(From top) Chef Joy Banerjee shows off the Anglo-Indian spread at Oh! Calcutta; the delicacies on offer; the Chicken Pantheras, one of the specialities. Pictures by Rashbehari Das

I think the most important fringe benefit of having played pop, rock and jazz for many years in Calcutta, on and around Park Street, has been the time I have had the good fortune to have shared with my Anglo-Indian friends and their families. And to a slightly lesser extent, for purely demographic reasons, my Goan friends and their families.

It started in my teens ? an impressionable age ? and it was in this milieu that I learnt the meaning of having a right royal good time to be enjoyed to the fullest as long as it lasted. The Rangers Club or the Grail Club or the Dalhousie Institute on so many Saturdays that I have lost count; even a dozen or so house parties every Saturday night, which were all commonly called ‘shows’.

This was also the milieu where I found role models who enjoyed life but also taught me professionalism, responsibility and commitment. That there is no business like show business and that the show must go on.

Dancing till dawn and then rickshaw races where young men in party gear would pull the rickshaws while the custodian of the vehicle became the petrified passenger; breakfasts in Chinatown or with tea, halwa and dal puries; home for a few hours sleep and then with a little bit of luck, back to Calcutta 16 or Park Circus for a family Sunday lunch.

Yellow Rice and Kofta Curry, Jhaalfrazee or Vindaloo or just simply Dal, Rice, a vegetable dish, a delicious Beef Curry, poppadum and pickle. Not many can make Masoor Dal the way the Anglo-Indians do. Thickish, very smooth (you will not detect a single grain) and topped off at the end with garlic, onion and dry red chillies fried in ghee, I think, but I never get it right!

I love Anglo-Indian cuisine because it is so robust, it embraces the “Anglo” and the “Indian” with equal enthusiasm and gusto. It has the best of both worlds, though I dare say that an uninitiated European palate might take a while to appreciate their interpretation of even the “Anglo” part of it, considering that they put some oomph into everything they do. I also love it because they eat everything (just like me) ? all meats, fish, seafood, vegetables, without restrictions. They borrow freely without inhibition and elements of many different cuisines will find their way onto the table.

One of my most precious possessions is a book on Anglo-Indian cuisine. I don’t know what it is called or who wrote it because pages are missing, but it was printed in Draper Lane at a time when weight was measured in tolahs, chhataks, pows, seers and maunds. And money was 3 pies made one pice; 4 pice (12 pies) made one anna and 16 annas made a rupee. This delightful book illustrates what I am trying to say about the eclecticism of this cuisine, even if one glances at the chapter headings: Fish (includes Salmon Pie, Steamed Hilsa, Tamarind Hilsa, Lobster and Egg), soups (includes Cow’s Trotter Soup, Sheep’s Head Broth, Oxtail Soup, Pepper Water and Moong Dhall without masalas for small children), Chicken, Meat, Egg, Duck and Turkey dishes (over 50 recipes), different kinds of curry and stew including Portuguese (Vindaloos, Temperado, Buffalo, Mulligatawny Curry, Jhal Phrajee, Sausage Curry, preparations with shrimp of Pooi Sag, Lall Sag, Choulai Sag and Palam Sag, Pulbul Dolma and Hussaini Curry). There are also chapters on Bengali Sweets, Sherbets and Fools, Chutneys and Kusoodies and Preparations for Invalids. One chapter is entitled Cakes, Portuguese Sweets, Hulwa, Custard Puddings, Marmalades, Toffees, Ice-creams, Bread and Biscuits. The last chapter is called Simply Hints, wherein the housewife is told to deal with all kinds of stains, how to tell if milk is pure and even how to clean a white felt hat!

Oh! Calcutta, the restaurant at the Forum, on Elgin Road, which celebrates the multifarious cuisine of the city (excluding Oriental) is having an Anglo-Indian food festival. It began on the 26th and is on till September 4. They have created a compact menu for this event ? five starters and 11 main course items ? but they are judiciously chosen and include some classics. For example, the starters feature Pantheras, both with chicken and with vegetables. Pancakes are wrapped around a stuffing, crumbed and deep fried to a nicety. The Minced Chicken is seasoned with mint, coriander, parsley and cloves and the Pantheras are served with a mango kasundi. The other items under starters, highly recommendable, are the Chargrilled Hilsa and Memsahib’s Baked Prawns. Both these items are adapted from a recipe book called Memsahib’s Book of Cookery, published in 1894. The hilsa is marinated in fresh dill, ginger, honey, tomato ketchup, red chilli paste, fennel powder, mustard, salt and lime juice and then cooked under a grill. It is succulent, and personally I preferred it to Smoked Hilsa. The prawns are marinated with lime juice, garlic, chillies, coriander and curry leaves and baked in a tandoor.

Among the main courses, the ones to recommend among the vegetarian items are Khansamer’s Cauliflower Bhurjee, which is a parboiled cauliflower florets simmered in a gravy of onions, ginger, coconut paste, mango kasundi paste and coconut milk. Egg and Prawn Curry is another excellent main course and Fish in Almond Cream is a representation of the Raj influence on this menu.

It was a great tasting session. The Pantheras made me nostalgic, and while we could not cover all items such as Dak Bungalow Chicken and Prawn Temperado, the adda made up for that. I chatted with the chef about how we tend to overlook the influence of the Anglo-Indians in south India on the cuisine (Hot Coconut Fish Curry is on the menu), and we discussed time-tested items like the Madras Club Korma and the Bangalore Club Souffl?. The chef Joy Banerjee turned out to be a music buff in general and a Dead Head in particular, with over 25 albums of the Grateful Dead in his collection. Oh! Calcutta!