Arsalan, Park Circus, Kolkata

I went to Kolkata not for work, just to eat. The biryani I was about to try became my first meal of the trip and also my last. The sweet shop next to it became somewhere I went almost every day.

The Judgement I Carried

I used to judge Kolkata biryani because of the aloo. Who puts a potato in biryani? It's just an aloo. What kind of flavour could it possibly have? I thought adding one was an insult to the dish, the way elaichi in biryani feels out of place to some people.

I had tried biryani from Lucknow, Hyderabad, and Delhi. This is the story of how Kolkata biryani became my favourite, and how it was the aloo that did it.

My friend (not from Kolkata) once attended a wedding there. He told me there were serious discussions at the table because there was no aloo in the biryani. People were shocked. Offended. It's a memory he and his mother still laugh about. I understood that reaction eventually.

Arriving at Arsalan

On the day I landed in Kolkata, I thought: Arsalan, Park Circus, is just a kilometre away. Why not try it now?

So I walked over. There was a counter with a man who directed me upstairs.

I know what upstairs usually means in India: an air-conditioned dining hall, a slightly more expensive menu, staff who expect a tip. The real experience is almost always downstairs, where the locals eat. But I gave in and went up.

The doorman was a little person. Arsalan is well known in Kolkata for employing many little people. I went inside and the waiter asked if I was eka, the Bengali way of saying one person dining alone. I said yes and found a seat by the window.

The Biryani

A plate of Arsalan's Kolkata biryani with a Thums Up bottle on the marble table, Park Circus

The first thing I noticed was an elderly couple at the next table. They had ordered two portions of mutton biryani, and one extra aloo. I didn't yet understand why.

I hadn't realised until then that each portion comes with one aloo, one egg, and one piece of meat. I had seen egg in biryani before, in Hyderabad and Bangalore, and I love that combination. But aloo and egg together was new to me.

I was deciding between mutton and chicken. My first biryani in Hyderabad had been chicken, at Meridian, and it was great. So I ordered chicken biryani.

When it arrived, I could see the chicken, but not the egg or the aloo. I started eating. The chicken was good. Working through the rice, I found the egg: it tasted like egg absorbed into spiced rice and chicken, which was pretty good.

And then I found the aloo.

A hand eating Arsalan's biryani, the aloo and egg both visible in the fragrant rice

I pushed it with my fingers, and it broke apart.

I tasted it on its own, without the rice. It was utterly brilliant. I never would have thought that a normal-looking potato could carry so much flavour inside it. The whole biryani had cooked into it.

I pushed at the aloo again, took a piece alongside some chicken, and it was absolutely gorgeous. I understood why the old couple had ordered an extra one. They each wanted their own aloo.

For the rest of that meal, for the first time in my life, I did not touch the meat. I focused entirely on the aloo and the rice.

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Two things that elevate the Arsalan experience: eat with your hands (it changes the whole thing, even if it seems messy at first), and order a Thums Up alongside. Thums Up is an Indian cola, slightly stronger and sharper than Coke. Biryani and Thums Up is a specific and real combination.

I came back to Arsalan on my last day in Kolkata. Some places earn a second visit without you planning for it.

Part of the Kolkata food guide.