Well, their full name is Girish Chandra Dey & Nakur Chandra Nandy. Way back in 1844 (note: that’s even before the Uprising of 1857), the father-in-law and son-in-law duo of Girish and Nakur, started a Sandesh shop in North Kolkata at 56, Ramdulal Sarkar Street. That shop remains to this day, selling what it sells best – Sandesh.
We were on a tour of North Kolkata yesterday and upon enquiring a ‘good’ shop for ‘Mishti’ (assortment of Bengali desserts), were referred to this shop. Easy to find, Girish-Nakur is in Hedua, close to the Girish Park Police Station. It’s a Eureka moment when you reach it, for it is exactly how you would have imagined it – old, cluttered, unassuming, bustling with patrons, hurrying and swift salesmen doling out the goodies to the Sandesh-lovers.
We struck a conversation with the young, Pradip Nandy – the 6th generation Nandy currently running the place. And was happy to find out that he has taken his famous outlet to the digital space. Girish-Nakur has its own website, a Facebook page and a Twitter handle. Going the right direction, we declared!! He also told us, matter-of-factly, that since they sell only Sandesh, they come up with new variants every few months. Hence, a few exotic names such as Black Currant Sandesh, Black Forest Sandesh!! Truly new-age, we said in admiration. Having said that, you will not miss the original, always-in-demand Nolen Gurer Sandesh, Jol Bhora Sandesh, Taal sash sandesh….those are their specialty anyway.
Are you wondering about the prices at this Sandesh heaven? 10 INR for the medium-sized ones, and 15 INR for the bigger-sized ones!! Run for a stomach-fill!! Go!
(For the benefit of our blog’s non-Indian readers, I looked up the word Sandesh in Wikipedia. Wiki defines Sandesh as – a Bengali dessert created with milk and dessert).
Every Kolkatan has tasted it..I suppose :-D..Nolun gurer sondesh aamar fav..:-P
Pingback: Why the North Kolkata Heritage Tour is a MUST | Wheels On Our Feet