When it comes to design, the second restaurant from food blogger Shrimoyee Chakraborty is spot-on. Everything from the ornately framed mirrors hanging on painted brick walls to the fold-out boards for the concise Bengali menu begs for a place on your Instagram. So, full marks for first impressions.
Good, too, was a large pile of meaty whitebait with a punchy mustard-seed chutney that kicked the meal off, and the addictively creamy mishti aam doi – a sweet yoghurt dish topped with mango chunks – that finished it. But these hits were eclipsed by too many misses: a heavy on-the-bone lamb curry that featured barely any meat, a set of mushy coriander and poppyseed fritters that were far too salty and ultimately inedible, and a watery crab curry from which I set aside a giant claw packed with translucent, uncooked flesh. The latter was flagged with our waiter but still appeared on the bill.
With some fine-tuning, it’d be easy to imagine Calcutta Street becoming a fun alternative to Dishoom, for spice-lovers who want a more nuanced take on Indian cuisine than they’re likely to find at their local curry house. For now, though, you might just want to follow them on Instagram.