Eating Bengali properly: a first menu for visitors

Bengali food is served in an order, and eating it out of order is the most common mistake visitors make in Kolkata.

A proper meal moves from bitter to sweet: a bitter dish first to open the palate, then something plain with rice, then vegetables, then fish, then meat if there is any, then chutney, then sweets. Restaurants will bring it all at once if you let them. Ask for it in sequence and the meal makes a completely different kind of sense.

The fish is the point. Ilish — hilsa — is the one Bengal argues about, at its best during the monsoon, full of bones and worth the trouble. Bhetki is the accessible alternative and what most restaurants will steer you towards. Ask for shorshe — the mustard preparation — at least once: raw mustard paste with green chilli is the flavour that defines the cuisine, and it is sharp in a way nothing else in Indian cooking is.

For vegetarians, the range is wider than the reputation suggests. Shukto, the bitter opening dish, and the various posto — poppy seed — preparations are the ones to ask for.

End with mishti doi, the sweet set yoghurt, and at least one sandesh. Bengali sweets are milk-based rather than syrup-based and are the least cloying in the country.

Where to eat it: the specialist Bengali restaurants rather than the multi-cuisine ones, and lunch rather than dinner. This is a cuisine designed around a midday meal.