(Above) Ingredients for the seafood paella at the West View Bar & Grill come in straight from Spain; (Top) The cone-shaped temaki garnished with fish roe at Zen, The Park, is as much a visual delight as culinary

You remember when you were on that exotic Moroccan vacation and placed an order in that fancy restaurant with an ‘Erm… I’d like number 6 on the menu, please’? And then prayed to the god of good times that the impossible-to-pronounce ‘authentic’ dish you ordered would at least be edible? Of course it makes you laugh now — because these days you can say b’stilla au lait faster than this creamy Moroccan dessert melts in your mouth.

No longer does eating out at a Chinese restaurant mean ‘fried-rice-chilli chicken’ and Continental (sic) ‘pasta-in-white-sauce’.

The well-heeled Calcuttan can now critique his pâté with as much ease as his posto. Pick up the menu at some of the city’s most popular restaurants and you’ll find traditional dishes from different parts of the world featured. And no ‘watering down to suit the Bengali palate’ here, mind you.

Even supermarkets now have gourmet sections stocked with the choicest cold cuts from countries like Germany, France and Italy.

So, if you’re in the mood for a hearty English meal, try the beef Wellington at The Hyatt Regency. Has that re-run of your favourite Almodovar movie got you craving for paella? Head for ITC The Sonar. Wondering if you can still kung-fu with your chopsticks? Hop over to Zen at The Park Hotel for the chicken katsu maki or the temaki — the newest additions to the sushi menu. Or just out of sheer gluttony, pig out on crêpe suzette at the Afraa Creperie.

The Moroccan b’stilla au lait is part of the Eastern Mediterranean spread at Souk, Taj Bengal

Hungry for more? Well then let’s cook up an elaborate mélange meal where every dish on your table — from the entrée to the dessert — is a specialty of a particular region in the world.

In the beginning…

…there was soup.

The Hyatt Regency serves a deliciously steamy soto ayam. A Malaysian dish, this is a chicken soup with nasi empit (compressed rice cut into small cakes) or noodles. Turmeric is a major ingredient, along with quail’s eggs, celery leaves and shallots. Occasionally, people add koya, a powder of mixed fried garlic with prawn crackers.

If you’d rather go for a salad though, here’s a quirky one, again from the land of the ‘king of fruits’, durian — Rojak buah, a spicy fruit salad tossed in fish sauce.

(Above) The soto ayam served at The Hyatt Regency is a unique Malaysian soup with chicken and quail’s eggs; (Top) The beef Wellington at Waterside Café, The Hyatt Regency, is especially in demand during Christmas

The soups and salads at The Hyatt Regency are priced between Rs 385 and Rs 475 (plus taxes) respectively.

And now, sink your teeth into some succulence. For the starters, try sheesh taouk, a Middle Eastern specialty served at Souk, the chic Eastern Mediterranean restaurant at the Taj Bengal. The delicacy is made of char-grilled cubes of chicken marinated with garlic cream and cooked on skewers. Served traditionally on pita bread coated with cumin flavoured tomato paste and marinated bell peppers.

Or perhaps you’d like some kolokithi — crispy zucchini, yellow squash and eggplant chips served with garlic yoghurt and some fine parsley drizzle — exquisitely Greek.

According to Chef Sujan Mukherjee of Taj Bengal, the ingredients at Souk are “procured from various Middle Eastern regions through suppliers in Mumbai, Delhi and Dubai”. From burghul (cracked wheat) and sumac (wild berry powder) to samneh (Arabic equivalent of ghee) and Turkish chickpeas (for hummus), it’s the real deal all the way.

“Most of our guests have travelled throughout these regions. They have tasted similar cuisine in the world’s best restaurants. And we extend that experience for them here,” he adds. The mezze buffet at Taj Bengal is priced at Rs 650 plus taxes (Monday to Saturday), and the Sunday brunch spread at Rs 1,000 (all inclusive).

The MAIN agenda

Sips and nibbles done, let’s get down to the big bite. For the main course, you could sample some of the latest additions to the sushi menu at Zen, the Oriental restaurant at The Park.

French Loaf stocks various kinds of German rye bread; (Above) The Afraa Deli imports cold cuts like Black Forest ham and Parma ham

Tuck into the temaki — nori sheet with rice, cucumber, avocado, prawn, pickled ginger or crabstick hand rolled into a cone and garnished with salmon or prawn roe. Or go with the chicken katsu maki, made of nori sheets, rice and crumb fried strips of chicken. The pocket pinch: Rs 450 (for four to six pieces).

That Calcuttans have been jet-setting more in recent times than ever before is old hat. But now the mountain too has begun to come to Mohammed. Super markets across the city have begun to stock the choicest of imported gourmet food and ingredients. So sayonara, substitutes. People not only know what they are eating and what goes into it, they actually see all these ingredients stocked up in a rack next to their organic honey and whole wheat breads.

Spencer’s Hypermart in South City Mall not only stocks imported sushi rice, shitake mushrooms and nori sheets, you can also splurge (Rs 15,000 for 100gm to be precise) on Beluga caviar.

Says Chef Sharad Dewan, of The Park, Calcutta: “Serving sushi in a Calcutta restaurant would’ve been unthinkable even four to five years ago. But now, you can even make sushi at home, thanks to these well-stocked stores.” So the gourmet no longer has to make do with ‘palatable versions’ of traditional global delicacies. He knows, demands, and gets his favourite dish the way he likes it best — ‘authentic’.

Zen too imports most of its ingredients like tuna from Indonesia and rice, vinegar, nori, etc from Japan.

However, if sushi doesn’t do it for you, hotfoot it to The Hyatt Regency for some good ol’ beef Wellington. This English dish is a preparation of beef tenderloin coated with pâté (often pâté de foie gras) and duxelles (finely chopped mushrooms that are cooked in butter with shallots and wine), which is then wrapped in puff pastry and baked. “It’s very popular around Christmas,” says chef de cuisine Abdul Wahab.

The West View Bar & Grill at The ITC Sonar, Calcutta, offers another exotic preparation to tease your taste buds — the Sicilian zupetta. Says Chef Sunanyan Pramanik: “Zupetta means stew in Italian. On the Sicilian coast, the wives of the fishermen cook the fresh catch of the day as a stew. It’s part of a homecoming feast of sorts.”

Or maybe you want to venture out further on the map in search of the most satisfying main course. Paella, mi amigo? Considered the national dish of the country, paella is from the Valencia region of Spain. Traditionally, the preparation of the dish calls for a community dinner. But at the West View Bar & Grill, ITC The Sonar, you can savour the seafood paella over a cosy meal for Rs 1,350 (plus taxes).

While the Bomba rice and smoked paprika for the seafood paella at The Sonar come straight from Spain, the cold pressed extra virgin olive oil for the zupetta comes from Rome, Italy.

Says Chef Pramanik, “Today Calcuttans are so aware of global culinary trends and tastes that it’s created an atmosphere of healthy competition —everyone wants to woo them with authenticity.”

Happy endings

All’s well that ends… in dessert. And especially when you can choose from exotic French or Moroccan options.

Allow the Afraa Creperie to sweep you off your feet, French style, with the crêpe suzette. Simmered in a buttery caramelised orange and Grand Marnier sauce and flamed with brandy, this popular French dessert is served with fresh cream and vanilla ice cream at the crêperie.

And for something even more unique, try the b’stilla au lait at Souk, Taj Bengal. Originating in Fez, Morocco, this delectable dessert has sweet crispy filo layers filled with almond cream, cinnamon coated almond flakes and served with saffron milk.

Post script

It wouldn’t be a bad idea to go easy the day after, after such an elaborate meal. Maybe just sandwiches. But no reason why you can’t do it global here as well.

So pick up some German rye bread (Rs 65 for 300gm) from French Loaf. The bread is made with flour from rye grain. Many types of the grain are grown all over European countries such as Finland, Denmark, Russia, and the Baltic countries but rye bread originates from Germany.

And couple that with some German Black Forest ham (Rs 210 for 100gm) or Italian Parma ham (Rs 100 for 100gm) that the Afraa Deli at both City Centre 1 and City Centre 2 stock, and you’re ready to go global.

You could also walk into Spencer’s Hypermart in South City Mall. The gourmet foods section includes a deli where you can choose from a selection of the choicest cold cuts like Black Forest ham, smoked ham, bacon, turkey breast — the works. Come Christmas season and here’s where you’ll find suckling pig or duck or even whole turkey. While the cold cuts are priced around Rs 1,200 a kg, the suckling pig or turkey is roughly around Rs 3,000 a kg.

Evidently, the whole wide world is at your table. Dig in.

Photographs by Rashbehari Das

The real McCoy

Try your hand at these recipes for some serious kitchen magic

Sheesh Taouk (serves two)

Ingredients 200gm chicken breast, boneless 30gm garlic paste garlic juice (from 20g garlic paste strained through a muslin cloth) 50ml refined oil 50ml lemon juice Salt to taste White pepper to taste 25gm bell peppers 10gm tomatoes 10gm onions a parsley sprig for garnish

Method Clean and cut chicken breast in cubes. Marinate with half the chopped garlic, refined oil, salt, lemon juice and white pepper. Make garlic sauce by stirring together the refined oil, garlic juice, salt, white pepper, and lemon juice. Add the sauce to the pre-marinated chicken and keep for at least five hours. Charcoal grill the chicken cubes with bell peppers, grill tomatoes and onions. Garnish with parsley.

Rojak Buah (serves five)

Ingredients 200gm pineapple, diced 200gm dragonfruit, diced 200gm papaya, diced 200gm tomatoes, diced 200gm cucumber, diced

For 100ml tossing sauce: 60gm palm sugar 30gm tamarind pulp 1tsp red chilli paste 1tsp fish paste 10ml water

Method First make the sauce. Soak the tamarind pulp in the water for 15 minutes. Strain and discard the pulp. In the tamarind juice, stir in the red chilli paste and the fish paste. The sauce must be slightly thick. In a large mixing bowl, put all the diced fruits, add the sauce and toss to mix well.