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Shrim Chakraborty is a woman with a mission.
At 27 years old, she has just opened her first restaurant Calcutta Street, after 5 years of creating well-loved and successful pop ups. Meeting Shrim at a sit-down tasting in her own living room, she opened the door with a warm grin: her passion bubbles out of her, spilling into the room and infecting anyone within earshot.
After tasting practically her entire menu (of which we loved every single dish), we sat down with Shrim to learn how she became a rising star on London's food scene...
Where does your inspiration come from for Calcutta Street?
The inspiration was firstly my Mum. I was an extremely fussy eater, and Mum had to experiment with food all the time. To make me like something, to make me eat vegetables – she made it exciting. That was definitely the root of it.
When I came to the UK, I saw how Indian culture is represented in restaurants; red napkins, Bollywood music, slapstick interiors - and for me that was wrong. I went there as a guilty pleasure, if I really craved something, but I never liked the food. It was always creamy, it made me feel bloated. That’s how I started cooking at home. I cooked Mum’s recipes, and people loved them. I started thinking why there wasn’t a restaurant that’s cool and trendy, and breaks the stereo type.
India is a massive sub-continent, but Indian food as a whole is just shoved into one box. No chef in this entire world can be specialist in all the different Indian food. North of India uses a lot of butter or cream - but you’d never find that down south. When people from Calcutta came over to Europe, the women were fantastic chefs, but they never went out to cook. Across India you’ll find very few Bengali restaurants, even in Calcutta. I want to stay true to this one region in India, and do it justice.
How much fight did it take for you to get to this point, at only 27? You’re an inspiration!
It was only at the launch when I realised it, all my life I’ve been at a mediocre level. Even in school, I was a 70/80% person, but I always blagged my way through. I never felt passion towards anything. I was complacent. I did my masters over here, in Manchester, and that was when I started getting more serious. I started doing my blog, over 5 years, and it started getting major acknowledgement. This is the first thing I threw myself at entirely.
Are you nervous about opening your very first restaurant? Or have all your successful pop ups prepared you for this moment?
Honestly no, I didn’t have the time to be. The Independent did an interview with me, she sent me some questions and I sent over some answers, it didn’t seem like a big deal. And then she did a full page layout! With a big photo of me! I had casually said I wanted to do pop ups, literally because it sounded trendy. And then it became the tagline! I somehow blagged my way through. I walked into a Camden bar one day, saw it wasn’t busy, and asked to speak to the owner Steve. I don’t know where I get the confidence, but I told him about my blog and followers, and I propositioned him with ‘if you let me cook the food one Sunday afternoon, and I guarantee 50 people through the door, why not’. And for some reason he said yes! I then walked up to the owner of Cobra (I knew him through my job at the time), and I again propositioned him on the side. He was sweet, and surprised me with ‘I’ll sponsor all your pop ups!’ There ended up being about 100 people queueing, nightmare, nothing was right, but the food was loved greatly. The offers just kept coming monthly from that point onwards. I was cooking and cleaning, chucking on my heels and waitressing, doing the marketing, I was a one-man band. I ended up making myself ill, and Felix, my boyfriend, encouraged me to power through and think of the next step.
What’s the biggest misconception people have when it comes to yourself?
'She’s young and she’s all about the short skirts and partying’ - all fun and no brains. I loved it when I turned to a friend, and asked him for help to find funding, and he laughed and said ‘You? Never! I’m not going to ruin my reputation’. Nine months down the line, he’s my project manager, and I pay him a lot of money. That’s definitely always the biggest misconception.
What can we expect to see on your menu? What should we NEVER expect to see on it? Anything you’ve got that somewhere else won’t have?
We’ve sourced all our food from local suppliers, we’re all about consumer responsibility and sustainability. We’ve got a mixture of dishes like Whitebait (Mach Bhaja), or Crab Kari (Kankrar Jhal). The Macher Paturi, a Seabass steamed in banana or the popular Kosha Mangsho, which is a rich hearty lamb curry - surprisingly enough Calcutta’s answer to a Sunday roast. And our lunch time egg roll! Something like the Laal Saag, an exotic dish of red spinach – you’ll never find that anywhere else in London. We also offer little starters on the house for every single person!
Tell us about your drinks
Our drinks menu is all about London, for example our beers are all London draft. Our cocktails are all inspired from Calcutta. The Bengali Rose is always popular: East London Liquor Company Vodka, bitters, rose, ginger and prosecco. The Tarun’s Tipple is actually inspired by my dad. He has this way of drinking, he has a tray, and he has a bottle of Johnnie Walker, a glass, Chaat Masala, fruit and an ash tray. It’s the most instagrammed thing on the menu! (At this point Shrim taught us how to do it, have a sip and then bite the dipped-in-spice apple slice, it was AMAZING)
Is it important for you to share these stories with customers?
Of course! I tell every single person, I always make my way around. Everybody who leaves the restaurant, leaves with a smile. It also works really well with occasionally difficult customers, sitting down, having a drink with them, chatting to them about where their food and drink has come from. It can completely change a meal.
If you simply had to choose your favourite dish, what would it be? What should we be trying?
It’s so hard! Just one thing? One?! Okay okay, the Kosha Mangsho, the hearty Lamb curry, to eat with the Luchi, which is a type of bread you break open and dip with. It’s delicious.
Is there anything you’d love us to look out for in your interior design? Any special pieces?
What I didn't want was just slapstick India, I wanted little things that were influenced directly from the source. The tonne of fans around – they’re just made from local elderly ladies in the village, they were so shocked when I bought so many! Bengali bed posts, very traditional. The Art is by Bengali artists. We’ve got a mural artist coming in and painting on the walls, upstairs and down, just to give a little extra. The downstairs design will be extra special, transferring you directly to Calcutta. Definitely something to look out for.
What should we rock up wearing? Are we going formal or informal?
Oh please, informal, anything, come in your shorts or Saris or jeans - dress however you want. It’s modern, it’s casual, it’s not pretentious. I want you to feel at home!
Without giving your game plan away too much, what are your aims going forward? Branching out?
I’ll definitely focus on this one for 6 months, and reassess. If we’re going strong then we’ll definitely open a new branch in a year, perhaps back to Shoreditch, I feel like I belong there. All my staff are aware that they’ll progress as we progress, they’re not here just to waitress or cook, we’re a family. My kitchen porter Celia, she’s really pretty and so sweet, and she’s doing a degree in Marketing. So I said here’s the access to our Instagram account, do some marketing if you’d like, and if you’re good I’ll move you to marketing. I’m all about people showing initiative, I want them to feel like they’re part of something.
If there’s anyone reading heading, or thinking of heading, down your business path, would advice would you give them?
Patience is important, but it’s more important to ignore what everyone else says. Look at your destination and and go get there. Know your goal and just go for it. Don’t give people a choice, be an adamant person, don’t let people stop you. I don’t like all this flowery ‘believe in yourself!’ talk - just go and do it. I’m lucky, I owe a lot to my dad, he made me have a lot to prove. It’s good to have someone like that.
I’ve done this with a lot of heart, a lot of passion. It might not be perfect, but I don’t want it to be perfect, that’s not what a home feels like. People will leave here with a smile on their face and a belly full of food, and I can’t wait to see more of what London thinks.
Calcutta Street opened on the 4th of August, at 29 Tottenham Street, London.