Bengali cuisine for the global palate: Sienna Café’s pop-ups win heart and soul

When one thinks of a quintessential Bengali lunch, kosha mangsho, basanti pulao, luchi, cholar dal, and bhetki paturi or maacher kalia are sure to make it to the list. I had something similar in mind when I received an invite to attend a Bengali food pop-up here in Bengaluru. But I should have known better. 

The pop-up was hosted by The Conservatory—Bengaluru’s popular pop-up destination that defines itself as “a culinary glasshouse for chefs who adventure and the epicure in us all”. It was brought to Bengaluru by Kolkata’s popular Sienna Cafe—Shanta and Shuli Ghosh’s beloved ceramics and handloom store that has extended into a culinary hotspot in the City of Joy. 

This wasn’t the first time chefs Avinandan Kundu and Koyel Roy Nandy had transported their kitchen to Bengaluru. The team cooked up a tasting menu at The Conservatory earlier in the year, and to their surprise, were completely sold out by the end of the show. This time too, the city took the chefs by surprise. 

“It is always a risk, coming back (to the same city) so soon…. But we were sold out within 48 hours!” Avinandan tells YS Life.

The delicacies platted at the Sienna Cafe are essentially ‘Bengali forward’. “We want to honour (Bengali) traditions, our childhood and the history of the land, without getting dragged into trying to follow the recipes,” he adds. 

The meal, thus, had to be unconventional. 

Bengal to table

Sienna does not limit itself to the Bengal of Bengalis. Back home, the team of chefs are constantly experimenting and innovating with dishes that are found in Bengal’s homes—Dhakiya food from Opar Bengal (pre-partition Bengal, Bangladesh), Mezban from Chittagong, North Bengal’s desserts, and Indo-Chinese from the Hakka Chinese community. 

The recent pop-up in Bengaluru was reflective of this culture, featuring chola’r daal hummus with nimki, mach’r deem XO Rice with fried egg, kalojeere pork with golabhaat, and duck jhol with chaaler ruti. 

Each of these sharing plates consisted of a star ingredient that’s representative of Bengal, plated in a fashion that suits global palates. The chola’r daal hummus, for instance, was inspired by the vegetarian (sans onion and garlic) split Bengal gram dal that was made into a smooth sweet-savoury paste, giving it the texture of hummus, and was served with kucho nimki (fried wheat pastry) instead of pita bread. 

Similarly, XO, which is a classic Chinese condiment, was mixed with maacher dim (fish roe) and maacher tel (fish oil) to dish up fried rice. Fish roe is a common ingredient in Bengali households, usually added in chorchori or mixed vegetables, or deep fried into boras or fritters. “We have to represent our eating habits as well, we can’t just plate a beautiful vetki fillet every time and call it Bengali culture,” Avinandan adds. 

The fried rice also honours the Hakka Chinese community of Bengal, largely residing in Tiretta Bazar and Tangra neighbourhoods in Kolkata, and essentially bringing all of Bengal—and not just Bengalis—to the table. 

Innovation at the core

The concept from the Sienna kitchen, termed ‘Bengal to table’, largely focuses on the dishing up plates reflecting Bengal (pre- and post-partition), while also being inspired by the bajaars or markets of a particular region, reflective of the seasonality and diversity of that particular region, coupled with techniques from across the globe. 

Back in Kolkata, the Sienna Cafe presents a new menu every week, although the team has food trial nights twice a week. 

The kitchen opens at 10:30 every morning, before which the chefs visit the market. “Visiting the bajaar is a part of everyone’s KRA,” Koyel emphasises. “Unless you are in touch with seasonality and work with the ingredients available around you, you won’t become a good chef,” she adds. 

The first two hours are spent preparing for the day. At 12:30 PM, the door opens for diners, and the last order is taken at 9:30 PM. Despite being an all-day kitchen, and working on one shift, the team of 17-20 chefs get to innovate and experiment once every week. 

“Each week, 4-5 chefs, sometimes even the ones working in the front office, are asked to come up with a dish based on the seasonal ingredients available that none of the others have ever tried before, and that becomes the most challenging part of working here. The trial nights are also when we dish up our weekly menu…It is a constant practice,” Koyel explains. 

Earlier in April and May this year, the cafe team crossed borders to take Bengal’s culinary extravaganza to Southeast Asia for an Epar-Opar tour, hosting two pop-ups in Bangkok and Singapore. This month too, the team will be back in Singapore, hosting a special pop-up for Shuffling Suitcases—a travelling pop-up and store promoting sustainable fashion and lifestyle, helmed by Devyani Kapoor. 

Sienna Cafe, currently only able to accommodate 30-35 diners at a given point, and unpopular for never being able to accommodate everyone who walks in through the door, is under renovation. The team is working on doubling its capacity to become a 60-seater eatery, with a 10-seater tasting menu being set up in an open kitchen on its second floor. “We hope our patrons don’t complain of never getting a table the next time they visit us after the renovation is over,” Avinandan says, confidently. 

Visit Sienna Store and Cafe in Hindustan Park, Kolkata 

Timings: 12:30 PM – 9:30 PM 

Cost for two: Rs 1,200