Every afternoon from around 3pm, a small and unassuming shop on Surya Sen Street near College Square satisfies the cravings of many a Kolkatan. Kalika or Kalika’r chop er dokan is much-loved for its hot and crispy telebhaja.
Situated in the same location where it started 58 years ago, Kalika has become a landmark for the city’s gastronomic ethos. Ask anybody in and around Boi Para, in Shyambazar or College Square, Hedua or anywhere else in the city about a famous telebhaja shop and they will probably lead you to Kalika at 29, Surya Sen Street.
The shop began its operations on the day of Kali Puja in 1965, and that’s where it gets its name. There were no grand designs that merited the setting up of this eatery in a rather constricted space in the front of a house. Back in those days, chop or telebhaja for Bengalis meant beguni, alur chop, peyaji, phuluri, mochar chop, dhoka and the like, and that is what Kalika specialised in. It was started by present owner Bablu Dutta’s father, Sukumar Dutta, however the credit for putting this shop on the food map of Kolkata foodies must be given to his two sons, the Dutta brothers Nitai and Gour. Their presence was significant between the years of 1965 and 2000, and thereafter the mantle passed on to Bablu Dutta.
Hot and crispy ‘telebhaja’ being readied for customers
Humble beginnings
Kalika wasn’t established with grandiose plans but more as a means of income as Sukumar Dutta had found himself in a financial crunch with hardly anything to fall back on. The zeal for success thus arose out of desperation and the little space where Kalika still stands is all that Sukumar Dutta could afford to start a business with his very limited funds. Luck favoured his enterprise and Kalika began to be appreciated for the quality and the taste of its food. With time, every individual who came to know of the shop became its patron and admirer. The clientele had big and small names who frequented the locality, including professors, writers, students, intellectuals, bureaucrats, politicians, doctors, administrators and local residents. Evenings in the para became synonymous with the mouth watering delicacies of the small and austere establishment. About 58 years later, the excitement for Kalika chop has hardly had a cause to subside and appears to only grow every passing day.
Bablu Dutta, the man presently at the helm of Kalika
The same taste, in a new menu
By the time the mantle had been passed to Bablu Dutta, it had become imperative that some changes be incorporated to keep up with evolving trends in tastes. So, Kalika stepped out of its little verandah- like space, and began to put up stalls in fairs all over the city. With that move, the popularity of the shop reached an all-time high. Things began to ebb after a while when the main cooks were older and had to retire. The immediate problem faced then was that the right cooks could not be found, and so the Duttas felt the need for bigger changes. So from a primarily vegetarian menu, they began to make a range of non-vegetarian fried snacks. The revamped menu now had fish fry, chicken cutlet, mutton cutlet, fish finger, chicken finger, bekti fry, duck egg devil, prawn chop, fish chop and other items along with the already popular vegetable chop and mochar chop. The new menu caught the attention of the present generation then and the same menu continues today.
Perhaps a regret that the owners and many old-timer patrons have is that the one item that earned Kalika its name and reputation — the palm-sized beguni — is not made anymore. The reason is twofold — the non-availability of cooks of the calibre that there used to be at Kalika, and escalating costs. The much loved alur chop met the same fate and the same set of karigars (cooks) made both items. The absence of both bestsellers of yesteryear is understandably a reason for regret among many, but that doesn’t stop Kalika’s popularity.
Delectables inside the glass counter ready to satiate evening cravings
Fans around the world
There are many who have moved to far corners of the globe but still yearn for that all-satisfying evening snack from Kalika and ask about or visit the shop whenever they can. Among the shop’s well-known patrons were Indian football legend P.K. Banerjee, who played for the Eastern Railway, worked for the railways and lived in the nearby Sealdah railway quarters. Other famous regulars were footballers Subrata Bhattacharya, Bhaskar Ganguly, Mihir Bose as well as Meera Bhattacharjee, wife of former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
Bablu Dutta has countless tales that he can recount, such as when yesteryear theatre personalities like Satya Bandyopadhyay and Ratna Ghoshal would come for shows at the University Institute Hall and take a break at Kalika to feast on some of the fried goodies before the show.
Many people, from all around the world, now use the Internet to look up Kalika, ‘ their favourite chop er dokan’, and even call to enquire about the shop’s well-being as well as its recent menu. It’s obvious that for many, Kalika’s chops are not just food but have metamorphosed into something nostalgic that is soul satisfying.
Dutta spoke of how proud he felt each time some renowned individual recognised him as being a part of Kalika and asked about the shop and its famous beguni. He regrets having to tell his old patrons that the beguni and alur chop are not available anymore, noting how crestfallen so many appear to be on knowing that something of their past days of happiness is not there anymore.
The secret to success
Apart from a fresh coat of paint, the quaint little shop has held on to its heritage
Thanks to a new generation of patrons, Kalika’s bestselling items are now fish fry or fish chop. Interestingly, the fish fry that sells for Rs 80 now used to be sold for about Rs 20 in 2004. In all these years, what has remained constant is that all the products are prepared in a room across the road in a building named Ideal Home and only the frying is done at the shop before the hot telebhaja are sold to customers. Procuring the ingredients continues to be a family affair and the cleaning, cutting and preparations are all carried out under the direct supervision and control of Bablu Dutta and his trusted few. Till date, only the best produce and ingredients are selected and no compromises are allowed — factors which justify the constant presence of patrons right from the start of each day's operations. Attuned to the timing of the nearby universities, Kalika opens at 3pm every afternoon and stays open till about 8pm or as long as the stocks last, which show signs of depleting from 7.30pm onwards.
Speaking about the popularity of Kalika, Bablu Dutta said, “The biggest USP of the establishment is that we never reuse oil that has already been used before for frying. The day’s cooking always begins with fresh oil and that single factor ensures that problems of acidity, and other such ailments, never occur on account of our products. Once a group of scribes from a reputable news house conducted a secret test on the products for over a month by personally tasting our telebhaja and only thereafter had unhesitatingly accepted that Kalika chops were indeed a class apart.”
‘The day’s cooking always begins with fresh oil and that single factor ensures that problems of acidity, and other such ailments, never occur on account of our products,’ says Bablu Dutta
Looking to the future
Reflecting on modern trends as well as the future of Kalika, Bablu Dutta stated, “When my tryst with Kalika chops began, I had no one to stand with me in support and I accept that I hardly knew how to expand the business. Forbidding real estate prices elsewhere in Kolkata, difficulties in sourcing the right sort of cooks and labour, as well as a general decline in the skills of cooks have all contributed to keeping the establishment small and simple.” Changing financial equations arising out of present political practices, along with the easy availability of employment near home as well as migration of workers to other states have all contributed to a scenario where expansion appears to be a daunting — even impossible — task for Dutta. “As the needs of the family are being satisfactorily met, I see no reason to expand and perhaps, add to my woes. I am now involving my nephew Saroj Dutta with the affairs of the business and I remain hopeful that he will be able to carry the business forward. I must confess that the lack of interest shown by the current generation saddens me but I begin each day with a prayer that Kalika sustains itself for always.”
Saroj, Bablu Dutta’s nephew, and the next generation of Kalika, when asked about his role in the business, said, “I am quite happy to have become a part of the business that my father and his brothers have set up so meticulously. The present customers have a palate that is more attuned to their times though there are still some old patrons who come looking for items that we have been forced to discontinue. That is something that I personally regret.” He added that he was initially apprehensive whether the new generation with its knowledge of healthy foods would continue to appreciate what Kalika offers, but it has not hampered sales. “We continue to maintain the figures that we have been generating for a while now. As for recent adaptations, we have started a delivery system through popular online service providers.”
Patron-speak
Pooja Sinha, a regular customer at Kalika
Having been born and raised in the area, Pooja Sinha has been a regular customer at Kalika for as long as she can remember. “The two plus points that I must speak about is their attention to quality and also the freshness of their products. In all my years of association, I have never seen the previous day’s food being refried and sold to customers, as is done in many other such establishments. Perhaps that is why people from far-off places take the trouble of coming here for the many delicacies. In time this establishment has become a landmark of the area and after 50-odd years of their being here, it is a matter of pride for all of us. Evenings somehow feel incomplete without a bite of the age-old favourites,” she said.