Dhansiri Restora

Where to enjoy Bengali food?
Especially when your friend visit you from abroad??

Dhansiri is Bengali food restaurant which is not local local to worry about hygiene, but not so expensive.
When I have guests from Japan, I used to take them here.

This time, I felt like to have curry....then came with my "curry friend".
When I meet with Japanese friend, we hardly go to Bengali food restaurant....but somehow, I often eat curry with her.

I visited after a long time....then found, it was moved to adjacent building.

The right one is old, and moved to the first floor of building on the left in above picture.Going up to stairs....

New place looks quite nice!

There are some foreigners and Bengali.

We wanted vegetables.
I especially wanted to have leaf curry called "shak".
She especially wanted to have bitter gourd curry called "korora baji".

Menu has variety kind of curry....but better ask staff as many of Bangladeshi restaurant show many in menu, but actually have few.

We asked staff if they have shak and korora baji.
He said no.

So let's see what they alternatively have.....

- Vegetable Bodta

- Plain Vegetable

- Vegetable Masala

- Vegetable curry

Here, question came.

What is the difference?  ---no idea.

Picture shows Sushi somehow....but this is menu for curry..

Anyway.....we ordered vegetable badta(100tk), Daar(80tk), and chicken curry(210tk).

Rice was served on a big plate.
What surprised us was that the "Bodta" included 1 kind of bodta and 2 kinds of vegetable curry on one plate. I was impressed with this idea....because this kind of "set menu" is not available in most of restaurant.
If you are foreigner, you might not know what to order. If restaurant has some menu "some kinds in one plate" type, it actually helps.
I also have to mention that the plate included shak(which I wanted) and korora baji(which my friend wanted)!
They could have told that they did have....but anyway, we finally got what we wanted.

Service was not really smooth....(like waiter brought water but not glasses), but you can try renewed Dhansiri. 


Dhansiri Restora
Address; Road 45, Plot 32A, Gulshan 2, Dhaka-1212

TEL; 01196-287958

Peda Ting Ting

Updating after a long time!
I visited newly opened Chakma food restaurant.
I heard the restaurant has good food with reasonable price and also atmosphere is good. 
It is located between Gulshan 1 and 2.

We took off shoes and relaxed at sofa seat.

It was 7pm, but no one was there.

Well.......exploring the restaurant.
Somehow, huge space in restroom......excuse me to put bathroom picture on restaurant page!!

So, now come to food.
Obviously, we ordered Chakma food....one of traditional ones, fish curry stuffed in bamboo.

It was spicier than expected though I liked.
Food is for two people, served with rice/vegetables.
I recommend going with some people so that you can share and try more items.

I heard it was Chakma food restaurant, but it seems they have lot of Indian menu.

One of them is Potato curry...that was my friend's recommendation.

Believe me, the potato curry was really really good. Please try it if you visit Peda Ting Ting.

I and my friend stayed there for nearly 3 hours....then when we left, seats were full. Most of them seems Bengali.

I kept receipt to update blog....but letters were gone on the receipt.....as I kept it too long time.
I don't exactly remember, but around 600tk per person for the menus.

Let's give a try to different type of Bangladesh dish!

Peda Ting Ting        
Address: House 69, Road 27, Gulshan-1　                 
TEL: 01711081381,01711504893

Barisal

I visited Barisal for my business trip last month.
I have been to many places in Bangladesh during 2 years volunteer term, but I have never been to Barisal. (Except Barisal, I have visited all divisions!)

I didn't have time to go around as it was business trip, but I will introduce hotel I stayed and yogurt information(!).

I stayed in Arena International.
Decent hotel in Barisal seems only this one or Athena International which is group hotel of Arena. 
 
Lobby.

Can you see doors beside the lobby?
They are guest rooms. Single rooms are the same floor of lobby.
 
Then, this is room.

Quite modern design.

Bathroom.......quite normal.

It costs 2000tk per night.
As I stayed at a gust room without hot water nor AC previous day, it looked heaven!!
 
One more thing I want to introduce is yogurt.
Yogurt from buffalo is famous in Gournodi area near Barisal.
It is not available all stores in Barisal, but some has.
 
This is the one.

 

Picture is not really clear.....but it is harder and not so smooth.

I heard taste was something between cheese and yogurt.
Yes, exactly!
If you know Bangladeshi cheese often found on the street, you can imagine.
It was really like cheese.
Some people may find the taste too unique though I liked it.
 
I was exhausted at the night in Barisal, but went out to buy honey.
As the hotel room doesn't include breakfast, my breakfast was yogurt, banana topped with honey.
Isn't this perfect breakfast?

Schedule was so tight that I couldn't experience Barisal enough.
But I was happy to finally land foot on Barisal.
If I go to next time.....not for business trip!

One day boat trip

If you don't have much time to go far, but want to have fresh air out of Dhaka....
How about one day boat trip?
 
The tour is to drive 1 hour from Dhaka, spend slow time on the boat, visit nearby village and come back.
Good refreshment for weekend.
Let's me share my experience of the boat trip with JABA tours.
 
We started from their office in Banani at 8am.
It is south east of Dhaka city.
After an hour drive(or even less), scenery changed totally.
From congested city to peaceful village.
 
Car pulled over to the side though I didn't find anything there.
But got off the car, there was river and a boat.
JABA tours owns a boat.

 
Very cozy.
Inside the boat, there is a small room with table and chair.

lf you want to lie down or sit in relax way, there is also place.(right side of the picture)

Of course, you can enjoy time on the deck.
Wind feels good!

As boat started, tea and cookies were served.
Tea time on the deck.

I was in Dhaka city just an hour ago, but now on the boat seeing rural scenery!
Dhaka is quite a small city.

There is not much thing to do on the boat, so just seeing scenery.
Children playing besides river, women washing clothes, men taking care of cows....looking people's life from deck.
Children wove their hands, so I wove back.
"ভাল আছো!?(How are you in casual way)"

However, I was too much tired due to lack of sleep on that day.
So I went inside cabin, lay down on the space I mentioned, and went to sleep.
It was short time, but I slept deeply.

Then, I got up when the boat stopped.
I was half asleep, but tour guide told to go for a walk.

We got off boat.
There are square papers all over the ground.
Guide told that the paper will be recycled to box for sweets e.t.c.

 Then, visited Hindu temple and school.

Take a look at village life.

It was a formal village.
For me, it is one of the normal villages, but it seems very interesting for participants from Japan.
But even though I say normal village, it was very refreshing coming to rural area from Dhaka.

Then, we visited saree weaving village.
The sarees were just so beautiful!! 

How do they weave with design?
For my question, they showed design paper.

Can you believe!?
From this paper, the design came like picture below.

Impressive.
I wanted to get one, but it was too expensive.
Hand weaving can be 10,000 tk to 20,000tk, or more.

After visiting those places, came back to boat and had lunch.
Of course, curry.

Not spicy at all.....felt a bit strange after living in Bangladesh more than 2 years.
Maybe good for tourists.

Had lunch and took a rest, then it was already time to get off boat.
Other tourists went to next village for home stay, but I came back after the boat trip.

It was very short trip, but if you want to have fresh air in weekend, you can join the tour.
Ask details to JABA tours.
http://www.jabatour.com/

Green Goose

There is a Japanese guest house which serves Japanese food at their restaurant.
(In high possibility, you will find Japanese people too.)
But if you want to have Japanese food, this is one of your choices.

It feels strange to introduce dumpling as Japanese food, but familiar taste it was.
Dumpling(400tk) for a plate.

Then, "Agedashi dofu(fried tofu in sauce)"
It was 250tk.
Leek and ginger added good taste.

Crispy shrimps.
Good with drinks.

"Yakitori"
We even couldn't see stick.
Chicken was soft and tasted good with vegetables.

"Mabo doufu"-250tk.
It was spicier more than expected, but I liked it.

 FISH.

I know what is on the plate is obviously fish......
We asked the name of fish, but no staff could tell its name.
They told us some of fish names and finally brought raw fish.....but truth didn't come out.(we couldn't tell the name even though we saw raw fish)
But anyway it was good....simple taste with salt and lemon.

Fried vegetable.

 Fried noodle.

These taste was as it looks.
Not bad though.

We ordered another kind of fried noodle(Yaki-udon), but they didn't have it.
Instead, somehow eggplant....though it was not bad.

The restaurant is located between Gulshan 1 and 2.
It is certainly your choice if you look for Japanese food in Dhaka!

Green Goose Restaurant
Address: House#30, Road38, Gulshan Model Town-2, Dhaka
TEL: 9880050, 9881283
E-mail: ggoose@global-bd.net
Webpage:http://www.greengooseguesthouse.com/

Returning to Bangladesh.

I haven't updated this blog for a while, but I came back to Bangladesh a month ago.

Dhaka was Dhaka as it is.
Rikshaw and CNG and cars are running without
People are drinking tea beside street,
Many of roads are under construction and holes are here and there....

What is change?
Maybe the difference from 2 years ago (when I came for the first time) is that all these seem too much normal for me, and there are people welcoming me.
I returned to Bangladesh with job this time, but I still have curry at local restaurant, have tea on the street, ride #6 bus, fight over 5tk with Rikshaw puller, and walk from Baridhara to Banani when I don't catch a bus.

I won't be able to update much, but will do time to time.
Thank you for being with me!

Heritage

Updating some articles I kept as drafts.

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

Introduced as one of the fanciest Bengali restaurants in Bangladesh on a Japanese guidebook, "Heritage".
My mother kept telling me she wanted to visit when she came to Bangladesh(though missed chance)...so instead her, I visited this time :D

I went for lunch buffet.
Heritage is located near Gulshan 2 circle, about 10 minutes walk.

Looks "Fancy restaurant", doesn't it!?

There was no one when I went with my friends at 12:30.
Lunch starts from 12:30 though they were still preparing at that time.

So wait for 10 minutes, let's have food!

Chefs were cooking behind the glass.
I was afraid if staffs say anything my taking pictures, but they welcomed, made dishes look good for pictures, and introduced
"this dessert is prepared by him!!"
and so on.....
This is Bangladesh.
People like pictures.

So let me tell about food.

At first, Bhorta(vegetable paste with spices).
Tomato, Papaya, Pumpkin Bhorta were there.
These are not so popular menu that every restaurant prepares.

There were 3 kinds of salads beside bhorta.
Then, curry.
Vegetables, Shrimp & Spinach, Mutton, Chicken, beef, fish, small fish & potato....e.t.c.
With curry, you can choose some kinds of naan, rice, and beef teheri.

Left side of picture below shows 2 kinds of daar.



One with brawn color is Indian daar, and with yellow is Bangladeshi.
I prefer Bangladeshi daar with mild taste.
Daar and white rice....this simple combination was just so good.
Guidebook told me that curry were cooked for foreigner so that it was not so spicy.
But it was spicy.
I was worried if I can have real Bangladeshi taste here, so it was good for me.

My plate.

Dessert.

Fruit salad, rice pudding, and Bangla sweets(which most of Japanese can't eat).

 

An hour had passed, but there was still no one.

My friend told me that restaurant would be full of Bangladeshi customer around 2 pm, but only I and my friend were there till 2pm.

"Are we only customer for today?"

"What will they do with that amount of food??"

We were worried for the restaurant.

 

But no worries.

After 10 minutes, groups of Bangladeshi people came and seat was full before 2:30pm.

Really seats were full suddenly!

If you want to enjoy meal in quiet place with no one, better to go before 12pm.

Lunch buffet is 600tk(+VAT15%).

 

HeritageAddress：House10, Road109, Gulshan2, Dhaka
TEL：02-8829359, 01711-541441
Opening Time ：Lunch　12：30pm～3pm
　　 　　            　Dinner　6：30pm～11pm