Going back to history, a ‘kati’ pronounced mostly as ‘kathi aka stick’ roll was first served in the famous Nizam Restaurant in Kolkata back in the 1932. It is basically a roasted meat in a skewer wrapped in Paratha. His speciality was Kabab. The types of the rolls depend on the fillings inside which can be egg, vegetable, paneer, chicken, beef and also the flavors of sauces used. Since childhood, I have had these particular types of rolls like Egg Beef Roll or Double Egg Double Chicken Roll from places like Dhaaba, Roll Xpress and Hot Cottage and I never ever got tired of these items.
Coming back to the ‘Kolkata Kati Avenue’, I visited this place the day after it opened. I was quite excited about it when I first saw someone posting about this in the Facebook Group ‘The Food Talk’. The cafe is a small space with few wooden tables and chairs. It can probably accommodate no more than 10-12 people at once. It is certainly not a place where you can sit comfortably for hours and chitchat with your friends. As I browsed the menu, I was looking forward to either ‘Paneer Roll’ or ‘Chicken Liver Roll’. To my disappointment, there weren’t any options of those so I ended up ordering the Chicken Tikka Roll. In addition to the rolls, they have appetizers like ‘aloo chops’ and different flavoured lassi.
Served after half an hour with the coriander chutney, I was extremely disappointed as the roll was served cold. I did not get any flavour of the Chicken Tikka at all. Sadly, after 2-3 bites, I did not feel like eating the roll whatsoever. I will prefer rolls of Hot Cottage, Roll Xpress and Dhaaba over this new place any time at any given day.
By: Marjan Rahman