posto-baata tales
On Mass. Av, between Harvard and MIT lies this ordinary looking restaurant "Royal Bengal". Run by a typical Bong looking aunty in a typical "I've never worn it before I came here but it seems so practical that I'll try fit into it" looking Salwar Kameez (Most Bong ma- variety look slightly out of place in Salwar Kameezs. Used to saris since very young, they all suddenly discover salwar kameez at a late age, feel too comfy to give it up, treat it the way we treat torn jeans, hurriedly changing out of it whenever someone comes visiting) .
I had heard a lot about this place from P and had given it a shot last time I came to MIT. Unfortunately, I was too greedy for my own good and ordered a shorshe ilish (hilsa fish in a mustard curry) for lunch. As my smarty boy friend says "The real cooks come only at night" and I got this half cooked bitter fish - very tempting looking but quite sad. Left in a huff, grumbling "Ma makes it 1000 times better". But yesterday was a better experience.
After preventing each other from going out for dinners (we are both temporarily unemployed) for more than 10 days, we found an excuse to go out yesterday. I was practically salivating by the time I reached the place and on N's suggestions ordered the Kausha mangsho (spicy curried goat), posto baata (unarguably my veggie favorite - potatoes and poppy seeds), bhindi (sacrilegous to order those but then had a sworn veggie punjabi with us!) and rice. N has been with a bengali for the past 12 years and has been forced into appreciating posto baatas and such! Apparently her partner comes all the way from NYC and rushes into Royal Bengal, and orders everything possible. We suspect one reason why he is planning on doing a PhD from MIT and not Columbia is proximity to RB!
Anyhow, it was quite an expereince to have papad and tomato chutney with Chardonnay. The manksho was SO hot that I had to have one (burnt and super thick) chapati with just chunks of sugar, the posto baata had green pepper in it so I was annoyed and the bhindis were bhindis. Overall, however, I cannot complain. The food was good considering I was getting it sitting zillion miles away from Ma's kitchen!
BTW, that made me realize, have you ever met a person who DOESN"T say Ma cooks best? I wd love to meet someone who says "Oh my Ma can't cook for nuts!".. Wouldn't that sound WRONG?? Ah well, maybe my kids will be the first :)
I had heard a lot about this place from P and had given it a shot last time I came to MIT. Unfortunately, I was too greedy for my own good and ordered a shorshe ilish (hilsa fish in a mustard curry) for lunch. As my smarty boy friend says "The real cooks come only at night" and I got this half cooked bitter fish - very tempting looking but quite sad. Left in a huff, grumbling "Ma makes it 1000 times better". But yesterday was a better experience.
After preventing each other from going out for dinners (we are both temporarily unemployed) for more than 10 days, we found an excuse to go out yesterday. I was practically salivating by the time I reached the place and on N's suggestions ordered the Kausha mangsho (spicy curried goat), posto baata (unarguably my veggie favorite - potatoes and poppy seeds), bhindi (sacrilegous to order those but then had a sworn veggie punjabi with us!) and rice. N has been with a bengali for the past 12 years and has been forced into appreciating posto baatas and such! Apparently her partner comes all the way from NYC and rushes into Royal Bengal, and orders everything possible. We suspect one reason why he is planning on doing a PhD from MIT and not Columbia is proximity to RB!
Anyhow, it was quite an expereince to have papad and tomato chutney with Chardonnay. The manksho was SO hot that I had to have one (burnt and super thick) chapati with just chunks of sugar, the posto baata had green pepper in it so I was annoyed and the bhindis were bhindis. Overall, however, I cannot complain. The food was good considering I was getting it sitting zillion miles away from Ma's kitchen!
BTW, that made me realize, have you ever met a person who DOESN"T say Ma cooks best? I wd love to meet someone who says "Oh my Ma can't cook for nuts!".. Wouldn't that sound WRONG?? Ah well, maybe my kids will be the first :)
posted by Amrita Pande at 4:55 AM
1 Comments:
thanks for the tip -- i'll try it out the next time i'm in town. (right now i'm still digesting the 1.75 kilo padma'r ilish i had in cal yesterday :-). meanwhile, see if you can check out shawarma king on beacon street west of coolidge corner.
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