Kolkata Morning Food Walk: Tiretti Chinese Breakfast & College Street
Day tour
Food tour
Standard
Departure point
→
Destination
Kolkata, India
Kolkata
1N (Participation Duration)
Walking (Transportation)
English (Language)
Number of participants 0/8
0 booked
Tour description
Kolkata has the only Chinatown in India, founded by Hakka and Cantonese migrants in the eighteenth century, and what remains of it is a street market that runs from about six until eight in the morning and then vanishes completely. Women set up folding tables in an alley and sell pork momo, fish-ball soup, steamed baozi and sausages made to Chinese recipes that have been in Kolkata for two hundred years. By half past eight there is nothing there but an empty lane.
That is where this tour starts, which is why it starts at six.
Afterwards we walk to College Street, the book bazaar and university quarter, for radhaballavi - fried bread stuffed with ground lentils, served with a spiced potato curry - and mishti doi, the sweet set yoghurt in a clay pot that Bengal does better than anywhere. Then the Indian Coffee House, a high-ceilinged hall that has been a meeting place for students, poets and communists since 1942, for infusion coffee and a mutton cutlet.
We finish with daab sharbat, green-coconut sherbet from a shop that has made it since 1918.
Small group, maximum 8 guests.
That is where this tour starts, which is why it starts at six.
Afterwards we walk to College Street, the book bazaar and university quarter, for radhaballavi - fried bread stuffed with ground lentils, served with a spiced potato curry - and mishti doi, the sweet set yoghurt in a clay pot that Bengal does better than anywhere. Then the Indian Coffee House, a high-ceilinged hall that has been a meeting place for students, poets and communists since 1942, for infusion coffee and a mutton cutlet.
We finish with daab sharbat, green-coconut sherbet from a shop that has made it since 1918.
Small group, maximum 8 guests.
Meeting point:
View on map
Chhattawala Gully, Tiretti Bazaar, off Bentinck Street, Kolkata
We meet at the entrance to Chhattawala Gully off Bentinck Street, in Tiretti Bazaar. Your guide will have a small sign with your name. Please be on time - this stop finishes early.
Detailed itinerary
Stop 1 - Tiretti Bazaar Chinese breakfast: Folding tables in an alley selling pork momo, fish-ball soup, steamed baozi and Chinese sausage. Gone by half past eight. Sunday is the biggest day.
Stop 2 - Chinese pork sausage and chai: Sausage made to recipes brought from Guangdong generations ago, with a clay cup of tea, and your guide on Kolkata's Chinese community.
Stop 3 - Radhaballavi and aloo dum: Fried bread stuffed with ground lentils and asafoetida, with a spiced potato curry - a Bengali breakfast from a sweet shop trading since the 1860s.
Stop 4 - Mishti doi: Sweet set yoghurt made with jaggery and served in an unglazed clay pot, which is part of why it tastes as it does.
Stop 5 - College Street walk: The book bazaar and university quarter, with your guide on Bengal's intellectual history and why this street matters.
Stop 6 - Indian Coffee House: Infusion coffee and a mutton cutlet in a high-ceilinged hall that has been the city's argument venue since 1942.
Stop 7 - Daab sharbat: Green-coconut sherbet from a sherbet house working since 1918, with your guide's notes on eating in Kolkata.
Stop 2 - Chinese pork sausage and chai: Sausage made to recipes brought from Guangdong generations ago, with a clay cup of tea, and your guide on Kolkata's Chinese community.
Stop 3 - Radhaballavi and aloo dum: Fried bread stuffed with ground lentils and asafoetida, with a spiced potato curry - a Bengali breakfast from a sweet shop trading since the 1860s.
Stop 4 - Mishti doi: Sweet set yoghurt made with jaggery and served in an unglazed clay pot, which is part of why it tastes as it does.
Stop 5 - College Street walk: The book bazaar and university quarter, with your guide on Bengal's intellectual history and why this street matters.
Stop 6 - Indian Coffee House: Infusion coffee and a mutton cutlet in a high-ceilinged hall that has been the city's argument venue since 1942.
Stop 7 - Daab sharbat: Green-coconut sherbet from a sherbet house working since 1918, with your guide's notes on eating in Kolkata.
Tour price includes
• Small-group English-speaking local food guide (maximum 8 guests)
• All food and drink tastings listed in the itinerary
• Coffee, tea and a sherbet
• Bottled sealed water and wet wipes throughout
• All taxes and service fees
• All food and drink tastings listed in the itinerary
• Coffee, tea and a sherbet
• Bottled sealed water and wet wipes throughout
• All taxes and service fees
Tour price excludes
• Hotel pick-up and drop-off unless stated
• Additional drinks beyond those included
• Personal travel insurance
• Tips for your guide (appreciated but never expected)
• Meals and purchases outside the programme
• Additional drinks beyond those included
• Personal travel insurance
• Tips for your guide (appreciated but never expected)
• Meals and purchases outside the programme
Cancellation policy
Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the tour start time for a full refund. Cancellations within 24 hours are non-refundable. Tours run rain or shine except in serious monsoon flooding, when we cancel and refund in full.
Other notes
Runs daily at 06:00. This is not a soft start time and we will not move it: the Tiretti Chinese breakfast market is finished by about eight thirty, and it is the reason this tour exists. Sunday is the biggest morning.
Note that the Indian Coffee House and some College Street shops are closed on Sundays, so on a Sunday we substitute and tell you in advance.
Durga Puja, which falls in October, closes most family-run sweet shops and many eateries for around ten days and makes the city centre impassable on foot in the evenings. We do not run during the main puja days and will tell you if your dates are affected.
Hygiene: Kolkata's municipal authority suspended the food licences of a number of well-known eateries in September 2026 after hygiene inspections. We do not use any premises under suspension, we re-check licence status before every departure, and we hold substitutes for every stop. On the tour itself: sealed bottled water only, no ice, no raw chutneys, no pre-cut fruit.
Dietary needs: tell us at least 48 hours ahead. The College Street half is easily vegetarian; the Tiretti half is pork-centred and we can substitute vegetable momo and soup with notice.
About 2 km of walking on flat but crowded streets.
Note that the Indian Coffee House and some College Street shops are closed on Sundays, so on a Sunday we substitute and tell you in advance.
Durga Puja, which falls in October, closes most family-run sweet shops and many eateries for around ten days and makes the city centre impassable on foot in the evenings. We do not run during the main puja days and will tell you if your dates are affected.
Hygiene: Kolkata's municipal authority suspended the food licences of a number of well-known eateries in September 2026 after hygiene inspections. We do not use any premises under suspension, we re-check licence status before every departure, and we hold substitutes for every stop. On the tour itself: sealed bottled water only, no ice, no raw chutneys, no pre-cut fruit.
Dietary needs: tell us at least 48 hours ahead. The College Street half is easily vegetarian; the Tiretti half is pork-centred and we can substitute vegetable momo and soup with notice.
About 2 km of walking on flat but crowded streets.
Detailed price list
| Guest type | Price |
|---|---|
| 大人 | $45 |
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