Rakhi Purnima Dasgupta (holding cake) celebrates 10 years of Kewpie’s with close friends and patrons. Picture by Rashbehari Das

It was 10 years ago in 1988 that Kewpie’s, one of the city’s first Bengali cuisine restaurants, was born. “My brother had a little shop in the garage called The Food Shop. It was in that space that Kewpie’s was started,” remembers Rakhi Purnima Dasgupta. It was Rakhi, her father Prateep and sister Pia Promina who worked together to start the family-run restaurant tucked away in Elgin Lane, off Elgin Road, in the memory of her mother Minakshie, who was nicknamed Kewpie.

“My father insisted that we could seat 14 people, but they had to be very thin people,” says Dasgupta with a laugh. Kewpie’s has grown to occupy the entire ground floor of the family home and now seats up to 55 patrons at a time. “Kewpie’s grew out of the idea that there was nowhere one could go for Bengali food outside one’s house. Even visitors to the city could not get a sample of homely, authentic Bengali cuisine,” she explains.

The Dasguptas had just relaunched the book Bangla Ranna by Rakhi’s mother and decided to take it a step further.

The USP of Kewpie’s has always been its gharoa Bangali food. “At that time, the only other place that served Bengali cuisine was Peerless Inn. But it was very rich food — like biye barir khabaar,” feels Rakhi. Kewpie’s had the advantage of actually being in a real home, and started serving on earthenware.

The serving protocol was carefully considered. “Bengali cuisine cannot be served in a buffet. There is a pattern of what to eat after what, which must be followed. At Kewpie’s we serve so the guest knows how to start and go on with the meal,” explains Rakhi.

The restaurant that follows Rakhi’s mother’s recipes as a guidebook sticks to its principles. Like it never serves achaar, for example or puts tomato in everything. “Bengali cuisine is very delicately flavoured and we try our best to keep it intact. Nor do we believe in unnecessary garnishings.”

The restaurant does serve a variety of fish, that Bengali essential, but it also has an extensive vegetarian menu and is popular with vegetarians. “From day one, we had a number of Marwari and Jain clientele for our vegetarian spread. Even fussy vegetarians can be reassured in Kewpie’s because not only is the food vegetarian, but we throw away the plates and bowls after every use, so there’s no question of coming in contact with anything non-vegetarian,” explains the proprietor.

Much has changed in and around the homely restaurant in the past decade. There are many restaurants, for one, now serving favourites like Daab Chingri and ilish maachh. But Rakhi feels that the restaurant that brought back Chitol Maachher Muitha is unlike any other. “Whether it is Oh! Calcutta or Bhojohori Manna, they all serve Calcutta cuisine, with all its different influences. I might during a festival have Prawn Cocktail or Vindaloo, but our basic menu is strictly Bengali,” stresses Rakhi. The customer base has also expanded. “The joint family set-up has dissolved and in nuclear families when the woman goes out to work, there is little time for elaborate cooking. But they are nostalgic about what they had eaten as children. They want their shukto and maachh. So they go out on weekends to indulge.”

To cater to loyal customers who keep coming back for more, the menu is changed every three months. And a lot of experiments go on in the kitchen to come up with innovations like Daab Jhinge and Kankra Paturi.

The small, cosy establishment has also had the distinction of serving some prominent guests, including Manjit Bawa, M.F. Hussain, Kapil Sibal, Mira Nair and Jaya Bachchan, to name a few.

“But our biggest contribution has been putting Bengali cuisine on the map,” says Rakhi, who would like to expand beyond Calcutta. “I plan to open in Delhi, but I need the right sponsors. Other cities can happen too, given the right support,” she reveals.

Till then the Elgin Lane den it is, for some mouth-watering, authentic Bangla ranna.

Kewpie’s favourites

Veg

Daab Jhinge
Doi Begun
Phulkopi Kamala
Mochar Paturi

Non-Veg

Daab Chingri
Bhekti Paturi
Boneless Ilish
Kankra Paturi
Chicken Jahanara

Anglo-Indian specials

Duck Vindaloo
Prawn Cocktail
Smoked Hilsa

Innovations

Daab Jhinge
Kankra Paturi
Bhekti Kobiraji Cutlet
Chicken Jahanara
Mangshor Rezala