Flury’s – Nostalgia and Old Park Street

Park Street in Kolkata used to be the fun place to hang out in when I was growing up. Even today, this tiny street with all its regalia, traffic and limited parking is all about the colonial history of Kolkata, a place you must visit at least once on your travels. In particular, the confectionary called Flury’s. A swiss confectionary, a special place where you could get tea, cakes, cookies and breakfast.

Back then, whenever my father was visiting he would bring me here for a special treat. In August this year when I visited I went down, mostly to visit a music store where comming to think of it I have picked up an assortment of Bengali movies that I have not yet made time to watch. I reached early, I forget that shops open later in Kolkata, so I went in to see if I could conjure some of that special magic. A part of me was very hesistant, since this was a very fond memory and as most of us know, something is always brighter, lighter and sweeter in ones memories.

A still majestic place, when I went in they were still doing breakfast. There was no concept of Brunch, at 12:30 they cut off for lunch. I decided to order an order of scrambled eggs, tea and cookies and their much touted baked beans on toast. Something that I used to love…

My need to savor and sample everything often prompts me to order way more than I can ever imagine finishing in India, but nonetheless I persist happy to see the food, savor the moments of satisfaction when it comes. I did not drink tea in my school days and now as most readers know, I love my tea with a passion. The instution with its marble floors and monogrammed paper napkings did not disappoint me with its tea. The selection was not huge, but the well brewed pot of darjeeling that arrived was the right temperature and had tea leaves steeping in the white teapot. It is difficult to believe but good tea is becoming a dying art. It is always disappoint to me to find the offending tea bag when I order tea.

Breakfast was a quite peaceful affair, allowing me some time to reflect something that is too rare an occurance in my life, especially here in the US. I knew but still did not accept that it was my swansong visit with Dad. It was ironic to sit here and realize that I would not be eating with him out again…

The tea was complete with tiny tea cookies that were served with the tea. Then came breakfast. The scrammbled eggs as predicted were a lot and then I had the baked beans on toast to boot.

So, the question here was how good was the food. Actually, the baked beans were still almost every bit as good as I remembered finished with the tiny miced onions and green chilies. What I did not like anymore was white bread and both the eggs and the baked beans came on well buttered slices of white bread a la colonial India.

 

I hope I am back some time, with more time on my hand to repose and enjoy more tea, maybe this time with some of the black forest pastries that I loved so much. For now, I just keep this experience in mind and enjoy my stash of movies over the holidays.