Morning shows the day

It is 7 in the morning, but the air is thick with the aroma of slow-cooked mutton and crispy rotis. Dastgir Khan walks into Shiraz Golden Restaurant, the iconic Kolkata eatery, all ready for a hearty breakfast. He joins a group of fellow Afghans at a table and asks for his morning staple — a tall tumbler of milky tea with freshly baked rotis from the crackling tandoor inside.

The restaurant, a name synonymous with Kolkata biryanis, already wears the look of a day well spent. Waiters have the occasional gravy stains on their uniforms. Conversations are muted, save the occasional sounds of food being relished and calls for “chai”.

The outlet in Mullickbazar opens at 5am. People troop in at the crack of dawn for dal gosht (meat with lentils), keema (minced meat), kaleji (liver) and meat soup and stew. From November to January, when winter shrouds the city, the menu beckons the more adventurous with items such as magaz (brain), paya (trotters), zubaan (tongue) and kalla (head). Portions are generous and the pricing reasonable — meat dishes are for ₹120-130, rotis for ₹18 each and tea for ₹15.

Other than the Kabuliwalas — which is how the city refers to its Afghan traders — this humble eatery caters to taxi drivers and families of patients admitted to hospitals in the neighbourhood. The Shiraz paya and roti also figure on every foodie’s list of top dishes to be had on a winter’s morning in Kolkata.

There is something special about Kolkata’s mornings. The city bustles into life at the break of dawn. The first light makes for magical photographs. Every frame comes alive with old-fashioned brooms raising a cloud of dust as the streets are swept and as wispy smoke from stoves along the pavements swirls up in the air. Tea is brewed in street corners, and kachori fried in huge kadais. The sounds and smell of food never fail to rouse the old city from its slumber.

Kolkata is also dotted with big and small eateries that serve breakfast to those who get up early — or sleep very late. These eateries are a great social leveller, too, for they cater to everybody from cabbies, cops and late-night revellers to morning walkers, visiting NRIs and the devout. There is something for everybody, and to suit every pocket. From vintage sweetshops such as Putiram in north Kolkata to the bustling Mughlai restaurants, most eateries have breakfast on their menus. You can stop for morning dim sums at Tiretta Bazaar or soak in nostalgia at the Flurys tea room in Park Street. Instagram-friendly cafés have sprung up in the fashionable quarters, and there is always the roadside hawker.

Shiraz Golden Restaurant, the iconic Kolkata eatery, serves a special winter breakfast from 5am

The faithfuls throng Maharani, a hole-in-the-wall eatery in Deshapriya Park in South Calcutta. At 6am, its XXL kadai starts bubbling with hot oil as batches of the asafoetida-laced hing kachori, samosa, jalebi, malpua and gulab jamun are ladled up. Business is brisk and the service crisp — quite like the kachori. The distinctive aroma of asafoetida apart, Maharani’s kachori commands a fierce following for its aloor torkari — a rich red potato curry served with a spicy green chilli pickle.

If the Queen of Kachoris wakes up with the sun, the kitchen fires at Balwant Singh’s Eating House in Bhowanipore never really go out. People hang around till 2am, finishing dinner, and then they are there at 3am — lining up for the breakfast fare of paratha, chai and kachori. And there are quite a few takers for its very curious doodh -cola concoction — milk and cola served in earthenware tumblers. In winter, it also serves sarson (mustard) saag and makai (maize) rotis.

The fare at Gupta Brothers in Salt Lake, Sector 1, is different. Techies in the various IT offices in the area have their fill of malai (cream) toast, idli, dosa, fafda , kachori, jalebis, chai and more.

Old-timers shake their heads over the falling standards of the Chinese morning fare at Tiretta Bazaar in central Kolkata, but it still figures on the foodie’s breakfast trail. You can gorge on steamed dumplings, fish sui mais, fishball soup, breaded pork chops, coconut balls, rice and sesame seed sweet balls, chicken pies and other breakfast staples found in Chinese homes. Big on flavours, they are also easy on the wallet, with prices starting at ₹20.

The ubiquitous tea-stalls are where people gather to catch up on the day’s headlines and local gossip — over tiny cups of ‘ada-cha’ (ginger tea) or ‘lebu cha’ (lemon tea) paired with locally made savoury biscuits. But if you’d rather have moist muffins, buttery croissants and freshly brewed coffee or Darjeeling tea, you’d want to head to the pretty cafés and cosy tearooms that now dot the city. Among them are the very trendy 8th Day Cafe and Bakery, The Wise Owl, the quieter First Flush, the poetic Terminal 11 and the picturesque Mrs Magpie.

Meanwhile, back at Shiraz, the reassuring crunch of a tandoori roti, the kick of garam masala and the warm sip of milky chai at a familiar table are an effective ice breaker. By the time they leave, the Afghan men seem ready to smile at us, even if they politely refuse to indulge in conversation. After a serving of the perfectly spiced stew, we decided we could live with that half smile.

Chandrima Pal is a freelance writer based in Kolkata