When Late Jiban Krishna Saha became the owner of Mr. Allen’s restaurant in the late 19th century, had he any idea that more than 130 years later this place would be one of the favorite drooling dens for the food lovers of the city? Well, that we will never know. But we can always visit Allen Kitchen to taste the finest fries which made them what they are today 🙂 The current address, which started as a branch more than 50 years ago (in the year 1958 to be precise), is now their only outlet serving delicious Prawn, Fish and Chicken items.
Jiban Krishna Saha – Founder, Allen Kitchen
Allen Kitchen got its name from the Scot Mr. Allen, but the Sahas made it what it is today. The Special Prawn Cutlet, which, according to the foodies, is the best in the city, was invented by Jiban Krishna Saha and is a hot favorite still today! I was sitting with Mr. Goutam Saha, the great grandson of the founder and the fourth generation at Allen Kitchen as he was sharing some info about the place. The eatery is currently run by Manicklal, Hiralal and Biren Saha, three grandsons of Jiban Krishna, Hiralal’s son Dipak and Biren’s son Goutam.
Without hesitation I started my journey with the famous Prawn Cutlet. Inside the Ghee fried covering the juicy prawns and the soft filling actually melts in the mouth. Pure delight! What I liked best, it was really very juicy, appropriate for a prawn dish. While enjoying the cutlet I started reading their menu card.
Special Prawn Cutlet
Allen Kitchen Menu
Fish Cutlet
Compared to millions of small eateries in the town, the menu at Allen is quite short. But you will have a tough time deciding what to order. Of course the Prawn Cutlet is the all time favorite, but the Fish Cutlet, Fish Roll, Chicken Stack or Devil are nothing less satisfying. Most of their special items are fried in Ghee (clarified butter) and not oil, which adds to the taste. Ask for a recipe and you will hit dead end instantly. They are well kept secrets and the main tasks are handled by the family members only.
Goutam Saha’s Catering Service
Allen Kitchen is a favorite name among Kolkata foodies but the family behind it is not very keen for publicity. They know their job very well and they prefer to do that only. But surely they have become synonymous with food and restaurant. Goutam Saha started his career as a chef in a five star Mumbai hotel and Manicklal’s son Debabrata is a successful restaurateur in Toronto, Canada (Popular as Debu Saha, he owns Debu’s Nouvelle Indian Cuisine and The Biryani House). Goutam Saha have also started a multicuisine catering service and we can hope to enjoy some Allen specialties at our private parties too 🙂
Next it was turn for yet another Ghee fried specialty. The Fish Cutlet! Great taste, good size and fat filling. Boy! I loved it 😛 Just look at the image and you can have an idea of how fat the fish fillet is. It is not the regular fry or cutlet where the fillet is slim and the remaining portion filled up with keema masala.
Allen Kitchen
Allen Kitchen Board
The restaurant was initially in Allen Market on Chitpur. The current address (40/1, Jatindra Mohan Avenue) started as a branch. The old shop in the meantime was shifted to a new place nearby and finally closed down early 1992. For the seasoned Calcutta foodies Allen Kitchen needs no introduction. But for the new gang let’s see how we can reach this place.
From the Sovabazar Metro / Grey Street (now Aurobinda Sarani) four point crossing start walking towards Girish Park taking the left side footpath. Leaving three narrow lanes to the left and walking for about 3 minutes will take you in front of a green colored gate with the Allen Kitchen board hanging from it. It’s a small place with the outer room serving as the kitchen and a inner dining room. Do not expect anything flashy. Just order some great food which are served cleanly and enjoy the heavenly taste. The place remains open from 4pm to 9pm, but try to reach before seven if you don’t want to hear out of stock while ordering anything.
Dining Room
Hiralal and son Dipak busy preparing fries
Six pieces of ghee fried fish pakoras were what I was attacking next 😛 I just wanted to try all the items in the menu. But both the pocket and my stomach refused to support me. They were moving in the opposite directions, and I was forced to order the last dish 🙁
I was asking Goutam da about the new additions in the menu and he advised Chicken Stack. What arrived was minced chicken patty fried and then cooked on a light and sweetish onion and pepper sauce. Basically, a version of minced chicken steak. I loved the sauce . Not too sweet, a bit peppery and with a hint of ghee as well which was used to fry the steak. The chicken patty was juicy and well seasoned. A must try according to me 🙂
Chicken Stack
Fish Pakora
I will be back very soon to taste the other items in the menu and write about them. Meanwhile try the delicacies yourself and let me know what you think about them. I am sure you will just love them. Happy eating 🙂
Update
They have renovated the dining area. So its cleaner now.
Also going through the new menu card I found they have now renamed Chicken Stack as Chicken Steak.
Good job with the blog! Kolkata lacks its share of food blogs and yours is a welcome relief…Try forming a gang with fellow foodies so that you could cover more of the Kolkata food scene.
Best,
Avik
Thanks for your comment Avik! Will try and cover as much as possible. My wife and I love to try everything that is available – from raw octopus to chicken kebab. Hope you will like the rest of the content and the future posts too 🙂
excellent article .Need to know of more such joints of North calcutta.
Thanks for your comment Kallol. North Calcutta have quite a few joints which serve mouth watering dishes as well as have quite some history to tell. Will try to write about more such places in the near future.
Quite! This was a very great article. Thanks for the offered details.
Thanks sumit.
I have tried the prawn cutlet along with the fish kabiraji.Never had a prawn cutlet like that before.Reminded me of the famous slogan of maggi tomato ketchup “its different”
Even the fish kabiraji was better than the one which is available in south calcutta.
But the ambience was not good .
Great to hear you liked the food 🙂 It is one of my favorite fry joints.
Yes the ambiance is bit shabby. But I have compromised with it because firstly I can at least get the good fries and secondly specially the prawn and fish cutlet doesn’t taste that great if bought home and re heated. Hope they find a better place soon 🙂
I was doing a little bit of research on the old eateries in Calcutta and your blog came up. I would like to thank you for the wonderful job you are doing. I am a Calcuttan having to stay in Madras for work. And I badly miss the city. I will be in Calcutta from the beginning of October and have noted some of the places I would like to visit and document. Thanks again.
Thanks Saptarshi! It’s encouraging and good to hear you liked my effort 🙂
I must convey my heartfelt thanks to you for this post. Thanks to this post I could spot Allen for the first time in my life, after several failed attempts following newspaper write-ups that never gave the right direction.
The post is elaborate and enriches one with a pretty impressive knowledge about this time-tasted joint.
Am extremely keen to try it out at the first opportunity.
Hi Anirban,
Great to know you found my effort helpful. Hope you like the food there too 🙂
Great job you are doing!!! you are my Idol!!!
He he!!
🙂
Keep going….
This is truly interesting info, I’m from Calcutta but living in US now so badly miss Calcutta food, but the next time I’m there will surely try it. Thanks again…
Rahul,
Thanks and hope you will like the food there
Hey really great write-up… thanks so much for the review. This rocks!
Thanks Ritobroto 🙂
dear sumit, ur article was really good and informative. i will surely try this time and go by your menu. and i will keep in mind your suggestions. i am from south kolkata and would like to know more about thhe best joints in north kolkata. i still believe that north makes the best misti, sondesh and other varieties tucked in the lanes and bylanes of north. i got the first taste of north when i was doing my mba from iiswbm. came across such good eating joints in colootola street where you get the world best ‘suti kebabs, royal biriyani and other joints around college stree and hedua.mind blowing food but dont anything else like decor, ambience etc.thanks again…
Shiv,
Its good to hear that you liked the write up. The eating joints on Colootola and Zakaria street are really heavenly. Will try and do more write ups like this 🙂
m dieing 2 taste d chicken steak & prawn cutlet………..
Please don’t B4 you taste for what you r here. They r just best in D world.
Great Stuff. Am planning to visit Cal around June this year. Will you be kind enough to suggest some more of these hidden gems in your city.
Regards
Ramesh
enlightening writing
male me more of such nostalgic joints if you plez. though i am not from kol, but visit the city regularly for food, fun & books.
wish to meet you for a food trail.
till then
angshuman
Wow, looks like I great place! Sorry I missed it when I was in Kolkata a while back. I love little long established eateries like this though, in my opinion they are often far better than larger fancier restaurants!
I think the average lifespan of a restaurant in NYC is 6 months, so over a century is quite impressive. I would love to dig into that prawn cutlet. That is a new dish to me and I’m sure I could down a couple in one sitting!
Praw,fish cutlet, those look fantastic! I could really try some of that! Thanks for the recommendation!
This food is my cup of tea!
Looks yummy.
I feel very deprived that I have never had a prawn cutlet. It looks delicious!
A century is crazy! Food looks great!
Interesting post! Thanks for sharing and enlightening me with food options from this region of the world!
I actually trust better restaurants that have a short menu. Too much stuff on it creates confusion and that’s when you know that most of the food is not fresh.
It’s always great to see a restaurant stay in business for so long with a loyal following! Do they offer any vegetarian or vegan dishes?
It’s very hard to read the rest of the post after your mouth-watering description of the prawn cutlet 🙂 Great tips!
Nice article! I always feel hungry when it’s concerns food 🙂 Thanks for sharing this recommendation!
130 years in business, the must definitely know what they’re doing!
Great info, I think it is always wonderful to have some inside knowledge on where to eat and what to order when traveling or moving somewhere. I will for sure use your blog as a place to check out for food in India!
They must indeed be doing something right if they exist that long 🙂 Looks tasty!
glad they’ve cleaned it up! Food looks amazing
Looks delicious! I’m a HUGE fan of prawns, and any seafood for that matter, and will add it to my travel list of places to check out! Thanks!
Looks delicious! I’m a HUGE fan of prawns, and any seafood for that matter, and will add it to my travel list of places to check out! Thanks! 🙂
It looks very tasty! Would love to try some. I’ll keep this restaurant in mind if I’m ever around this place 😀
All of this looks and sounds delicious. I love trying new foods at local restaurants.
I love trying out new recipes. I look forward to seeing what you post here. Yum!
Sounds like a great a place. Thank you for sharing something So dear to you.
Food looks yum! I’m glad they cleaned their dining area, no one wants to eat in a dirty cafe 😀
Great job with the article and it sounds like a wonderful place to be. Food looks superbly amazing I might add 😉
This looks quite fabulous! And with all those flavors, I can imagine it would be beautifully fragrant and tasty too 🙂