Kolkata: Old Calcutta Alleyway Food Tour & Hidden Rooftops

5.00

(143 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

“You’ve never really tasted Kolkata until you’ve followed Soham down an alley that smells like frying onions and old books,” is what someone told me before I booked this alleyway food tour. And yeah, I get it now. We met near the tram tracks—Soham waved, already grinning—and within five minutes we were ducking past chai stalls and a guy selling garlands. The air was thick with spice, but also something sweet—maybe jaggery? I kept losing my sense of direction in the maze of lanes, but Soham knew every shortcut and who made the best puchkas (I still can’t pronounce it right).

We stopped at this one stall where the owner handed us shingara straight from the fryer. Burned my tongue a little but honestly didn’t care. Soham told us how his dad used to bring him here after school—he pointed at a faded family photo taped behind the counter, which made me weirdly emotional for reasons I can’t explain. At another stop, we tried kosha mangsho with fluffy luchi; the sauce clung to my fingers and I just licked them clean because napkins seemed beside the point. Someone’s radio was playing an old Kishore Kumar song nearby, and it felt like time folded in on itself for a second.

There was a rooftop too—unexpected, hidden above a shop selling brass pots. We climbed up these narrow stairs (watch your head) and suddenly there was this quiet space above all the noise. Soham poured tea from a battered flask while telling us about Durga Puja nights in this neighborhood. The sun hit the laundry lines just so, making everything look gold for a minute or two. I didn’t expect to feel so welcome in someone else’s memory.