New Market and Sudder Street
Some of the best food and certainly the best chai in this area can be enjoyed from the numerous street vendors . You can get spicy Indian breakfasts and strong sweet chai to kickstart the day at a fraction of restaurant prices. The food is...
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Around Park Street
Bar-B-Q , 43 Park St. Good Indian and Chinese food in pleasant surroundings, with a bar downstairs.

Copper Handi , 77/1 Park St. Mid-priced multi-cuisine restaurant best for its dum-pukht (slow bake) Lakhnavi (Lucknow) cooking.

Flury's , 18 Park St. Calcutta landmark, on the corner with Middleton Row. A legendary teashop now well past its sell-by-date with rumours of its impending conversion to a Mcdonald's. Still good for cakes, patties and Swiss pastries - try the rum balls. They also make their own chocolates.

Jharokha , 42A Park Mansions, Free School Street. Excellent, clean and cheap vegetarian snack bar and sweet counter with a restaurant upstairs good for a range of Indian cooking.

Junior Brothers , 18B Park St. Highly recommended and reasonably priced vegetarian Indian cooking.

Kwality , 17 Park St. Comfortable, plush and airy, one of Park Street's best restaurants, with a range of food as well as ice cream. Bar and snacks only on Thurs.

Tandoor , 55 Park St. As the name suggests, it specializes in tandoori food.

Trinca's , 17B Park St. Multi-cuisine restaurant, strong on Indian food but with a good Chinese annexe. Once a popular nightspot, it's now a bit faded, but still puts on live music with Indian film songs in the evenings and Western covers after 9pm.

South Calcutta
Aqua Java , 79 SN Pandit St, Bhowanipur. Trendy café serving great coffee and snacky meals including pizzas.

China Bowl , Southern Avenue, Gol Park. Dimly lit a/c Chinese restaurant which would otherwise be quite ordinary but for its location near the lakes.

The Dhaba , Ballygunge Phari. Sikh-run café, where the core menu of good Punjabi cooking in the mid-range restaurant upstairs has been extended to cover middle-class tastes. Hamro Momo, Suburban Hospital Road (lane off Chowringhee, opposite Rabindra Sadan Metro). One of a handful of good Tibetan food cafés on this street.

Kurry Club , 176 Sarat Bose Rd. Close to the lakes and, despite the name, serves a sprinkling of Italian, Mexican as well as Indian food.

Lazeez , Shambhu Nath Pandit Street, Bhowanipur. Comfortable, mid-range, good for both Indian and Western cooking.

Momo Plaza , 2A Suburban Hospital Rd. Another good Tibetan café, specializing in shyabhaley - large flat momos.

Radhu's , Lake Market. Once renowned snack bar serving fried fish, cutlets and Bengali alu dam (steamed potatoes).

Taj Bengal , 24B Belvedere Rd, Alipore tel 033/223 3939. Smart and beautifully presented, the Chinoiserie offers some of Calcutta's best Chinese food; Sonargaon (Bengali for "Golden Town") serves local delicacies and north Indian food; the Coffee Shop is open all hours and also serves meals; and the pool-side barbecue prepares kebabs and griddle-based dishes.

Tibetan Delights , down a lane just off Suburban Hospital Road. Similar to Momo Plaza but with a better ambience. Chicken momos are popular.

Twinkle Fung Shway , 1/1 Dover Lane, close to Gariahat Mor. Small Thai restaurant with an upbeat ambience; the food spiced for Bengali tastes.

Tangra (China Town)
Kafulok , 47 South Tangra Rd tel 033/329 4130. Versatile and reliably good restaurant with a good all-round menu.

Kim Fa , 47 South Tangra Rd tel 033/329 2895. One of Tangra's best and most-established Chinese restaurants - Thai soup, garlic prawns and chilli king prawns which can be quite potent.

Kim Ling , South Tangra Road. Good family-run restaurant - try the honey chicken, or the chicken with black mushrooms and baby corn.

Elsewhere in the city
Amber , 11 Waterloo St tel 033/248 6520. Quality restaurant serving absolutely superb Mughlai and tandoori cooking. Plush and dimly lit, it covers three floors, and has a bar downstairs. Anand , 19 Chittaranjan Ave. South Indian...
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Bars and nightclubs
The tense all-male atmosphere of Calcutta's bars is slowly changing with a young new clientele and a small but lively music scene. For a relaxed atmosphere try the big hotels, some of which also have discos, such as the lively Anticlock at the Hotel Hindusthan and Pink Elephant at the Grand . The Park Hotel is currently the trendiest spot in town.

Amber , 11 Waterloo St. On the ground floor of a superb restaurant, with strong a/c and low lights.

Ashoka , 3B Chowringhee Rd. Adjacent to the Esplanade, and good for a cold beer; New Cathay next door is similar.

Bar-B-Q , 43 Park St. Below the restaurant; one of the better bars on the strip.

Chowringhee Bar , Oberoi Grand , Chowringhee Road. Plush and well presented but pricey.

Oly Pub 21 Park St. Formerly the Olympia , a basic marble-floored downstairs bar, and a more comfortable "family room" upstairs. Renowned for its steaks.

Someplace Else , Park Hotel, 17 Park St. A pleasant, dimly lit bar which gets especially jumping in the evenings when live bands belt out familiar covers. Open every day (noon-midnight) and longer on Saturdays (till 2am).

Sunset Bar , Lytton Hotel , Sudder Street. Friendly and relaxed bar, popular with travellers.

Tantra , Park Hotel, 17 Park St. The liveliest disco in Calcutta, where the action starts at 8.30pm (Tues-Sat) and 5pm (Sun); Rs250 cover for a couple midweek, Rs400 weekends.

Sweet shops
Milk-based sweets such as the small and dry sandesh are the Bengali speciality. Though confections such as the white rosogulla , the brown (deep-fried) pantua and the distinctive black kalojam , all in syrup, are found elsewhere in north India, nowhere are they as good as in Calcutta. Try also lal doi - a delicious red steamed yoghurt made with jaggery - or plain white mishti doi made with sugar. Sweet shops often serve savoury snacks in the afternoons such as nimki (literally salty), deep-fried light pastry strips; shingara , a delicate Bengali samosa; and dhal puri, paratha -like bread made with lentils.

Bhim Chandra Nag , Surya Sen Street, off College Street. Best of several good sweet shops in the area.

Ganguram , 46C Chowringhee Rd. Legendary sweet shop near Victoria Memorial with branches all over the city; try mishti doi (sweet steamed yoghurt) and sandesh .

Girish Chandra Dey , 167N Rashbehari Ave. One of several good shops in the Gariahat area; good sandesh .

Jadav Chandra Das , 127A Rashbehari Ave. Another popular outlet in Gariahat.

KC Das , 11 Esplanade East and 1/433 Gariahat Rd. One of the city's most famous sweet shops; try their rosogolla .

Sen Mahasay , 171H Rashbehari Ave. Next to Gariahat Market, renowned for its sandesh .