What: The Saffron Tree
Where: 100 Raja Basanta Roy Road
When: 11am to 11pm
Meal for two: Rs 600 (including taxes)
Every dish served at chef-restaurateur Sambit Banik’s second offering to the city — The Saffron Tree, which opens today — is loaded with dollops of heritage, nostalgia and ingenuity, and lives up to the expectations that his first venture, Spice Kraft on Hazra Road, has set.
The Saffron Tree traces the lost dishes of the nawabs, for which Sambit has delved deep into the annals of history and researched for a year and a half. The result on the table in the 78-seater 3,000sq ft space — done up in warm tones of the season’s trending colour, yellow — is a gastronomical journey where history meets contemporary.
Nawab Alivardi Khan’s gift of litchis to Shuja-ud-Daulah has inspired the inventive dish that is Litchi Ke Kebab in The Saffron Tree kitchen, while Nizam Mahbub Ali Khan’s desire to enjoy a paan without the hassle of spittle became the source for Paan Aur Gosht Ki Tootak, a chicken-stuffed kebab wrapped in a paan, which is one of the must-things to try here.
“We wanted to bring emotions and history to the table. We travelled across the country talking to historians and elderly begum sahibas, and poring over historical cookbooks,” said Sambit.
If you’re wondering about biryani, well, there are multiple kinds of it — from a TST Special Pork Biryani to a Memoni Keema Musang, a rare biryani of the Bantva Memons community from Gujarat.
The food is served in quirkily-designed dishes to suit the purpose. So while the Mutton Sutli Kebab is plated on a small, portable barbecue, the Murg Aab Gosht arrives with a candle at the bottom to keep the curry stewing at the right temperatures. And for the prices, the portions are generous. “I want a lot of people to come and try the food and not be intimidated by the pricing, hence I have kept it very affordable,” said Sambit.
Well, happy eating on I-Day!
Shrestha Saha
Pictures: Rashbehari Das
