In Calcutta, people enjoy food as much as we love entertaining different cuisines. Cloud kitchens were already a part of our lives, even before the ongoing pandemic; making them an added medium for the food entrepreneurs to keep up with the ever-hungry and petuk Calcuttans, effectively.
Prior to the spread of COVID-19, cloud kitchens were a low-cost alternative chosen by multiple to operate their food business. However, with the onset of new norms in an attempt to maintain social distancing, casual dining entrants have started operating from cloud kitchens. One of the recent and most trusted entrants to this list is Zobet, located near the central heart of the city, Camac Street. Along with recently opening doors to customers in their restaurant, Zobet is parallelly running a successful delivery service through its food delivery partners.
Typical Bengali Families Reacting to Food Delivery:
For people like my family who were extra-cautious, a major concern that rose was being able to trust the food delivery systems. But, our experience with Zobet helped us get more familiarized with the newly introduced guidelines for delivery to ensure complete safety; “contactless delivery”, the delivery personnel would drop the food package outside our doorstep with zero human-to-human contact, disabling COD (Cash on Delivery), providing face masks and hand sanitizers to the delivery boys and constant body check-ups of all delivery personnel and restaurant staff. Until then, it was tough for me and my family to believe in what’s written on paper, but the experience was far more satisfying and convincing.
Good Times at Doorstep :
Zobet delivered food through Zomato to our apartment’s gate and what stood out was the clear indication of the body temperature of each individual involved in the food-making process. Inside the package, it was enclosed in a tamper-proof polymer covered in foil papers and cellophane papers wrapped around it with eco-friendly reusable containers, assembled in a paper bag.
The food itself was delicious, especially for people like me who were eating outside after months. There can be no comparison with the dine-in experience but if you are extra-cautious, this still gives you an option. My favorite would be The Deccan Delicacy platter which can be loosely translated to the best of mutton from the South. I personally love food from the southern part of the country and the mutton sukka, botika bhuna ghost along with the fragrant ghee rice was a delight. Another standout for me was the Penne ala Romana; because nothing goes wrong with truffle, mushroom, and cream with pasta. Despite not being a huge fan of penne, the sauce made up for all that and more. And, if you are a dessert lover, do try out their blueberry cheesecake because of not only how it tastes but also the way it looks.
For the future, I would love to try out their churros as that’s something that not everyone can make great in the city (if you know someone who makes great churros, do drop in a recommendation in the comments). And, going by Zobet’s experience until now, it would be worth a shot.
You can surf through Zobet’s menu here and order online through Zomato. At a time when businesses are facing major losses, the food industry has faced one of the biggest blows. Put in some trust, sanitize the containers, heat the food and you are good to go.
If you still feel like honing up your cooking skills, we listed 10 recipes that you can make in less than 20 minutes.