"No one is as experimental with food as Bengalis"

Brut India

This Durga Puja Brut visits an iconic sweet shop in Kolkata to get a taste of Bengal’s obsession with all things mishti.  #CheeniSaMeethaIndia

Transcript

00:00In winters, we make around 30,000 to 40,000 pieces of Baked Roshogolla.

00:21We're at the place that introduced the world to the wonder of Baked Roshogolla.

00:25Let's dig in.

00:26I needed a private moment with the sweet after that,

00:29but the regular customers didn't hold back.

00:59While these customers enjoy their sweets and snacks,

01:02let us take you through the history of this iconic place.

01:05In 1880, after migrating to Kolkata from Konnaghor,

01:08Ganesh Chandra Mulek started working in a sweet shop.

01:12Five years later, this dreamer set up his own sweet shop right here in Bhavanipuri.

01:29Later, the legacy continued with Ganesh's brother Balaram Mulek and his son Radharaman Mulek,

01:41giving the shop its name and identity.

01:44Now, Mr. Balaram's great grandson, Sudeep, along with his father, Mr. Pradeep Mulek,

01:50is continuing the family business.

01:59I've been trained in five-star hotels, in the kitchen of five-star hotels.

02:10I've always loved cooking since I was a kid.

02:12So, I started experimenting.

02:15The brand expanded their menu,

02:17introducing Kolkata to never-seen-before fusion sweets with mixed reactions.

02:23Bengalis are not as experimental in terms of food.

02:28They love trying new things.

02:31That's what excited everyone.

02:34But I've also found a resistance.

02:36Thara has said,

02:37I'm selling sweets.

02:39I'm making rasogollas.

02:41I'm making pithas.

02:42Pitha was always a taboo.

02:44No one would make pitha outside the house.

02:46We started selling pitha first.

02:48So, the pitha was slowly getting destroyed.

02:51We are proud that we rescued pitha.

02:54This gamble to merge tradition with innovation

02:58has a sweet ending.

03:20With growing demand,

03:21Sudip had to rethink production as well.

03:24There's no machinery available for making Bengali sweets.

03:27One of the best machines that I have installed so far

03:30was a mochi-making machine from Japan.

03:32In one hour,

03:3410 people used to make 1,000 pieces of jolbhara sandesh.

03:38With this machine,

03:38only one person is required to make 8,000 pieces of jolbhara sandesh in one hour.

03:44Till date, the best-selling sweet is jolbhara sandesh

03:47and you can say bek rasogolla.

03:50We do a lot of mischi doi also.

03:51We have a huge mischi doi incubator.

03:54In winters, we make around 30,000-40,000 pieces of bek rasogolla.

04:00Some other confectionery shops have maybe 10 varieties,

04:03but Balram Malik has around 50 plus varieties.

04:06The varieties of sandesh can only be found at Balram Malik.

04:10It's very different from what we normally eat.

04:13Falafel patties, which I love a lot.

04:17We experiment a lot.

04:20For example, patal-e-dorma.

04:22No one sells patal-e-dorma anywhere.

04:24We started selling patal-e-dorma.

04:27Chhana dal, ghuni khichuri.

04:30We bring as many Bengali snacks as possible to people.

04:39During the puja, we make bhog-e-thali.

04:42It has ghuni khichuri, aloo-dum,

04:44phulkopi-torkari, payas, and chutney.

04:47We present Bengali thali to people.

04:52Legend says that the educator Ashutosh Mukherjee

04:55was a big fan of founder Ganesh Chandra Malik's

04:58famous korapak sandesh.

05:00But Mr. Sudeep has his own special admirer.

05:03Mango gelato sandesh.

05:05Sachin Tendulkar used to call me and say,

05:08I never had something like this in my life.

05:10Can I get some for my kids?

05:12Sudeep hopes to give Bengali sweets

05:15their rightful place in the world someday.

05:18You can't get good sweets from West Bengal.

05:20I want to make the name Balaram Malik

05:23synonymous to Calcutta.

05:25I will say, come to Bangla, see Bangla,

05:28and eat Bangla sweets.

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