🧳 VOLPE, WHERE ARE YOU: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcPVzEbEIv1GUl_c4owKuhg 🎥 WATCH: Unlimited Puchka Challenge - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-ZEjoHLP6k 👕 DAVID’S BEEN HERE SHIRTS & MERCH: https://teespring.com/stores/davids-been-here On my way home from Bhutan, I had a 16-hour layover in Kolkata, where I met up with my fellow Miami boy Carlos from Volpe, Where Are You. The COVID-19 pandemic was exploding around the world at the time, so we took extra precautions and went on a few Indian food adventures. Come along with us as we try some amazing Indian barbecue at Barbecue Nation in Kolkata, India!
Our adventure began outside Barbecue Nation, which is one of the best Indian buffets you’ll find in Kolkata! They have barbecue, biryani, sweets, fish, and more! They’re different depending on the region, so I was expecting lots of fish since we were in West Bengal.
They bring a little flag to your table, which you turn down to discontinue starters service. The starters are made to order and then you can dive into the buffet! They also have beer. We both wanted our starters to be super spicy! The buffet set menu costs 902 rupees/$11.96 USD and comes with a beer. I got a Turborg, which is a Danish beer that’s manufactured in India. They also have you make sure it’s chilled to your liking!
Then, they brought a grill and set it right into our table. They put skewered chicken, fish, pineapple, prawns, and more on the grill and brought us lots of sauces. We both started with the prawns. They were amazing! Then, we went for the chicken wings, which were covered in a light but delicious masala that wasn’t too spicy.
Next, we got some crispy corn, which is Carlos’ favorite item on their menu. They popped in my mouth. It was so delicious and blows popcorn out the water! Next was a Cajun spiced potato, which was nice and creamy, but still crispy on the outside.
Then, I tried the chicken thigh right off the skewer. It was amazing! Then, I had another piece of chicken that was lighter but fattier. There were also two different prawns. The barbecued pineapple was so juicy and gave me a burst of water in my mouth. It was also a little hot from the spices on it!
Next was some mutton sikh kebabs, which were insane. The best ones I ever ate were at Bademiya in Mumbai! Then, I had to go for some fish, which was soft and smoky.
Then, we jumped on the puchka, which you dip into the pani in the bowl. Mine didn’t come with pani, though. But they were filled with yogurt and sev! It was unreal—sweet and creamy with some tamarind chutney inside! We also had regular puchka with pani. I dipped mine. It was spicy! It wasn’t as hot as the kind I had in Assam, though!
Then, we headed to the buffet, where they had a salad counter. We could see them cooking kebabs and more. On the buffet, they had veg Manchurian, noodles, kadhi veg, dal makhana, biryani, and much more! The waiters put aprons on us and we went back to the kitchen, where we saw them making naan, kebabs, the crispy corn, and more. It was so hot in there, though!
Then, we headed to the dessert area. We found some gulab jamun with ice cream, kufta with sprinkles and honey on top. The kufta tasted like paan and was crunchy and sweet. It had a lot of honey dripping off it! Carlos also liked his, which was mango flavored!
Then, they made some chili fish for me, which looked really spicy! Carlos met a fan back at our table—he was meeting fans left and right! The chili fish was delicious and had a glazy sauce on them. I loved the onions and green peppers. In total, our meal came to 1,804 rupees/$23.92 USD. I loved the puckha with yogurt and everything on the barbecue the most!
My name is David Hoffmann. For the last 12 years, I have been traveling around the world in search of unique culture, food, and history! Since starting David’s Been Here in 2008, I have traveled to over 1,100 destinations in 77 countries, which I welcome you to check out on my YouTube channel, travel blog, and social media sites.
I focus a great deal on food and historical sites, as you probably have seen! I love to experience the different flavors that each destination has to offer, from casual street food to gourmet restaurant dining. I’m also passionate about learning about the local history and culture.
P.S. Thank you for watching my videos and subscribing!
What's up everyone, this is David Hoffman from David's Been Here in beautiful, crazy, chaotic, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.
And me and my boy Volpe, where are you?
Yeah, yeah, we're right here. We're gonna try some delicious food. Probably the best Indian buffet that you'll ever see.
Yeah, and what's this place called?
Right here, man. Barbecue Nation.
So Barbecue Nation is barbecue buffet?
It's like everything. There's literally everything.
There's biryanis there, there's sweets, there's chicken, there's fish. Everything is there, but I'm interested in seeing how it is in Kolkata.
I've been to one in Mumbai before, but they change depending on the region, so we'll see how this one is.
They probably have a lot of fish.
Probably, yeah. Bengalis and the fish. And potatoes.
Okay, awesome. Let's go inside.
Let's go. Hello, hello. How are you?
This kebab, all kebabs, unlimited service on your table, okay?
Then we'll be done, and turn down these flags, and then we'll be stocked starters.
Alright. So basically, you're gonna bring us the starters that we ordered?
Yes.
Those are made-to-order?
Yes.
And then after that, we can just go tell the buffet?
Yes.
Alright.
And all everything is self-service, and also dessert counters, and also variety, kulfi counters, live counters.
Alcohol?
They got the beer right here.
They have beer?
Yeah, Kingfisher Strong, or do you have something else?
Yeah, you can start, brother.
Non-spicy or spicy?
Make it like for an Indian, at least for me.
Yeah, yeah.
Super spice?
Super spice.
Yeah, like four chilies.
Setting up the table now.
So the buffet set menu costs 902, so roughly 12 US dollars, and it includes one beer.
But this is a Danish one that's actually bottled and created in India.
Cheers, dude.
Cheers, brother.
This is hot.
Oh, it's good.
Delicious.
And they also, when they bring it to you, they make you check the temperature to see if it's okay.
And it's pretty chilled.
You can feel the heat right there.
They're about to bring in a lot of meat options, like chicken, fish, and different things.
Probably some paneer as well.
I'm just gonna grill it right here, keep it nice and hot.
It's gonna be nice.
This is a veg starter.
Grilled pineapple.
Veg starter?
Grilled pineapple.
Spicy chicken.
We got fish.
What kind of fish is it, brother?
Masa?
This is prawns.
Alright, we got prawns.
That's spicy?
That's spicy.
That looks tasty, actually.
How many things do you have here?
What?
But he's repeating them.
Oh, he's repeating them.
You can take it.
Don't repeat them too much, bro.
I don't want to waste it.
So what are we gonna start with?
You know, this prawn looks extremely tasty right here.
Look at it.
It's nice and cooked.
It looks very flavorful, very spicy and very tasty.
So we're gonna go ahead with that one.
They give you like this fork.
That's like missing everything in the middle.
I think they actually cut it off themselves.
And you're able to just like...
Deliver it down.
Alright, so we got the prawns out of there now.
Let's try.
We got like all these little sauces here.
That's good.
You need to try this right now.
So like my boy said, get some prawns.
Where are the prawns at?
Right here.
Oh, it looks good.
Look at this.
So take it down.
Alright.
Oh, dude.
I cannot wait.
Look at this.
So leave the skewer right there.
Leave that here.
And go in.
We have enough for now.
Yeah, yeah.
Keep doing.
Oh, yeah.
For sure.
Yeah, the prawns are like probably the best thing.
Very tasty.
It's amazing.
Should we try these?
Oh, the chicken wing.
Hell yeah.
So good, man.
Nice masala.
These are great, man.
Guys, this is my favorite so far.
What do you think about the chicken wing?
Oh, I love it, man.
Nice and like light masala.
Not too spicy.
Oh, wow.
You know what?
For like 12 bucks, you eat all this food and you keep going, right?
Just non-stop.
It doesn't stop.
What did you come to BBQ Nation for right here?
The crispy corn.
My man, David, is not going to be disappointed.
Yes, you can put as much crispy corn as you can.
This is my favorite item here, brother.
Yeah, I just went in with the hands, man.
Luckily, we washed our hands, you know?
Oh, wow.
It like pops.
Dude, it's good, man.
Crispy corn is life, guys.
These are delicious, man.
This is amazing.
No, this blows popcorn out of the water.
Forget about Waffle Bird.
No.
His french fries are a little rude for his money.
Man.
Crispy corn.
Wow.
Cajun Spiced Potato.
Cajun Spiced Potato?
Potato.
Okay.
So, Cajun Spiced Potato.
Yeah, it's pretty good.
Yeah, it is good.
It's creamy.
Yeah, creamy and crunchy.
It's crispy.
The chicken wings, 9.5.
The shrimps get a 9.
We're missing so much, huh?
What are we missing here?
We still have all this to try.
I'm going to put some here, man.
He's going to take the whole thing.
So, for this one, I think it's chicken.
Chicken?
Chicken.
Oh, wow.
That's good?
Which one is that one?
I think it's chicken thigh.
Oh, wow.
This is amazing.
This is non-stop, huh?
And what's this one?
Just a different masala?
Chicken.
But it's different.
Different.
Oh, this one's lighter.
A little fattier.
It's good.
Let's go with all of it.
Oh, easy.
Oh, this is a little different.
No?
There's two different prawns here?
Yeah, one is like lighter.
And the other one has a lot of masala.
This one is fish.
And right here we have the barbecued pineapple.
Everything is so good here.
First, water.
It's good.
I mean, I don't know what else to say about it.
It's a little hot, actually.
From the spice.
Just a little bit.
You know when you cook pineapple, it becomes mushy.
This is delicious, man.
Puchka?
Puchka.
It's an appetizer, right?
Yeah.
All right.
Should we try it?
The food keeps on pouring in, guys.
We're trying to catch up on the eating.
So, these are mutton sheet kebabs?
Okay, thank you, brother.
All right, let's try out the mutton sheet kebabs.
They just came out.
So, mutton sheet kebab, right?
Mutton sheet kebab.
The best ones I've ever had were in Mumbai.
Mumbai?
Mumbai, yeah.
Bademiya.
Bademiya?
Bademiya.
You have to go if you go back to Mumbai.
Yeah, I didn't try that part.
Oh, man.
That place is amazing.
That's like a late night spot.
Like 3 a.m.
3 a.m. in Kolkata.
You can't come to Kolkata and not try fish.
Bengalis are known for their fish.
They love fish.
I mean, they even eat all the fish with bones and they stack up the bones to the left of
the cheek and then they'll eventually spit them all out.
It's wild.
So, this is, I don't know exactly what fish this is, but I guess it's a local fish.
Is it river fish or is it salt?
River fish.
Yeah?
Nice and soft.
Yeah.
Smoothie taste, right?
Barbecue.
What's next?
You know what?
Let's jump on the puchka.
So, basically, yeah, they're just gonna dip this ball in here and yeah, that should work
out that way.
It's nice and wet.
That's good.
It's nice and light.
Bengali people and the potatoes.
That's pretty good.
Nice and crispy.
I like it.
I approve.
Puchka.
Basically, the same thing as pani puri.
Exactly the same thing.
It's a rice puff ball.
They pop a hole in it and what's weird is that they didn't give me any pani.
Mine's dry.
Oh, it's different.
No, this one has yogurt.
Oh, okay.
Oh my gosh.
Sweet, creamy.
They even put some tamarind chutney in this one.
Yeah.
This is awesome.
Yeah, let's do it.
Yeah, so this one, all right, no liquid, nothing in here.
Just pop it in like that.
So, it's a dry puchka with yogurt inside.
There's some tamarind and then some sesame.
Mmm.
Delicious.
Mmm.
Beyond words.
Yeah, definitely like some yogurt or curd, something in there.
This one's too good.
Too, too good.
I didn't expect that at all.
But we also have regular puchka and it has pani, right?
So, pani is the water.
So, what you do is you dip, right?
Fill it up.
Yeah.
Make it nice and moist.
Just move it around a little bit.
Mmm.
There's some spices in there.
It's good.
It's not my favorite pani puri.
Can't lie though.
I've had so much pani puri in my life that I don't know what's my favorite.
But it has some really spicy one.
Assam?
Yeah.
Oh, Assam.
Dude, they put chili.
You tried the ghost chili over there?
I tried it in Meghalaya.
Yeah.
Oh my God.
The ghost chili is the hottest thing I've ever had in my life.
Dude, I had it.
I had a little tiny piece.
Yeah.
After one minute, I'm like, okay, it's spicy.
Two minutes later, it's like, alright, it's like really spicy.
Like five minutes later, I'm sweating.
I'm turning red.
My boy that was with me had to like run and get, what did he bring?
I think he brought milk or something like that.
He was so worried.
But hottest chili ever.
The ghost chili in Assam.
One more for the win.
Mmm.
That one's good, bro.
That one?
That one's very good.
That one's so good.
Doesn't even require anything.
Just like naturally like that.
It's just good.
Mmm.
So here we have the buffet.
The salad counter in front.
We can see them cooking all the kebabs.
So they have all the kebabs.
We just ate shrimp, fish, chicken.
Oh, man.
Look at that.
The fire.
It's amazing.
And over here we have what is veg matchurian.
We have some noodles.
What do we have here?
Some kadhi veg.
Kadhi veg.
Nagasi kofta curry.
Woo.
Everything.
It's funny because we ate all the meat and now like got all this.
Oh, my God.
It's too much.
What else we got here?
Dal makna.
So never ending stuff.
And we have biryani.
Oh, right there.
You think it's good biryani or no?
Please remove the hat.
Alright, guys.
Chef Bope in the building.
Yeah.
This is what happens when you walk around a restaurant and you speak so easily.
Look at the camera.
Oh, this is awesome.
Do I get to keep it?
Barbecue nation.
This is great.
What a great layover, dude.
Let's go, let's go.
It's already down there?
If you can't handle the heat, get out of the kitchen.
Nope.
Miami heat.
It's hitting us in the face.
I know.
It's everywhere.
I can feel the heat.
Oh, my God.
We're losing weight right now.
Yeah.
Behind the scenes in the kitchen.
Awesome staff, man.
Thank you so much for letting us go back there.
That was really fun.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Coronavirus.
I'm gonna go and check out the dessert area now, guys.
Everything included in barbecue nation.
One beer.
All the food.
More food than you can handle.
And then, I mean, you come to West Bengal, you come to Kolkata, and you gotta try the sweets.
So, let's see what we have here.
I'm looking for...
Rasgulla.
Where's rasgulla?
Yeah, rasgulla.
If they can have it, that would be the hit.
I don't know if they have it, but they do have gulab jamun here.
And this is what you want.
Gulab jamun with ice cream.
Perfect, perfect combination.
You cannot beat that.
At all.
Sir, I have six types of kulfi.
This is a betel leaf.
This is a very popular kulfi in barbecue nation.
This one, mango.
So, it's kofta, which is ice cream, Indian style.
It's a little different.
It's a little more dense.
And then they add some stuff on it, right?
Look at this one.
Try it.
Oh, it smells delicious.
I think they also put some honey in here.
Tastes like can.
Beet or nut.
Yeah, beet or nut.
Oh, it's crunchy.
Sweet.
That's a lot of honey.
Look at the honey dripping.
Oh, that's good.
Alright.
I'm not quite sure what to expect right now.
This is really, really, really good, man.
Oh, man.
I think it's a little mango puree that they put on the top.
It gives it the extra sweetness.
Oh, man.
Yeah, this is good, dude.
This is really good.
Oh, this is so good.
I don't even need to eat this, but I'm loving it.
Nice.
Chili fish for me?
Alright, so I just watched him make chili fish.
Oh, my God.
This looks spicy.
Thank you.
This is great.
Can't wait to try it.
It's the last thing I'm trying.
It's too much food.
Hey, one more.
Oh, thank you, brother.
Nice to meet you, man.
What's your name?
This guy's running into fans everywhere he goes.
Hey, what's up, man?
How you doing?
David.
Pleasure.
Nice to meet you.
Great, dude.
It's like a stir-fry?
Fish stir-fry with chilies?
Let's try it.
Mmm.
Oh, it's delicious fish.
It is.
A little gravy sauce, right?
Yep.
Mmm.
Fish stir-fry with onions, red pepper.
I'm sorry, green pepper.
Awesome meal, bro.
That's really good.
That's my last dish, bro.
Yeah, I know.
I'm so full.
It's too much food.
You're like tapping out, man.
Where's the little flag thing that they gave over here?
Okay, let's wait like that.
All right.
We are done.
And that's it, guys.
For 18.04 rupees, which is exactly like 24 U.S. dollars, we ate all this food.
We had a beer each.
Puchka.
Dessert.
Dude, it didn't end.
Yo, Volpe.
I am just beyond stoked right now.
I need a wheelchair to get me out of here, guys.
What was your favorite?
I'll go with the shrimps.
The prawns.
The prawns were really, really good.
For me, my favorite was the puchka with the curd, that yogurt.
So good.
But also, everything on the barbecue.
Amazing.
Well, guys, I hope you love this video of Barbecue Nation.
You did it, bro.
You brought me.
We did it, man.
Like, the fans have been wanting it.
We made it happen.
So, guys, if you love this video, please give me a thumbs up.
Leave me a comment below.
Subscribe to my channel for more awesome travel content.
Subscribe to Volpe.
Where are you?
And we'll see you in the next travel food adventure in Kolkata.
Peace.
