Holiday Inn Bengaluru Racecourse presents Sonar Bangla food fest

Bengaluru, Nov 5: In undivided India, it was said that those who hadn’t seen Lahore, weren’t born yet. In a similar vein, it’s believed that those who haven’t tasted the rich delicacies of Bengal, haven’t lived at all.

Holiday Inn Bengaluru Racecourse brings to you the flavours of Bengal with Sonar Bangla: Relish the Culinary Richness from the City of Joy, hosted at Café G, from November 7-16, 2025. Featuring a specially curated menu by Chef Anand from Holiday Inn Kolkata Airport, the culinary extravaganza will feature both signature dishes such as Chingri Malai Curry, Dhokar Dalna, Doi Maach, Rui Machher Jhol and street food favourites such as Ghugni Puchka as well as delicacies such as Mutton Dakbungalow.

“Sonar Bangla, which literally means Golden Bengal, refers to the state’s natural beauty, cultural identity and also symbolises the golden hue of the ripe paddy fields, which give the state its cereal, rice,” points out Chef Anand.

Bengali cuisine is deeply intertwined with Bengal’s culture and has a rich heritage to boast of. It has also enriched cuisines of other regions and even countries by assimilating them and leaving its own unique imprint, such as the Kolkata Biryani, which was created by chefs of the Nawab of Awadh Wajid Ali Shah who, faced with a financial crunch that limited use of meat, resorted to ingenuity by incorporating potato to add volume and created a signature Kolkata biryani. And who can forget the culinary heritage of Kolkata’s Chinese immigrants, who adapted and included Bengali spices and flavours to cater to the Bengali palate.

Of course, no talk of Bengali cuisine can be complete without the mention of Ilish, or what the Britishers labelled Hilsa due to their own phonetic constraints. Ilish, for Bengalis, is not just a fish, it’s an emotion. It’s deeply entrenched in Bengal’s culture, with several references in Bengali literature, including by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore. It’s also the unofficial logo of one of Kolkata’s famed sporting institutions, the East Bengal Football Club.

“Ilish is prized not just for its taste but for what it embodies, which resonates with the Bengali character. Ilish breeds only in the Gangetic Delta, where the river Ganga meets the Bay of Bengal and it’s a fish that swims upstream or against the tide, much like Bengalis,” quips Chef Anand.

The range of Bengali cuisine is as varied as the taste – from the first course, primarily made from bitter gourd and known as Sukhto, which helps in opening up the taste buds and the famed Bengali sweets such as Nolen gurer Sandesh and Rasogulla. “In Bengali cuisine, each dish has a unique taste and flavour, which is why Bengalis eat each dish separately, without mixing them up,” points out Chef Anand.

Event Details:

Sonar Bangla: Relish the Culinary Richness from the City of Joy

Venue: Café G, Holiday Inn Bengaluru Racecourse

Date: Nov 7-16, 2025

Timings: Lunch and Dinner