Hangla's, the taste of Kolkata

Linking Road, Opposite Amarson's
Linking Road, Bandra (W), Mumbai 400 050
www.hanglas.in (non-operational when posted, but is the site they publicize)
Bandra: +91 7738-364225 and 91 7738-3364235

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Located inside a newspaper stand-like street front stand alone structure on a corner of Linking Road in Bandra, Hangla's most recent outlet is a welcome addition to the Bandra culinary almanac. Nobody I spoke to when ordering could speak Bengali (odd for a restaurant which produces the "taste of Kolkata"). That, combined with the quality of my Hindi (and the quality of his English) made for a bit of a challenging ordering process. The food was Bengali enough to satisfy this Bengali's cravings, despite the initial language barrier.

I ordered three items to test Hangla's capabilities: a chicken kathi roll with egg, a mutton biryani and mutton kasha (essentially a Bengali mutton curry with a thick, relatively dry gravy). The chicken kathi roll with egg was delicious, as many online reviewers had suggested. The Kolkata style biryani was quite good as well, though chicken would have been less oily than the mutton, which couldn't quite free itself from a touch of red meat grease (though much less than most Hyderabadi style biryanis I've had in Mumbai). The kosha mutton was acceptable, though a touch sweet. The mutton, while tender and flavorful, did not fully satisfy me from an aromatic perspective.

The serving sizes were generous and the service quite fast. This was the first Bengali food I've been able to purchase in Bandra in my four years here. While the place is a street corner dive, and the quality wasn't stellar, it was Bengali enough, tasty enough, and clean enough to garner a return visit someday soon.