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What happens when an Indian chef with the incredible reputation that Chef Avinash Martins has built over the years meets the city of Kolkata and one of its most amazing restaurants? Pure, food magic, of course! The man behind the successful Cavatina restaurant in Goa recently collaborated with AMPM in Kolkata’s happening Park Street area to create a pop-up full of Goan flavours. During his two-day stay in the city, here is everything the chef got up to.
For those unaware, Chef Martins is known for creating progressive Goan cuisine that highlights local ingredients and sustainable food practices through a farm-to-table approach. His pop-up at AMPM, called Flavours of the Coast, was basically a five-course tasting menu that showcased key ingredients of Goan cuisine in incredibly well-plated and delicious formats. The dishes featured in the menu included one that showcased produce sourced from the sea—oysters, prawns and other seafood—in a delicious broth, a foamy coconut-flavoured dish, a take on surf-and-turf and desserts.
Video Credit: YouTube/Ajay Chopra
But apart from collaborating with AMPM for this incredible pop-up, Chef Avinash Martins also took some time out to explore the city and enjoy the iconic dishes at the famous restaurants that have been around for decades, if not longer. First off, he tried the traditional Bengali fare served at 6 Ballygunge Place. This was followed up by a visit to a number of historic food joints.
Not only did the chef visit Swadhin Bharat Hindu Hotel, a popular joint visited by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, but also regional eateries like UP Bihar. He tried the double egg double mutton roll at the iconic Kusum Rolls and kulfi falooda at Jai Hind Dhaba. Another highlight of his Kolkata food trail was a short and sweet stop at Saldanha Bakery.
The Goan bakery is one of the most reputed and popular bakeries in the City of Joy, and given his own roots, Chef Martins’ visit here was quite significant. Not only did he taste a wide range of Saldanha goodies like Walnut Cake and Coconut Macaroons, but also interacted with Alisha Alexander, the third-generation owner of Saldanha. Clearly, Chef Martins’ short, two-day visit to Kolkata was packed with delicacies from both Goa and Kolkata.
