What: Hilsa Festival
Where: K19 and Smoke Shack at Radisson Hotel
On till: August 15, 12.30pm to 11pm
Meal for two: Rs 750-plus  

Sure, hilsa is the best thing for a fish lover to feast on during monsoon and a bagful of recipes from Bangladesh can only make it more exciting. That’s what the senior sous chef at Radisson Hotel, Punam Chowdhury, has got for the ongoing hilsa festival at the Gariahat address. 

“I wanted to add a touch of my roots to these dishes. We experimented with 20 preparations and then settled on eight of them for the festival menu,” said Punam.

Chef Punam Chowdhury highlights the differences between Indian and Bangladeshi hilsa:

1) The taste of the fish is different in the two countries and the taste will help you discern where the hilsa is from.

2) Bangladeshis like to eat their hilsa in sweet preparations as opposed to the jhaal dishes here.

3) Bangladeshi preparations of hilsa only use black mustard and not yellow mustard.

4) Poppy seeds are usually never used in Indian hilsa preparations but Bangladeshis use it generously.

Text: Urvashi Bhattacharya
Pictures: B. Halder