An ode to Khulna: For the love of food
TBS picks a few of Khulna’s most loved spots where culture, food, and good times come together
Khulna, a city famously known for its atypical calmness, is also home to several food places that highlight its culture and have stood the test of time.
If you are looking for anything traditional that speaks of Khulna's culture or just a hangout spot to chill with your friends on a beautiful evening, this piece has got you covered with a few of the most loved places of the city.
Gesco Kabab
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
If you are a fan of kebabs, this place is a paradise for you. This crowded yet legendary eatery has been famous for serving the perfect kebabs, grilled chicken and beef chaap in every shape and form for decades. You must postpone all your plans to indulge in their Bosnia parathas paired with kebabs that melt in your mouth!
Gesco Kabab operates from 9AM but serves kebabs only in the evenings, keeping Fridays as a day of rest. Expect a very long queue during peak hours but patience is a virtue!
Pro tip: Grab some borhani to make this a royal culinary experience.
Indramohan Sweets
If sweets had a royal court, Indramohan Sweets would definitely be sitting on the throne. Established around 135 years ago, the family-run business makes indescribably delicious sweets and makes sure you do not have to spend much.
Basked in sugary syrup, their roshogolla offers a pure, fragrant and blissful experience; their shondesh, served on a banana leaf, makes you daydream from the very first bite.
Pro tip: Grab some paratha from Gesco Kabab and shed happy tears while you pair it with warm, sugary paradise from Indramohan Sweets.
Abbas Hotel
What exactly are you doing with your life if you have not visited Abbas Hotel for some fireworks in your mouth? It is not just a roadside eatery, it is a location that has aptly held on to the city's traditional food, chui jhal.
Dried up chui jhal stems or roots are used to make spicy, rich and flavourful beef and mutton curry. The marriage of other spices with chui jhal is flawlessly officiated by this particular eatery, drawing people like moths to a flame from all over the country.
Try it with piping hot plain rice and watch yourself become a part of a food commercial — it is that good!
New Howrah Bakery
If cravings for snacks had a best friend, New Howrah Bakery would be it. Whether you want crispy samosas, rolls, shingaras or even something sweet like Swiss rolls or pastries, the bakery has got your back.
Nestled in the city's New Market since 1998, this bakery's faluda is beyond remarkable. Served with vanilla ice cream, the sago pearls and vermicelli bathed in rose syrup are bound to delight your heart with madness!
Khulna University area
If you enter the university area through the back entrance, you will pretty much be entering the celestial city of street food. However, there is a particular cart for drinks only that will make all the previous culinary endeavours even more refreshing!
Make sure to have their sweet, spicy and tangy tamarind juice, even better than the tok to your fuchka. If you think your tummy has space for more, look for the chicken chaap on the campus as well.
Warning: After getting a taste of this chaap, you might just start questioning why you ever ate anything else. We are not to be blamed, just saying.
Rupsha Ghat
Imagine this — piping hot boiled potatoes, covered in spices that melt in your mouth and make your tastebuds dance. The star of the show has to be the whole garlic, roasted and sheltered with spices. Right in front of the Rupsha Ghat are steaming Ghugni that is fiery with seasoning and lime juice.
The vendors also sell mutton chop, something that is used as a patty for burgers, in collaboration with cucumbers and mayonnaise. With a beautiful sunset at the bank of this river and Rupsha river in sight, the classic cup of tea here is not to be missed. Ghat number seven promises to de-stress you as you get lost in your own world, looking at boats lazily gliding across the water as you sip on your tea.
What places from the list would you visit?
