There is something about Kolkata, you must admit. I like it for a host of reasons, despite the slow-moving traffic, signals that appear to be in deep slumber and horns that seem to be on steroids. I have some good friends there and enjoy eating out in the city, though I often feel that Kolkata — once the hub for Chinese and Continental food — now lags far behind Delhi when it comes to restaurants.
One of the first chef friends I made there was Pradip Rozario, who runs a restaurant called K K’s Fusion in the city. He floored me with his food, and I remember in particular a special fondue meal that he had prepared for us, where we dipped all kinds of Indian kababs into the creamy and thick fondue.
So, when he told me that his daughter had opened a restaurant in Kolkata, I was very happy. Christia Rozario runs the new restaurant called Rozario’s at Sarat Bose Road (Phone No: 033-24661979), and during a visit to the city last week, I promptly stopped there for a meal.
It’s a small restaurant, with a counter in front with little samples of all that they serve. Christia is a young and enthusiastic food lover who studied hotel management in Kolkata, and then studied further in Florida. Now she’s back, and has started her own venture.
Pork sausage satay offered at Rozario’s
This was where her father opened his first restaurant, called Kurry Klub. Rozario’s serves all kinds of satays, and a few special dishes on popular demand, such as carbonara pasta, cooked in a cheesy sauce with bacon.
I enjoyed the satays immensely, especially the Balinese chicken satay (₹289) and the pork sausage satay (₹289). The chicken dish had the aromatic flavours of herbs and other ingredients used in Southeast Asia — such as basil, lemon grass, galangal, coriander leaves and red chillies. It also had a hint of rosemary in it. These had been dry roasted and then powdered and mixed with minced chicken. The satay came on a lemon grass stick, which gave it a nice punch. And since Chef Rozario (Sr) knows about my love for pork, she had put a bacon strip around one of the satays. The dish came with various kinds of dips — chilli mayo, coriander mayo dip and sour cream dip.
Home-like flavour
What I enjoyed about the pork sausage satay was the Indian, almost home-like flavour it had. That’s because, I later discovered, the sausage meat had been mixed with chopped onion, coriander leaves, green chillies, chilli powder, cumin powder and garam masala powder. Some pork fat had given it the smoothness it needed, and a dash of mustard oil in it gave the dish a heady aroma.
There was an interesting deep-fried fruit satay (₹210) with ganache — a whipped cream and chocolate mix. The fruits — apple, pineapple, banana and litchi — had been dipped in a pancake batter and then fried. The one dish that disappointed me a bit was the carbonara, which I found a little dry. But that could also be because I make a mean carbonara myself, and have got used to a particular consistency and taste.
The satays are the restaurant’s signature dishes, along with its vegetable casserole and escalope of chicken wrapped in bacon. There is also fried fish for ₹359 and fried potatoes with cheese for ₹249 on the menu.
But clearly satays rule at Rozario’s. They serve Mexican potato satay (₹229), chilli paneer satay (₹229) and the one that I am going to try when I am in the city next — gondhoraj infused spicy prawn satay (₹309). Gondhoraj is a heavenly lemon with a fragrance that can turn anything around — from dals and light fish curry to sweets and nimbu pani.
And, of course, there is the old favourite, fondue, which is served at Rozario’s with satay. I didn’t try it out, but Christia tells me that it is one of the popular dishes at the restaurant.
I am not surprised. After all, like father, like daughter.
