The true flavours of Kolkata are not to be found in the rich, commercial Biryani Handis or the mass produced Momos. Neither will you be able to savour them at a fancy Bangali restaurant that claims to have unearthed Grandma's secret recipe. It is likely to be found in the handful of Pice Hotels that have been around for decades, serving simple, homegrown, hearty meals at inflation resistant prices.
The history of Pice Hotels goes back to the time when the Pice was a monetary unit of British India at one time. Equal to one quarter of an Anna, which was the equivalent of 1/64th of a Rupee or 1/4 of an Anna. If none of that rings a bell, let's just say the value of a Pice was next to nothing even a hundred years ago, exactly what the meals in these eateries used to cost. Hence the name.
Pice hotels derive their name from the Hindi word "paisa" – the lowest denomination of the Indian rupee. Named for their ability to provide wholesome, home-like meals for cheap. Scores of Pice hotels littered Kolkata's cityscape in the early 1900s when the city was a bustling metropolis, swarming with migrants who came here to work. These workers were mostly middle-class single men who did not know how to cook and missed the comforts of their family kitchens. Pice hotels offered both familiarity and nourishment to these homesick young men.
Coffee houses catering to British residents were the first retail eateries in India. But Pice hotels stand out as "the first commercial indigenous eating places in the city. People moved from rural to urban areas as the economy shifted from Agrarian to Industrial, and these hotels sprung up to meet its needs. Many Pice hotels started as the kitchens of Messbaris, cheap boarding houses for students and office workers.
The tradition of serving a regular three-course homely Hindu meal, non-vegetarian dishes and dishes cooked without onion and garlic in an unpretentious setting, with dishes that would remind one of home, has remained a staple of the oldest surviving Pice hotels in the city.
Most Pice Hotels were bare bones. Sometimes you had to sit cross legged on the floor, at others, rudimentary wooden benches would be provided. Tables are usually shared but each seat has a separate bill. Menu of the day depended on the day's fresh catch and seasonal produce. Always handwritten on a black board. Billing system was manned by waiters who would memorise not only the menu but also the exact details of the order. You ate. You paid. You took a pinch of the Mouri and walked out. Feeling full. But your wallet not that much lighter.
Pice hotels are unique in their service; meals would be served on banana leaf plates to customers seated on mats on the floor. The recipes were strictly traditional, often included dishes such as Alu Posto with Poppy seed paste, Kumro phool bhaja made from Pumpkin blossoms, and the mildly spiced Prawn, Chingri macher malai curry in Coconut milk. The price and menu would change daily, depending on what was available in the market that morning. To keep the overhead costs low and to avoid waste, everything down to the last lime sliver and including the banana leaf was priced individually.
These unpretentious eating houses served yet another purpose, at least some of them did. During India's freedom movement, many of them offered cheap and even free meals to Independence activists and freedom fighters. A handful of them even hosted Revolutionaries, who met here in secret to discuss their plans for the Resistance. Some owners even named their hotels to show their Patriotism. After independence, M.N. Panda added "Swadhin Bharat", or "Free India", to the hotel's name. Tarapada Guha named his hotel Young Bengal Hotel after a radical Bengali free-thinkers movement that contributed to social reform.
Though steeped in history, most Pice hotels have been unable to keep up with rising food prices and the changing demands of the modern city. Many have closed, and with them has gone an important part of Kolkata's food history. Some of the most popular Pice hotels of yore have managed to stand their ground, good food, friendly pricing and unpretentious service still score over gimmicks. The distinctive taste of Hasher Dimer dalna at Tarun Niketan, or the Kobiraji Patla Jhol of Siddheshweri Ashram, the delicious Chital Peti of Jagannath Ashram or Jiol maccher jhol of Swadhin Bharat Hindu Hotel, still have their loyalists.
Despite the march of commercialization, tables and chairs have now replaced the floor mats, the service at these Pice hotels has not changed. Visitors still get to revel in the customary experience of eating on banana leaf plates, and a regular three-course meal is still cheap at about rupees 200, a little more than 2 euros. Even today, everyone from Indian workers to international tourists can step into these traditional eateries that follow age-old rules and recipes to savour what is arguably the most authentic Bengali cuisine in Kolkata.
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