Park Street is all set to have the first culinary heritage trail with Trinca’s, Kwality and Mocambo unveiling the Intach Heritage Culinary Award plaque at their entrances on Sunday.
Instituted in 2019, the award has been given to 15 eateries in the first edition, including Trinca’s, Kwality and Mocambo on Park Street, along with Shiraz, Dilkhusha Cabin, Girish Ch Dey and Nakur Ch Nandi, Bhim Chandra Nag, Nobin Chandra Das, Paramount Sherbets and Syrups, Sabir’s Hotel, Niranjan Agar, Indian Coffee House, Eau Chew and KC Das.
Kwality on Park Street
The award constitutes a certificate and a stainless steel plaque that will be displayed outside the entrance of the eatery.
The next culinary heritage trail will be at Esplanade and its surrounding area when plaques at KC Das and Eu Chew will be unveiled. The pandemic delayed the affixation and unveiling of the first cohort of plaques.
“The objective of creating a food heritage trail is to create awareness and facilitate experiencing this ‘living heritage’ both residents of and visitors to the city. Park Street is a prominent place, which was the original food street and food paradise,” said GM Kapur, convener, Intach Calcutta.
Mocambo on Park Street
Asked what the criteria for selecting the awardees was, Ayan Ghosh, part of the three-member panel that shortlisted the candidates, said: “They had to be purveyors of ready-to-eat food, they had to be located within the CMC limits, they had to be in business from 1960 or earlier and must be operational or currently alive in public memory, has a historical or cultural significance, was an inventor or discoverer.”
Kapur added that the establishments had to be at the same place as when they started with a continuation of ownership. “Waldorf, one of the oldest Chinese restaurants, for example, didn’t make it because it shifted to Russel Street and the ownership also changed,” he said.
Royal India Hotel, Aminia, Nizam, Chung Wah, Chhota Bristol among others are being considered for the next lot of eateries to be awarded.
The Intach panel reviewed over 100 outlets and found 24 that met the criteria. “These eateries could readily produce documents like lease agreement to authenticate the date of their origin. Of the 24, the 14 awarded agreed to accept the award and affix the plaque,” said Ghosh.