Even in a metropolis where tradition and food combine to cook an aromatic broth, where seekers comb barely navigable warrens for an authentic ladleful, 12, GanÂesh Chandra Avenue is unlÂikÂely to ring a bell. Tucked away in a timeworn corner off Central Avenue, one of Calcutta바카라™s busiest thoroughfares, where hisÂÂtory makes a defiant stand on either side of its long stretch from Esplanade to Girish Park, our family restaurant, Eau Chew, has been part of the City of Joy바카라™s heritage.
This is Eau Chew바카라™s 100th year. It is Calcutta바카라™s oldest family-run Chinese eatery, one that hasn바카라™t succumbed to cheesy commercialisation or kitschy publicity. For most people, Calcutta바카라™s famed Chinese eateries mean those on Park Street or China Town in Topsia or Tangra in the east. But which Chinese restaurant can claim to have a son cooking the pork and stewing the chicken, the mother preparing the sauces and noodles and the wife doubling up as a cashier-cum-waiter?
Eau Chew, or 바카라˜Europe바카라™ in ChinÂese, goes well with the old cosmopolitanism of CalÂÂcutta, polished to perfection like an heirloom made of teak. It is part of cenÂtÂral Calcutta바카라™s heritage, much like two of the city바카라™s oldest theatre houses, MahajÂati Sadan and Star. With two media houÂses바카라”Anandabazar Patrika and The StaÂÂÂÂÂtÂesman, Calcutta Medical College, CalÂÂÂÂÂÂÂcutta University and heritage offices like CESC at Victoria House and engiÂnÂeering firm M.N. Dastoor on Mission Row in its vicinity, Eau Chew has had an emotional connect with passing generations.
Food is all about trust and promise. Which Calcutta street doesn바카라™t have a 바카라˜Chinese바카라™ restaurant? We never wanted to compete in terms of volume of revenue or scale up by opening branches in multiplexes. Ever since our grandfather, born in Calcutta, set up Eau Chew in 1919, it has remained a joint family business. We are the fourth generation running it and doing fairly well, despite the pandemic restricting dine-in opportunities. Calcutta is where the Huang family바카라™s heart and soul is. My mother바카라™s dad had opened a branch in Bandra, Mumbai, but closed it about 35 years ago. Many family-members migrated to Canada, but my father clung on to Eau Chew. After he died in 2010, me and mum have run this place and kept in touch with our patrons, many of them in their 60s and 70s. The fact that we have managed to survive, when old Chinese eateries like Nanking, Song Hay or Chung-Wah have either shut down or changed hands, is testimony to the unchanging quality of our food. Our dishes are more 바카라˜Chinese바카라™ (Cantonese) because we don바카라™t use ajinomoto (monosodium glutamate) and the sauces, especially the soya sauce, is home made.
While the smoky chimney soup (above), meat ball soup and pork chilly are our famous dishes, a noodle named after my mother, Josephine, has been our signature dish for decades. So what바카라™s special about Josephine noodles? The story goes like this: One day, a ravenously hungry Bengali customer, Dipu Roy Chowdhury, walks in during lunchtime. He asks my mother, who is a terrific cook, to make something special and stuff it with everything 바카라˜non-veg바카라™. So mum mixes a portion of vegetables, mushroom, chicken, prawn, fish and pork with pan-fried noodles and proÂÂduces a heavenly dish. It바카라™s duly christened 바카라˜Josephine Noodles바카라™바카라”a staple in every food review.
Our clientele has mostly been Bengalis. The older generation continue to order takeaways. Crafting food keeps the family going and despite the option to buy Vietnamese Basa instead of CalÂÂcutta Bhetki, we have not compromised with quality. The meat and fish continue to come from 바카라˜Hogg Market바카라™ or New Market, while standard sauces are best got from Poddar Court, an area that saw the first Chinese families and eateries. But we have a problem. No, the 바카라˜Boycott China바카라™ campaign has not worried us one bit. Our association with Calcutta is over 100 years old and a city that has grown calluses through its long cohabitation with diversity will never let politics sour old ties. We are getting increasingly worried about land sharks. Ours is a rented house. The restaurant is on the first floor and us four live on the fourth. For the last 70 years, we have paid a rent of Rs 400 a month. The landlords want us out now. We are fighting a case in court. There are no proper documents; the clerk who first registered our family name in Calcutta spelt 바카라˜Huang바카라™ as 바카라˜Young바카라™. Nobody really cared, but times have changed. Our clients have been our biggest support. We are more Calcuttan than Chinese and what바카라™s cooking for lunch at home is not chimney soup or noodles, but the simple and tasty daal and bhaat (yellow pulses and rice)!
바카라”As told to Soumitra Bose
