CAL Bloggers Table - BONGOAN - A Taste of Goa in Kolkata

So a bunch of us from the Kolkata Food Bloggers team landed up at the not-so-old restaurant Bongoan for a review , as a part of the Chef At Large Bloggers Table. Initial research showed that the restaurant specialises in Bengali as well as Goan dishes - with Chinese thrown in too as a bonus - hence the justification of the name BONGOAN! This was one place we had seen enroute South City Mall many times but never really ventured in for a meal. The bloggers table seemed like the perfect reason to check out the place and taste some authentic Goan cuisine. Well how authentic ? we'll just find out! 

We all reached the venue at the scheduled time around 6.30 and on entering the restaurant found that we were the only ones which is perfectly ok given the time. The 7 of us settled in and the waiter was helpful enough to join the tables so that we could be seated together.Took a quick glance at the menu and unanimously decided to mostly stick to Goan food. The items listed on the menu seemed quite decent. For starters we ordered a portion each of Sesame Fried Prawn in Continental Style(Rs.300)  , Lottya Fry(Rs.120) and Spicy Chilli Baby Corn(Rs.90).

The Spicy Chilli corn was crunchy on the outside but it was so spicy that almost all of ours throat started burning.So after a few bites we had to give up.The Lottya ( Bombay Duck ) Fry - served with a side of French fries - I didn't try as i am not too fond of sea food but the others who ate it found it a bit too smelly and the coating on top was just too thick. The Sesame Prawns was perhaps the best among the lot - soft prawns coated with a very crunchy cover and fried to perfection. The spice levels was a bit on the hotter side but we did not mind that. However I felt that they should have served some sauce - maybe a sweet chilli sauce or even a tartar maybe by the side to enhance the quality of the dish.

For the main course we ordered a portion each of Mutton Vindaloo (Rs.250) , Chicken Xacutti(Rs.200) and Pork Bhuni(Rs.150) along with some steamed rice.Let me start with the Chicken Xacutti -one of the most popular goan dishes - it had a nice thick coconutty gravy with four pieces of chicken on the bone and had the correct amount of spicing and quite close to an authentic Xacuti.We all loved it. However the Mutton Vindaloo was kind of a let down. It was spicy ok but the tang of the vinegar in the gravy was a bit too much and it killed the taste. The Pork Bhuni - little chunks of pork mostly fat stir fried with diced potatoes,onions and tomatoes was average with the pork being a tad tough in texture.

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Pic Courtesy - Silence Sings

Finally we ordered some Bebinca(Rs.120)  - the most famous Goan dessert but unfortunately it was a total letdown. Three very thin slices of bebinca topped with something that tasted like a caramel sauce was served per portion and they were not even closer to the real ones. Also there were not too many options in the dessert menu which I am sure they can work on.
The evening ended with us celebrating our fellow blogger Kamalika's birthday(which was the next day) with an awesome cake that Sayantani baked for her. Take a look at the sinful cake below. We all simply devoured it. Awesomeness.

The star of the evening - cake baked by Sayantani for K's Bday

 

Summary - The meal at BONGOAN was a mix of hits and misses. More misses than hits as far as Goan cuisine goes. They also need to work on the service bit because considering it was a weeknight and there were hardly other guests, they were taking a long time to serve up. Overall an ok experience and I suggest you visit them for a meal only if you must.A meal for two would cost anything between Rs.600 -Rs.800 and they do not serve alcohol.



BONGOAN
Kalikapur Road
Kolkata




Find out what my fellow bloggers have to say about the place :

Kamlika @ Silence Sings

Sayantani @ A Homemaker's Diary

Sarani @ Cocoawind

Amrita @ Sweet n Savoury

Antara @ Antypasti

Disclaimer - I have reviewed this place absolutely independently and was not compensated for the review monetarily or otherwise.