is what they mean: these places are shrines to intangible, unbroken traditions that are greater than the sum of their parts. They are portals to the past and the future of the city and her people. Both the people who run these places, like Indrajit Modak, a sixth-generation member of the Modak family and the current proprietor of Adi Haridas Modak, and regulars, like the Ghoshes, are profoundly aware of this.
Address: 220, Acharya Prafulla Chandra Road, Shyambazar, Kolkata 700004
Getting there: Adi Haridas Modak