I remember the name Bijoli Grill right since my childhood days.
I think it was the holy grail of catering in Calcutta especially for weddings. Plus they were supposed to cater for the cricket teams in Eden Gardens. That, and seeing Kapil Dev in the dressing room, are all I remember from the India England test match at the Eden in 81 when I was seven. And then there were the bottled ice cream sodas which Bijoli Grill was famous for.
So it was a pleasant surprise the other day when I had gone to Dilli Haat in Delhi and saw that the West Bengal food stall there was run by Bijoli Grill. Seeing the familiar Bijoli Grill logo in the middle of Delhi was a pleasant surprise. As was reading about items such as Fish Kobiraji, mutton chaap, parsher jhol.
But such is fate. I had just had lunch at the Triveni Kala Sangam canteen and the deceptively innocent looking food there gave me an instant Delhi Belly and I had to run to the loo.
So I could only feel nostalgic about Bijoli Grill and take pictures without reacquainting myself with some old friends. To add insult to the injury there was a Kashmiri Wazwan food festival going on at Delhi with really exotic looking Kashmiri food.
In fact it was ironical that I’d spent two days arduously walking the lengths of the Delhi Auto Expo and when I finally reached an ‘expo’ of my choice, the food court of Delhi Haat…I was out of action.
I think it was Tagore who had said ‘jaha chai taha pai na, jaha pai taha chai na’ (I don’t get what I want, I don’t want what I get).
Anyway I know where I am headed next time I go to Delhi