Overview
- Signature Dishes: Chicken bharta, tandoori roti
- Opening Times & Days: 11:30 am to 1:30 am, daily
- Address: Ballygunge Circular Road, Ballygunge, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
- Contact: 033 24866475
- Reservation: No
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Summary
For several years now, Azad Hind Dhaba has continued to provide delicious Punjabi food to the people of Kolkata at its Ballygunge and Salt Lake premises. This chain of restaurants and dhabas (roadside eateries) provides fresh ingredients and mouth-watering dishes that aim to get patrons coming back for more. Due to this, Azad Hind Dhaba remains one of the best and most loved eateries in Kolkata.
Azad Hind Dhaba Kolkata
For several years now, Azad Hind Dhaba has continued to provide delicious Punjabi food to the people of Kolkata at its multiple premises around the city. This chain of restaurants and dhabas (roadside eateries) provides fresh ingredients and mouth-watering dishes that aim to get patrons coming back for more. Due to this, Azad Hind Dhaba remains one of the best and most loved family eateries in Kolkata.
Apart from its fabulous Punjabi dishes, this place stays open till early hours of the morning making it a hot spot for youngsters returning from the nightlife in the city. Come here on Friday and Saturday evenings and you’ll find the place crawling with diners both inside the restaurant as well as eating around their cars parked outside the dhaba.
Growing up in Kolkata, I have always frequented the Ballygunge branch of Azad Hind Dhaba with both family and friends on numerous occasions. Now living overseas, I made a special visit to Azad Hind Dhaba while in Kolkata with my Australian husband, Graham to give him a taste of the fabulous Punjabi food that is prepared here.
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While the food is legendary and the prices unbeatable, don’t expect any sophistication in ambiance here. Formica tables and chairs cram the inside of this dhaba, while the walls are adorned with Indian paintings of gods and goddesses. The waiting staff at the dhaba told us to take a photo of the above painting; apparently it’s by a popular Indian artist, M. F. Hussain.
While the quality of the food is to be expected, what surprised us while dining here is the quality of the service. The waiting staff are not only attentive and friendly, they ensure that your food is of the highest quality. Our waiter brought out one tandoori roti at a time so that we could eat it fresh and hot straight from the fire.
For dinner, we ordered two of my favourite dishes – Chicken Bharta & Baigan Bharta with Tandoori rotis.
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Graham loves lassis so we ordered a Plain lassi to go with dinner. I love it when lassi is served in a ‘bhar’ (clay cup) as it gives the lassi an extra dimension. Clay has an alkaline property that gives the lassi an added sweet flavour making it more tasty and enjoyable than just drinking it out of a glass.
The quality of the dahi (yogurt) used in making the lassi was first class – it was thick and the malai (cream) on top was like icing on a cake.
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Chicken Bharta is a Punjabi dish made from spicy mashed chicken in a creamy sauce. This is one of the most popular dishes at Azad Hind Dhaba and probably any dhaba in Kolkata. The creamy texture of the mashed chicken is unique to this dish and the spices and creamy sauce give this dish so much flavour. This dish is always beautifully cooked at Azad Hind and we really loved it.
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Baigan Bharta, another Punjabi specialty, is made from roasted and mashed baigan (aubergine or eggplant). Cooked in a variety of spices, the smoked flavour of the baigan gives this dish a unique flavour while the smooth texture of the baigan is wonderful. We loved this dish so much we could have kept eating it long into the night.
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Tandoori Rotis are a great accompaniment to the Punjabi dishes served at Azad Hind Dhaba. As I mentioned before, they were served one at a time so we got to eat them hot and fresh from the fire. Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, they went really well with both the dishes we had that evening.
I’m glad to say that Azad Hind Dhaba has upheld its reputation as one of the best dhabas in Kolkata serving good quality food at excellent prices. While the ambiance at the restaurant leaves little to be desired, the high standard of their service is impeccable.
