Payal Saha Brings Calcutta to Manhattan
By Nina M. Mehta

Big Band music rumbles in the background, wine glasses flirtatiously clink with one another and the dish at the table next to you asks you, ever so innocently, to take a chance on it. This is Babu and your host Payal Saha welcomes you, almost as if by accident.

Payal Saha opened up Babu, her love letter to Calcutta’s eclectic cuisine a little over three months ago in the heart of Greenwich Village not far from her first attempt at introducing Calcutta to New York, The Kati Roll Company. The Kati Roll Company brought the much loved and much missed street food of Saha’s hometown to her adopted home of New York with much success. She is hoping to do the same with Babu.

Babu 99 Macdougal St. (near Bleecker St.) New York, NY 10012 212-979-2228

Ask Saha to tell you about Calcutta and she will eagerly tell you much about her city, known and unknown. For example, Calcutta is home to the oldest Chinatown in the world. “Calcutta actually, at some point was a very flourishing city, especially in the 19th century and it was a melting pot of so many cultures, and the food was very diverse as were the people.” Saha’s homage to her city is evident when you eye Babu’s menu. You see selections reflecting the city’s cosmopolitan heritage – Muslim, Tibetan, Bengali and Indo-Chinese dishes all share room on the pages. In fact, the first page of the menu is a primer on this history detailing the city’s various cultural and gastronomic influences.

“Calcutta, the eastern city of India has been at the cultural crossroads for many centuries. Cantonese Chinese first started migrating in the late 18th Century. A unique Islamic culture flowed here quite distinct from the rest of the country…Add to that the Armenian, Tibetan, Burmese and Jewish settlements over the centuries…The menu is a small reflection of these diverse influences and a sampling of local Bengali cuisine.” From Babu's Menu

New York having a distinct and particularly cutthroat restaurant scene may seem like a daunting place to start a mini-empire, but Saha is remarkably unfazed. The almost reluctant restaurateur freely admits her strategy was primarily a trial and error process with a dash of luck. The location of The Kati Roll Company, which in hindsight seems like an obvious choice was a fluke. The first location did not come through and the MacDougal Street location just happened to open up at around the same time, despite not being Saha’s first choice. Babu, quietly housed under Kati Roll in the same building, came about in a similar manner. Her landlord informed her that the space was opening should she want it and she took it, all the while not having formally planned to open another restaurant.

Despite these strokes of luck, there is a shrewd businesswoman with a keen sense of what she needs. The impetus for opening Babu was more instinctual than strategic. Much like with Kati Roll, Saha felt she was not finding the type of food she herself would want to eat. “I feel the representation of Indian food in this country is just North Indian food – Chicken Tikka Masala, which is very nice but not the only thing. India has so much food and such good food.”

Saha’s husband Anil Bathwal, a Creative Director in advertising was responsible for the design, look and feel of both outposts. Babu’s is in contrast to Kati Roll, a minimalist setting but with a warm, inviting feel to the space. “The whole space has been done by my husband. He bounced ideas of me and stuff, but it is basically all done by him”. The menu, on the other hand was a reflection of Payal’s tastes. She playfully states, “Most of the dishes on the menu, I like. So, that’s the most important to me,” She adds laughing, “My husband tells me I’m completely un-objective.”

Some of the selections to be sampled at Babu are the house favorite, Daab Chingri, a delicious and delicate combination of steamed baby shrimp in mustard and coconut milk and served in a coconut hull. The dish is as visually appealing as it is to the taste. Other specialties include an Indo-Chinese dish, Chili Chicken, Churmur, Bengali street-food turned appetizer which still manages to taste homemade and Mishti Doi, a traditional Bengali yogurt dessert, sweet, tart and better enjoyed than described.

Another mark of Babu is the wine selection. The restaurant is making a name for itself as being one of the few Indian restaurants that places a strong if not equal importance to the wine served as it does on the food. Upon deciding on your meal, your server who is well-versed in this area will recommend specific wines with the dishes you order. This person may often be Saha’s husband Anil, who has a penchant for wines. White wines are thought of as best suited for Indian cuisine due to the spices, but Reds are not excluded and for the educated palette often recommended.

As the meal winds down, the wine glass nears to an empty and one’s belly starts to fill up ever so, you might almost start to feel transported to another city. But you may begin to ask yourself, what makes this city, Calcutta so special or so different. Payal Saha gladly offers, “I believe my city is an extremely warm city. It’s very liberal and large-minded. I still feel very safe there.” Sounds like home. So, while New York and Calcutta are thousands of miles apart, I would have to say I agree.

Photographs by Saba Ajmal