Online food ordering and delivery platform Swiggy has released findings on what Kolkata ordered the most during Ramzan this year. The period taken into account is between April 2 and 22, 2022.
Traditional favourites like chicken biryani, haleem, nihari, samosa, rabdi and malpua were most in-demand this Ramzan. “Haleem was ordered nearly 72 times more this year, biryani was ordered nearly 12 times more as compared to last year during the month of Ramzan. Nihari was ordered almost 7 times more this Ramzan,” read the order analysis.
Haleem, a Ramzan-special dish, was a favourite for all those fasting or not during the period of prayer. Some of the popular haleems ordered via Swiggy were mutton, chicken and special haleem.
My Kolkata spoke to Akhtar Parwez, the owner of Arsalan Restaurant & Caterer, Park Circus. “We sold around 20 deghs of haleem every day during Ramzan and this year we’ve sold twice as much as any other year,” agreed Parwez. Twenty-five per cent of total haleem sales at the Park Circus Arsalan take place through food aggregators.
Busy lifestyles and the need for a “change” from regular Ramzan homemade food has led to a spike in orders. “Members of my household are out all day at work or college so ordering food is the most convenient solution on busy days. We also order food on weekends for a change from the usual Ramzan homemade food,” said Rabia Zaman, a resident of Theatre Road, who regularly orders from Mezban Restaurant & Caterer in Wellesley. “We order food that is filling so our usual order is an assortment of kebabs, haleem and firni”.
The analysis states there were close to 11,000 Iftari orders between 5pm and 7pm. Iftari snacks that were popular this year were fish fry, chicken rolls and egg rolls along with sweetmeats like rabdi, firni and malpua being ordered on repeat. Other dishes that were popular were mutton biryani and Darjeeling steamed momos (chicken).
Momos? That’s right. Interestingly, 4,100 Darjeeling steamed momos (chicken) were ordered during Iftari (5pm-7pm).
“We sold 1,072 plates of chicken momos and 999 of veg momos this month, around a 20 per cent increase” confirmed Sachiko Seth of The Blue Poppy, the Middleton Street popular for Tibetan cuisine.
Interesting nuggets
- A spike in the orders for Biryani, Haleem and Nihari during Ramzan as compared to previous months
- Kolkata’s favourite early morning bites during the season of Ramzan were chicken popcorn and chicken cheeseburgers
- The city recorded nearly 11,000 orders for Iftari snacks
- Popular desserts were gulab jamun and choco-chip pastries
- Approximately 4,100 Darjeeling steamed momos (chicken) were ordered
