Now Open: Kolkata Social Has Brought Bengali Flavours and Treasured Family Recipes to King Street
Get a taste of "intentionally Indian" home cooking at the latest venture from Sydney's Plate It Forward venue group.
Lovers of fresh flavours rejoice because the latest project from the Plate It Forward venue group (the team behind Colombo Social, Kyiv Social and Kabul Social) has arrived on King Street. Kolkata Social, helmed by chef Ahana Dutt (Firedoor, Raja), is dishing up recipes from Kolkata, India, with a focus on fresh and seasonal ingredients and good karma by the plate.
Over the past six months, Dutt has spent nearly 900 hours in Plate It Forward's training and mentorship program, working with 19 refugee and asylum-seeker women. Eight of these women have since taken up leadership roles within the company. But the partnership between the chef and the hospo group has truly blossomed now, with Kolkata Social marking Plate it Forward's fourth venue and giving Dutt the opportunity to showcase a seasonal, produce-driven menu sourced mostly from the Kolkata-born chef's own family kitchen.
It's a new step forward in diversifying Sydney's familiarity with wider Indian cuisine, encouraging diners to steer clear of Westernised favourites they'd find at their local Indian joint in favour of bold Bengali flavours. On that, Dutt notes: "I wanted the menu to represent me. It was a way for me to introduce people to Bengali food through recipes that I've grown up with. I wanted to show people that Bengali food is Indian food, as well as the corollary that Indian food is more than butter chicken and naan. The food at Kolkata Social is a way for me to not only hold on to but celebrate my heritage in a different country."
Said menu is home to highlights like paturi — spiced ricotta wrapped in a banana leaf and lightly caramelised — radhabollobhi — fried flatbread with a spiced lentil filling — and smoked barramundi, fried in mustard oil and served with a sauce of yoghurt, cardamom and green chillies. For dessert, a family specialty: vanilla pound cake served with saffron yoghurt cream and seasonal fruit.
The cocktails offer equally colourful originals and spins on classic serves. Like the Mini Mustard Martini, a Kolkata-inspired take on a gibson, or the Southside 700029, a riff on the mojito-esque classic that references the postcode of one of Kolkata's buzziest neighbourhoods. If you need a lassi to fight the heat of the dishes, go for the Spiked Lassi: a spiked yoghurt slushy with saffron. Brew lovers can try the house Kolkata Lager, made exclusively for the restaurant by multi award-winning Blue Mountains brewery Mountain Culture.
It's not just the menu that Dutt has overseen at Kolkata Social — she also lent her vision to the restaurant's look and feel. Each room is colour-blocked and monochromatic, featuring hues inspired by the architecture of Kolkata. Vibrant artworks adorn the walls, some of which were painted by Dutt's uncle, Somnath Basu Thakur. And like other Plate it Forward venues, there's a mural celebrating wisdom, love and community created by and bestowed on others by the amazing women, mothers and grandmothers of the world. Kolkata's piece, painted by artist Marlon Dalton, depicts Dutt's mother, Sharmila Basu Thaur.
Like its siblings in the Plate it Forward family, Kolkata Social employs women in need of their first jobs in Australia and works with overseas charities to provide meals to those who need them most. Any diner who purchases the set menu will be responsible for two meals donated to those in need, one in Sydney and one in Kolkata. So, in a certain sense, every booking brings both good food and a bit of good into the world.
Find Kolkata Social at 528-528A King Street, Newtown. For more information and opening hours, visit the venue's website.
Images: Serhat Karakas.
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