The Calcutta Series: Nizam's

They say you can't go to Calcutta and not eat a kathi roll (barbecued chicken wrapped in a flat Indian bread coated with egg and spices) at Nizam's. They also say the roll was invented when an enterprising local realised that English people did not want to grease their fingers while eating kababs, so he started selling them inside a bread roll. Thus started this great institution of the city. I am guilty of loving non-vegetarian food, so I could not wait to taste the delicacy I had heard so much about! In Bombay, so many times we would go out for a kathi roll and Gurtaj would say: "Hmmm, you can't compare this to Nizam's." So off we were on a Sunday afternoon, starved in advance and determined to enjoy the national dish of Calcutta to the fullest!

First disappointment: Nizam's has become a "fancy" restaurant (in the garish sort of way) with plastic tables and chairs, and a doorman, believe it or not! Thankfully, we didn't have to actually sit down in this place which looked more drab than my office canteen. Nizam's had a small take away window on the side for hardcore focussed eaters. While ordering, I could peek right into the kitchen, and I could see the small tandoori ovens where skewers were sizzling. It looked positively delicious and I could not wait to sink my teeth in one of those! India oblige, we went to wait in the car while our order was getting ready, and two hot parcels were soon delivered to us. We decided to drive to the river bank and have our rolls in looking down at the water.

Second disappointment: My roll was absolutely stuffed with onions and green chillies. So I fist had to struggle to get them all out. But even then the onion smell and taste were to overwhelming for the poor kababs to stand their ground. The bread was so oily that the initial purpose of the kathi roll - not ditrying your hands - was completely missed. I felt sick immediately after eating the roll and had to ingest many mints to tone down the onion aftertaste. Yuck! While I was happy I ticked this off my list, I can safely say that a kathi roll in Mumbai is far better...