Food Festivals & Food Events in Kolkata

Kolkata's food calendar follows its festivals and its seasons, and something is always in season. Winter, from late November to February, is the high point: nolen gur, the new date-palm jaggery, turns up in sandesh and rosogolla, pithe-puli rice cakes are made around Poush Sankranti in mid-January, Park Street restaurants run Christmas menus, and open-air food festivals take over grounds, club lawns and mall forecourts on weekends. The monsoon is ilish season, when Bengali restaurants hold hilsa festivals. Durga Puja has its own food culture of bhog at the pandals and stalls of rolls, chops and biryani outside them, and Poila Boishakh in April means special Bengali thalis. Around these, restaurants and hotels programme regional pop-ups, chef collaborations, tasting menus and beer and cocktail weeks, and walking-tour companies run street-food and 'cabin' restaurant trails through New Market and College Street. Fixed fixtures worth knowing include the early-morning Chinese breakfast at Tiretta Bazaar, the Tangra Chinese restaurants in the evening and the kebab and haleem stalls of Zakaria Street during Ramzan. This page lists food festivals, pop-ups, tastings, food walks and festive menus across Kolkata, Salt Lake, New Town and Howrah.