Book excerpt: Calcutta has always been Bengal’s kitchen. This is the city where the distinctive and subtle cuisine of Bengal has met and danced with culinary influences from all over the world, brought in by wave after wave of colonizing rulers. Calcutta’s cuisine has been enriched by cooking methods, styles, ingredients and tastes from countries as far apart as China and Britain, from cultures as dissimilar as Mughal and Dutch, and cooking styles as varied as Avadhi and Syrian. The restaurant Oh! Calcutta captures this unique cuisine, serving flavours and tastes per-fected over generations. With the signature recipes in this book, you can recreate these unforgettable dishes in your own kitchen and enjoy the delicious legacy of a city that keeps reinventing itself.