A glimpse of the interiors of Silver Oak and (below) the spread at the restaurant. Pictures by Rashbehari Das

Hazra Road, an important east-west artery in south Calcutta, is probably one of the most unchanged roads in this part of the town, even in this age of malls, high-rises and multiplexes. Except for a few new buildings — a nursing home, some small apartment blocks, a diagnostic centre and a couple of showrooms and service centres — this street still has its age-old, motley hugger-mugger of hole-in-the-wall watch shops, lathe workshops, motorworks, hardware stores, jewellers, saw mills, old residential houses with wooden shutters in the windows, shops selling motor parts, medicines and groceries and quite a number of really cheap eateries where you can still get a meal for less than Rs 20 and where I sometimes buy good rotis for one rupee each.

Quite in contrast to Lansdowne (Sarat Bose) Road, which crosses Hazra at right angles, and has changed beyond recognition. The only ‘posh’ part of Hazra Road — for want of a better word — is a small stretch from the Law College up to the Ballygunge Phari five-point crossing. Here the street is broader, the pavements are clear and, by and large, everything has a sense of space. On this stretch, there is a restaurant called Silver Oak, which is cooking up culinary schemes and dreams, which no one would ever associate with this part of town, leave alone the rest of the city. There is another Silver Oak, on Sarat Bose Road, under the same ownership, which people know better, but it has a much more conservative menu and approach.

The Silver Oak, Hazra Road — they are thinking of renaming it Silver Oak Exotica to differentiate between the two — has a menu and a selection which one rarely sees outside of five-star establishments. Octopus, squid, lobster — proper giant rock lobster — and other rare ingredients, including the mushroom varieties and vegetables — and also unusual preparations even in chicken and fish, are to be encountered here.

Of course, this is with regard to their Oriental menu. They have an extensive Indian selection as well, but the ‘exotica’ part of Silver Oak is in the Oriental selection, which is also extensive, almost to the point of being unwieldy. Maybe it is not necessary to have quite that many items.

However, on my second visit (the first was about two-and-a-half-years ago) I had no idea how things had changed, though I had made up my mind to order items that were unusual.

So first up I ordered, for starters, Diced Squid Hokkien Style in Xo Sauce and Crab Claws in Chilli Oyster Sauce. The first item is made by thoroughly washing the squid and dicing it and then simmering it in a healthy dollop of butter with chopped ginger and garlic. After this, the preparation is tossed in Xo sauce, which they make themselves by grinding into a paste a combination of ginger, garlic, cumin and coriander seeds, small cardamom, dried shrimps and celery. The paste is then cooked for a few minutes and is ready.

The crab claws are made by getting rid of the shell so that the flesh attached to the very tip of the claw is exposed. This is dipped in a cornflour batter and then deep-fried. The claws are then cooked in malak oil (an oil flavoured with Sichuan chillies) with chopped ginger, garlic and onion and also chilli paste, oyster sauce, a dash of ketchup, five spice powder and red wine.

For the main course it was, of course, Baby Octopus in Black Bean Sauce. Cleaning the octopus is some process, but once that is done, it is cut into pieces and sauteed with chopped black beans, ginger, garlic, green chillies, onions and celery. Chicken stock is added, along with black bean oil and rice wine and the dish is done. I found the octopus a little tough, but the black bean sauce was tasty, as was the squid and the crab.

The meal was completed with another main course item — Double Cooked Shredded Lamb with Scallions and for the staple, Singapore Rice Noodles.

For dessert, there was Fried Ice Cream (quite an item).

Overall, an enjoyable meal. They have a lunchtime buffet as well with Oriental and Indian items in a 3:2 ratio, which comes at Rs 250. There are almost no items on the menu which we see everywhere and are tired of seeing — thought and imagination are evident, except that as I said before, the menu may be a bit unwieldy. There is a wide choice of well-selected wines and spirits also, and if they have not overreached themselves and prevented just fizzling out, they can keep dreaming big. No law against that.

Which is your favourite seafood restaurant in the city? Tell t2@abpmail.com