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In honour of Atithi Indian Restaurant’s second anniversary, several food lovers and journalists were invited to a seven-course supper, served Bengali style.

Bengal was a historic key player in the trade industry, due to its strategic location near several bodies of water including the Ganges river and Bay of Bengal. The silt brought by the Ganges was deposited in this area, thereby making it very fertile for year-round grain, fruit, and vegetable cultivation. Having several bodies of water nearby brought a healthy population of fish, adding further variety to Bengali cuisine and making it a very popular type of Indian cooking style today.

Chef Roy was on hand to introduce all of the dishes that we were served. The dishes included chicken, goat, and seafood as pork and beef are rarely used in Bengali cooking.

We began our evening with two appetizers: a Banana blossom cutlet served with Masala Mayonnaise, and Calcutta khaki rolls stuffed with Paneer and served with English cucumber salad and mango chutney for dipping. I selected Mission Hill’s Chardonnay to enjoy all the dishes with.

[Calcutta Khati Rolls with Cucumber Salad]

[Bitter Gourd with Sweet Organic Squash Sabji]

The Bitter Gourd dish was complemented with a sweet squash sabji, a type of curry that served as a counterbalance to the curiously bitter gourd taste.

[Mahi-Mahi in Mustard Curry]

My Mahi-Mahi was very flavourful, cooked in a mustard curry, and served alongside basmati rice. The chicken curry with lentil cake was another delicious taste experience altogether.

[Chicken in Yogurt Curry with Lentil Cake]

[Goat Curry with Mashed Taro Roots]

I’d never tasted goat meat until last night. Atithi features a Bengali style Goat Curry dish on their menu. It’s served with mashed taro root and seasoned chapatis. The meat is very dark and has a heavier flavour than chicken or beef. It was easily chewable off the bone and the taro was a good choice to complement the hearty meat.

[Mango Mousse with Xoxolat Crème Brûlée Chocolate]

A sweet mango mousse rounded off our meal. It arrived with a Cardamom crème brûlée bonbon from nearby chocolate heaven Xoxolat. The smooth fruity-sweet mousse was a welcome finish to the meal. The crème brûlée filling was surrounded by a coat of pure dark chocolate. The cardamom flavour was only hinted at, a good thing since I’m not a huge fan of the spice. Perhaps the chocolate married so well with the crème brûlée that it was meant to be this way.

Atithi will also be joining Vancouver Foodster in their Taste the World event on February 22nd. Atithi is located at 2445 Burrard Street near Broadway.