Welcome to the club

I am not much of a biscuit man, but I felt like nibbling on something light with my tea while I savoured the green expanse that greeted me at a picturesque Kolkata club. I called room service and asked if they had any cookies. “Sure,” they replied, “we will send you a club biscuit.” Just what is that, I asked myself. Turned out it was a delicious buttery biscuit, somewhat like a Danish butter and Shrewsbury cookie. I bit into it and started thinking about clubs and their specials.

Across India, and especially in the big cities and hill stations, you will find some well-guarded and exclusive clubs, many bequeathed by the British. The clubs have their menus and are known for their specialities. I was discussing club menus with a professor friend, who insisted that nothing could beat the Delhi Gymkhana’s mutton chops. Many have similar favourites. Members of (or guests at) the Tollygunge Club in Kolkata, for instance, drool about its steak kebabs and baked, fried or grilled fish.

Of course, you will get many dishes that were once club signatures in sundry hotels and restaurants. Steaks and sizzlers are readily available everywhere, as are, say, cottage cheese cutlets and vegetable au gratin. And mulligatawny soup — a broth of pepper and water (millagu and thanni, hence mulligatawny) cooked with a bit of rice — is no longer restricted to clubs.

What makes club food special, really, is the old-world charm that the dishes wield. The club ambience adds to the flavours. Clubs are somewhat musty, and the sofas are comfortable but may sag just a bit. Phone calls are not allowed, and you can’t work on your laptop. Aged members whisper as they spear their chicken cutlets (minced chicken, crumb-fried) and scoop out juicy prawns from a cocktail glass. The dishes come wrapped in nostalgia, and remind members of leisurely times.

There are clubs, and there are clubs. The India International Centre (IIC) and the India Habitat Centre (IHC) don’t call themselves clubs, but are open only to members (though the IHC does have some eateries that are open to all). The IHC is known for its peri-peri chicken and pizzettes (toppings include creamy ricotta, spinach and semi-dried tomato, though my favourite is caramelised onions, goat cheese, walnut and honey). The IIC’s menu has changed over time, though its prawn thermidor — succulent pieces of prawn in a buttery, creamy and cheese sauce served in a shell — still rocks.

A book called ‘Secrets from the Kitchen: 50 Years of Culinary Experience at the India International Centre’ mentions the many dishes the Centre is known for and has invented. It recounts that Indira Gandhi wanted to host a small dinner to mark her son Sanjay’s wedding. The problem was the dessert: it was winter, and the Prime Minister did not want anything cold or a warm pudding. So, the party was served a meringue with dried apricot and cream, flavoured with cinnamon, clove and lime juice. The PM wanted to know what it was called. The Centre’s menu curator and food adviser named it on the spot. It’s Gateau Indira, she said.

The buffets the clubs offer are phenomenal. For its Continental buffet fare, the Bengal Club used to offer chilled cucumber soup, broccoli and asparagus au gratin, stuffed vegetables, cabbage parcels, bekti in a light butter sauce, coq-au-vin, Greek roast mutton, ham-pineapples, grilled chicken liver, sausages and bacon. A relative who sorely misses being in Britain loves its tenderloin steak and kidney pie — prepared with diced tenderloin, kidney and onions (among other ingredients) baked in a pastry shell.

Not all menus are lofty. The Press Club in Delhi, for instance, is known far and wide for a simple dish of egg on toast: scrambled eggs served on small squares of fried bread, topped with chat masala.

Some members choose the humblest of dishes when they dine at their clubs. The IIC book tells us that President APJ Abdul Kalam was a regular visitor to the Centre’s dining hall before he became President. He always asked for the vegetable thali, and requested that the raita be replaced with curd or dahi vada. A club, clearly, is not just what it offers — but what you make of it!

Prawn cocktail

Ingredients (serves 8)

Prawns (small, shelled, deveined) 1 kg

Mayonnaise 1 cup

Tomato ketchup 3 tbsp

Salt and pepper To taste

A dash of tabasco

For boiling

Onion (sliced) ½

Lemon slices 4

Bay leaf 1

Water

To serve

Lettuce leaves

Sliced boiled eggs

Method

Fill a saucepan with water. Add the onion, lemon and bay leaf, and heat. Add salt. When the water bubbles over, add the prawns and boil them for 2-3 minutes. Take the prawns out. Mix the mayo, ketchup, tabasco, and salt and pepper in a bowl. Add the prawns and refrigerate. Place some shredded lettuce leaves in a cocktail glass and arrange the prawns on top. Decorate with hard-boiled egg slices. Serve cold.

— The writer is a food critic