The Kitchen of Joy is a charming snacks-cum-tea bar located in Indiranagar. Entering the café is like entering mini Kolkata. The café seems like an ode to the City of Joy. The first thing that strikes you are the interiors, made colourful with splashes of red and black. Before you can settle to eat, you would find yourself exploring the café, which is much like an art gallery due its interesting decor.
The Kitchen of Joy café was set up two months ago by the husband-wife duo R. Suresh and Sonali Sengupta.
Besides the menu displayed on one side of the cafe, there are snapshots capturing the essence of Kolkata—pictures of trams, unique to the city; photos of prominent Bengali personalities like Satyajit Ray; well-known Bengali comic strips of hada bhoda ; quotes of colloquial Bengali and popular Bengali songs, such as “Awesome Saala!”, “Amake amar moto thakte dao” (leave me to myself) and interesting debates that characterise Bengali adda (discussion)—Didi vs Dada, Ilish maach (fish) vs chingri maach, etc. with soothing Bengali music adding to the atmosphere.
Relaxed and refreshed, I order for a cup of tea. The tea is served in custom printed and painted mugs. The steaming hot tea has sugar and milk served in equal proportions. As I sip on the tea, time stands still. Nothing matters except the moment. Memories of home flood in, making me both nostalgic and happy. Couples, friends, singletons troop in, glad they could find some private time, chatting over cups of tea and coffee.
I order for singara (samosa) next. The singara is hot and filling. I see on the menu vegetarian and non-vegetarian rolls. Ask any Kolkatan, they’ll tell you rolls are among Bengalis favourite snacks.
Being a lover of rolls too, I choose chicken roll. The roll is typical to Kolkata. Wrapped in a parantha, the stuffing of chicken, onion slices with a hint of lemon juice, is not too spicy, yet is delicious. Mishti doi and rosogolla are on offer too. I order rosogolla, which melts in your mouth and is incredibly tasty.
There are a number of other snacks to choose from. Dimer Devil (egg devil) a stuffing of chicken or vegetables with boiled eggs, Nimki (a fried snack), chicken cutlet, maggi noodles etc.
The Kitchen of Joy is located at HAL 2ND stage Indiranagar, near ESI hospital. Call: 9900962765. The Kitchen of Joy café also offers merchandise, including coffee mugs, hand-made cards, Assam tea leaves, among others.
