Last year, when Rahul Gandhi queezed time out from a packed schedule in Kolkata to tuck into Bengali cuisine at Bhojohori Manna, he ensured that this popular restaurant chain would always be packed to the gills. Evidently, this fame hasn’t touched the shores of Mumbai, because when we popped in to the branch at Oshiwara, we didn’t find a diner in sight.

The restaurant, which set up shop in a cubbyhole space in Kolkata a decade ago, was named after a Bengali song by vocalist Manna Dey. The song is about a mythical cook who travels the world to hone his culinary skills. In the last few years, the restaurant has opened branches in Bangalore and Pune. Mumbai is Bhojohori’s latest destination, and the choice of Oshiwara was natural given that it is Mumbai's mini Bengal. The restaurant is spread over a large space with both indoor and outdoor dining areas. The interiors are cute, yet use clichéd Kolkata iconography: the kantha table tops and photos of baul singers pasted on the wall.

Feeding Bengalis, who are selfconfessed gourmands, can be a tough task, but Bhojohori has always positioned itself as a “pice hotel” that provides wholesome home-style cooking. The menu features a blend of Ghoti (West Bengal) and Bangal (East) dishes.

When we reached Bhojohori Manna after an exhausting twohour trek from town, the first thingon our wish-list was fish fry. Alas, the chingri (prawn) cutlet listed as the day’s special wasn’t available. This set the tone for the evening.

We opted instead for the bhetki Rongpuri fry. The fish fillet seemed a tad too miserly in comparison to the thick crumb fried coating. We also picked the mangshor chop and a chicken roll, which completely lost the plot. A Kolkatastyle chicken roll has succulent pieces of chicken which are garnished with slivers of onion, chillies and lime juice, and is wrapped in a lightly fried paratha. The roll at Bhojohori included cucumber and carrot in the filling and a paratha that was so thick that we just gave up mid-way.

Just when we were losing hope of finding anything good on the menu, Bhojohori redeemed its reputation with a decent selection of main course. We sample the dakbangla mutton (tender chunks of mutton cooked in a caramelized kosha mangsho style gravy), aloo jhinge posto (potatoes and ridge gourd in a thick poppy seed-based gravy) and the jumbo malai chingri curry (prawns in a mild, creamy, coconut milk curry). They weren’t bad but they weren't great either.

Bhojohori Manna is located  on a stretch that is already choc-a-bloc with Bengali cuisine restaurants so there’s no dearth of competition. If it wants to survive and pull in diners it needs to start making provisions for dishes listed on the menu. At  the very least, the ones listed  on the day’s special. 

THE BILL

Meal for two approx. R1,000.