[swiftvxi06]

Last Friday, 17th June fellow bhpians @turboNath @Neversaygbye @haisaikat @edunata @Boniver @Mile_Breaker @HornNotOkPlease @ritkon from Kolkata decided to meet and what better thing can unite all of us.. that is food since all of us are foodies to the core.

We brainstormed places until we decided to have a long drive and visit the famous Dada Boudi at Barrackpore. Barrackpore is 25kms from Kolkata and is the headquarters of Barrackpore subdivision. It is part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA).

Barrackpore has a very rich importance in the history of India. The first British barrack or cantonment in India was built here in 1772. Two uprising against British authority took place in Barrackpore in the 19th century. The first of these was Barrackpore Mutiny of 1824, led by Sepoy Bindee Tiwary.
The rebellion of 1857 was an uprising by the Bengal regiments of East India Company against the prolonged oppression and subjugation and the inhuman treatment by the British Army.

Dada Boudi’s on the other hand started in 1986 by two brothers Sanjib and Rajib Saha. They now have outlets at three locations, all of which are very very busy at lunch times. Every day, they sell around 700 -1000 kg of biryani. Their yearly revenue has already surpassed Rs 15 crore, and it continues to rise year after year. Many stars, including retired Indian cricket captain and BCCI President Sourav Ganguly, are among their clients.

Fellow Bhpian @Mile_Breaker after the brain storming sessions, charted out the route since me, @Turbonath, @Haisaikat as well as @Mile_Breaker were coming from South Kolkata while other fellow bhpians @Neversaygbye @HornNotOkPlease were coming from North Kolkata. The route decided was - EM Bypass > Meet of South Kolkata based members near Bypass Dhaba > Lake Town > Belgachhia Dutta Bagan Moore > Barrackpore Trunk Road (B.T. Road) > Barrackpore.

I started from Narendrapur which is located in South 24 Parganas at around 10.55am. Being Sunday, traffic was quite less and I reached IOCL Pump near Arsalan Ruby Crossing by 11.10am.






Waiting for our Team Leader and Captain @Mile_Breaker near IOCL pump


Our Second stop was near Bypass Dhaba, where fellow Bhpian @TurboNath joined us in his new Mahindra Thar 2.0 petrol manual. Here @haisaikat accompanied me in our White Beauty (Nissan Magnite Turbo) while @edunata accompanied @Mile_Breaker in his Tata Hexa.




Photoshoot with Thar, Hexa and Magnite


Selfie with @haisaikat

We started our journey from Embypass and took the VIP Road until we reached Lake Town. In the meanwhile Bhpian @ritkon joined us near Mani Square Mall in his Yamaha FZ-S bike.


Bhpian @ritkon on his Yamaha FZ-S Bike

Lake Town’s main road was completely dug thanks to ever ongoing work by KMDA. Nevertheless, from Lake Town we took Belgachhia Dutta Bagan Moore. The road towards Belgachhia Dutta Bagan Moore was quite narrow since pipeline work was going on.


Bhpain @turbonath in his Thar 2.0 petrol

From Belgachhia Dutta Bagan, we took B.T. Road since the Tallah Bridge was under construction. @haisaikat was the perfect navigator sitting beside me in my Magnite guiding me through traffic like an elder brother. He appreciated the space and comfort of the car and also appreciated its fuel efficiency. BT road had fairly less traffic being Sunday. At some major crossings like Cossipore, Baranagar the street was filled with traffic and people along with numerous totos and autorickshaws.

Here at some points I and @turbonath got a bit left behind due to the traffic and @Mile_Breaker waited for us at some points since we were moving like a convoy . Near Dunlop Moore we were joined by fellow bhpians @ @Neversaygbye and @HornNotOkPlease.

We continued our journey and by this time, the traffic congestion started to ease out and everyone was driving at considerable speeds. Me and @turbonath was being chased by a politician’s dilapidated Scorpio vehicle which was honking at me yet refused to give space to @turbonath. This went on for some time until @turbonath overtook it while gliding over a set of speedbumps and followed White Beauty like a convoy. (Incident captured in dashcam)

It was around 2.00pm and our stomachs started aching for the want of Biriyani. Near Chiriamoore, our host @Boniver was waiting in his famous Suzuki Max 100 Bike. @Boniver guided us to the safe parking spot near Cantonment Area for all the cars and bike opposite Kendriya Vidyalaya Barrackpore Army HQ since there are no parking space in front of the Dada Boudi Restaurant near Barrackpore Railway Station.

The Cantonment Area was beautifully maintained with neatly paved roads with proper signages. One look one can make out that it’s a defence area. We parked our cars in front of the open parking opposite KV Barrackpore.





Images of our car line up

SinceDada Boudi Restaurant was around 1 km from the parking area, few members boarded @HornNotOkPlease’s Maruti XL6 while others rode as pillion riders on @Boniver’s Suzuki Max 100 and @ritkon’s Yamaha FZ S.
We reached the famous restaurant and behold we saw an enormous queue of around 30-40 people waiting for tasting the famous lip-smacking Biriyani and other dishes. Often the Security Guard came and told everyone to maintain a proper queue.


Queue at Dada Boudi Biriyani


Biriyani being cooked in big handis


Staff carrying biriyani handis


Pic All of Us waiting to taste the famous Biriyani

By 2.45pm the security guard told all of us to enter the restaurant and we felt that we were freed and happily climbed the stairs until we were dumbfounded. Behold – we were told to wait again and our wait continued.


Staircase selfie pic

In the meanwhile bhpian Mile_Breaker started clicking pics of various food while waiting for our turn.


Pic shot by Mile_Breaker

By 3.15pm we finally got a table. @Boniver had earlier made reservations for all of us and they gave us a table where 9 of us could finally sit. We didn’t waste a single time and ordered Tandoori Chicken and Bhatti Kebabs as starters followed by ever famous Special Mutton Biriyani, Chicken Chap and Mutton Liver Fry.
During this food trip, we missed our fellow bhpains and foodie experts @Dip27in @ABHI_1512 @cdibya.

As soon as we tasted the starters, we were in cloud no 9. So succulent and tasty.






Image of starters


The famous Mutton Biriyani


Chicken Chanp

Then our wait for Mutton Biriyani, Chicken Chanp and Liver Fry ended. It was an awe experience for many. The Mutton Biriyani had a huge piece of mutton with an aloo and it was very soft. The biriyani was not at all spicy and it was not too much oily either. The Chicken Chanp was also very good.

After our stomachs were filled to the brim, we left the restaurant. We all said that it was worth the drive to enjoy such a fantastic biriyani. We noticed that people were still waiting in queue to try their mouth-watering delicacies.


Bhpains @Neversaygby, @haisaikat, @Boniver @HornNotOkPlease @edunata @Mile_Breaker @swiftvxi06

@Boniver decided to give us a small tour of Barrackpore in his Santro Xing. He took us to the Cantonment Area where he showed us the famous Government Estate as well as Gandhi Smarak Sanghralaya (Gandhi Memorial Museum), Mangal Pandey Park. He also took us to the 2 Paisa Ghat near the bank of the Ganges.






Group Pic at 2 Paisa Ghat

After returning from the small tour, we did a photoshoot of our cars along with the respective owners.




Our Cars


Our Cars with respective owners


After the photoshoot, fellow Bhpains checked out @turbonath’s Thar and my White Beauty. Bhpian@Mile_Breaker took the Thar for a short spin. Needless to say he was very much impressed with Thar’s super silent turbo petrol engine and its massive size.
Then @Mile_Breaker hopped into White Beauty and took it for a short drive as well. Other bhpains namely @turbonath @Neversaygbye @Boniver sat as passengers. Mile_Breaker took White Beauty over a series of bumps and rough roads and he was mighty impressed with the suspension system of Magnite and the pick up from the turbo petrol engine. He appreciated the handling over both on road and off roads and said that the engine never felt any strain even with full load of 5 people and the auto AC set at 19 degrees.

Around 5pm we all decided to head back to our home and followed the route till Dunlop Moore. From there it was decided to take the Belgharia Expressway and then VIP Road and EM Bypass. The traffic by that time was quite less and I drove the Magnite quite enthusiastically. We followed our captain @Mile_Breaker while returning back but our fellow bhpian @Turbonath took an accidental detour and took a wrong turn towards Bally Halt and reached Kolkata through Kona Expressway.

Our White Beauty performed well being a turbocharged petrol sub-compact SUV. As far as mileage is concerned, the car returned around 19.1 kmpl in city initially without AC which came down to 15kmpl owing to congestion and AC usage in the city and on the return trip it gave a mileage of 16.7 kmpl with mixed use of AC.

Overall it a fun filled highly enjoyable Sunday spent with fellow Bhpians.

[turboNath]

Kudos to you swiftvxi06 and your White Beauty for yet another brilliant travelogue.
It is incredibly detailed and thanks to you for taking us on a short and sweet historical drive through Barrackpore. Loved this weekend drive in the quest for amazing ‘Dada Boudi’ biriyani. White Beauty simply set the tarmac on fire! It was great meeting all of you in person after a long, long time ! Also a big shout out to @boniver for planning all the POIs in advance. Great plan and even better execution! Hope to witness more of such amazing meets !

[boniver]

Lovely travelogue! We often dismiss city commute as something mundane but your narration turned it into a very lively affair. As for your TM, I'm very impressed. Glad you enjoyed your vacation to Barrackpore and I'm looking forward to making your TM mine in future

[Neversaygbye]

Originally Posted by swiftvxi06

Overall it a fun filled highly enjoyable Sunday spent with fellow Bhpians.

Indeed it was a great outing for all of us in one of the most storied suburbs of Calcutta and the credit goes primarily to Boniver who pushed for this meet, arranged for the parking and also gave us a tour of parts of Barrackpore that we had not seen before.

While the food at Dada Boudi including the biryani was undoubtedly delicious, White Beauty was undoubtedly the the aloo in the biryani, as this photo will testify.



Despite the presence of turboNath's spanking new Thar, the Nissan garnered all the attention and as swiftvxi06 has mentioned, we all wanted to see how the car drove. Sitting in the back seat, I found the car spacious, comfortable and the ride and handling sharp and compliant considering Mile_Breaker tested the car thoroughly, with us inside.

In fact, we were tempted to try out a different kind of off-roading, made famous by the Lotus Esprit in The Spy Who Loved Me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeBqf6bYZak

There was even a ramp leading down to the Ganga but to our disappointment swiftvxi06 declined to test White Beauty's water wading capability.

Jokes aside, Nissan has provided a very VFM product in the Turbo Magnite indeed. Looking forward to seeing more of it in our future meets and also looking forward to our next meet, greet and eat!

[Mountain_Deep]

Kudos to the Kolkata team-bhp members for organising such a wonderful meet-up. Reading this made me feel as if I was a part of the whole experience. Dada Boudi's biryani is very famous and I always want to get a chance to devour such good food.

Bhpian turbonath's Thar looks stunning and I would love to see the car in flesh and go for a ride but I have to mention that the Nissan Magnite Turbo is actually being the showstopper and taking all the attention.

I'd appreciate it if the organisers could keep us updated on future meets, as I wouldn't want to miss out on such fun-filled meets filled with enthusiastic driving, a great company of fellow members with their loved vehicles, and such good eateries as a destination. I wish I could attend this meet this time because Barrackpore is only a boat ride away from where I live.

[Samba]

Not fair! Why were we not invited for this meet? A pretty bad miss for those who missed this fun meet.

The write-up is excellent. Felt like am reading a travelogue rather than a Team-Bhp meet!

Originally Posted by swiftvxi06

We brainstormed places until we decided to have a long drive and visit the famous Dada Boudi at Barrackpore. Barrackpore is 25kms from Kolkata.

Anyone can order food from an online portal and have it on a weekend, but a true enthusiast like you will always prefer to go for a long drive like this & then have some food.

Originally Posted by swiftvxi06

Their yearly revenue has already surpassed Rs 15 crore, and it continues to rise year after year.

Hope there are no income tax officials reading this!

Originally Posted by swiftvxi06

Me and @turbonath was being chased by a politician’s dilapidated Scorpio vehicle which was honking at me yet refused to give space to @turbonath. This went on for some time until @turbonath overtook it while gliding over a set of speedbumps and followed White Beauty like a convoy. (Incident captured in dashcam)

Will love to see the dash-cam video. This is the beauty of a turbo petrol.

Originally Posted by swiftvxi06

The Mutton Biriyani had a huge piece of mutton with an aloo and it was very soft.

Just a small confusion, the mutton was soft or the aloo was soft?

Originally Posted by swiftvxi06

Then @Mile_Breaker hopped into White Beauty and took it for a short drive as well. Other bhpains namely @turbonath @Neversaygbye @Boniver sat as passengers. Mile_Breaker took White Beauty over a series of bumps and rough roads and he was mighty impressed with the suspension system of Magnite and the pick up from the turbo petrol engine. He appreciated the handling over both on road and off roads and said that the engine never felt any strain even with full load of 5 people and the auto AC set at 19 degrees.

I feel elated to think, that I was the first Bhpian to experience your 'White Beauty' from the co-passengers seat while you were off-roading like a pro during our last Kolkata Team-Bhp meet. Was amazed to see how the other 4wds were getting stuck, but your 'White Beauty' came out with flying colors.

Originally Posted by swiftvxi06

The traffic by that time was quite less and I drove the Magnite quite enthusiastically.
Our White Beauty performed well being a turbocharged petrol sub-compact SUV.

Will love to see this dash-cam video as well! Magnite Turbo petrol is a very addictive drivers car. It's among one of the best suvs (Sub 4 meter) available in today's market.

[dip27in]

This travelogue brought back memories of the famous Barrackpore Race Track, a playground for car enthusiasts! We are looking forward to the wonderful spirited driving videos from the trip as well.

Kudos for finally taking the car out of hibernation and driving it more than 80kms for this trip! It really calls for another meet and offroading.

Thank you again from makes us feel alive with this wonderful thread! Kudos to Turbo Magnite and the team!

[Ritkon]

What started as a Biryani lunch trip plan by BHPian @Boniver, spiraled into a day of a tremendously entertaining meet.

White Beauty was the star of the show and the anticipation to meet her in flesh was almost too much to bear. She kept us entertained throughout the day and her overtaking maneuvers were cheered with so much enthusiasm, that it would have given the famed Dakar Rally inferiority complex.

Then there was the second star, the Biryani. The place was crowded and we had to wait eons to have it, but looking back, it would not have been nearly as entertaining if we got a seat right away. The crowd, the heat, the jokes, all made for an electric atmosphere. After that much waiting, we tasted food that felt divine.
All in all, if this is any prelude of the party to come, bring it on!

[Mile_Breaker]

Very well written swiftvxi06 ! The day was well spent with a small drive with fellow BHPians and then witnessing the craze of Dada Boudi biriyani shop at Barrackpore. Thanks to turbonath for letting me drive his newly acquired Thar. Even though I drive Hexa but still the view from driver's position felt like driving a mini bus, such a commanding view. The petrol engine is peppy and responds immediately with slight press of the accelerator pedal. Overtaking within city is easy job for the Thar. Did not like the suspension though. The thud of crossing evey bumper was felt from the rear wheels. Once more I got convinced that even though I drool at every Thar that passes by and dream of owning one but practically Thar is not for me. Right after Thar I was able to lay my hands on the Nissan Magnite Turbo Petrol, the one we so fondly call "White Beauty" in our forum. Thanks to the proud owner swiftvxi06. As the switch from Thar to Magnite was immediate the first difference felt was the suspension. The bumps were smoothened by Magnite. Then was the acceleration. As the ride was inside the city so couldn't go beyond 50 KMPH but it was fast. Giving the link of a small video of "White Beauty" that was captured in my dashcam.

https://youtu.be/9cXHF1JekWI

Finally many many thanks to Boniver who tempted us to make this Sunday outing. Looking forward to many such meets.

[Wanderers]

Thanks for sharing the trip detail. It indeed looks tempting and worth the long drive & wait.
How old is this outlet as I did not hear about it till year 2000 and how is it when compared to oldies like Siraj, Royal Indian or new ones like Arsalan?

Originally Posted by swiftvxi06

@turbonath was being chased by a politician’s dilapidated Scorpio vehicle which was honking at me yet refused to give space to @turbonath. This went on for some time until @turbonath overtook it while gliding over a set of speedbumps and followed White Beauty like a convoy. (Incident captured in dashcam)

Don't encourage what is seen in dashcam. Ofcourse, I may not have total picture, but in general, don't mesh with politician car and overtake from left when other driver is known to be non-cooperative and driving a bigger body car. Although it was 3 laned city road which allows you to do so technically.

[catchjyoti]

Oh man...dada boudi biriyani

The last I had it after standing in that line was a decade back. Still remember the taste

[AZT]

These photos just made me crave Biryani . Will definitely visit Dada Boudi if ever in Kolkata.

[Neversaygbye]

Originally Posted by Wanderers

How old is this outlet as I did not hear about it till year 2000 and how is it when compared to oldies like Siraj, Royal Indian or new ones like Arsalan?

While Dada Boudi has been around since the 80s, it was earlier a hole in the wall outlet on the road that runs parallel to the railway line from Barrackpore station. Over a period of time their popularity has increased and now they have taken space in a building on the main road that leads to the railway station. This is the outlet we went to, and I would recommend trying it if you're ever in the vicinity, but imho, it's not worth making a trip to Barrackpore just to eat here. Part of the popularity of this outlet also has to do with the fact that the regular Calcutta biryani joints are under-represented in the suburbs.

In terms of the taste of the biryani, it's nothing like what you get in Shiraz, Royal Indian or Arsalan. At Dada Boudi the rice is a bit brownish, and the flavours are a bit different and will remind you of Hyderabadi Biryani minus the salan, but then again not exactly that. It's not bad at all, but definitely different from what most Calcuttans are used to. Also, the quantity was huge and the meat was extremely well cooked. Personally I liked the accompaniments a lot more than the Biryani itself. The mutton liver curry, tandoori chicken and bhattiwala chicken kababs were delicious and one can go just for them.

[HeadoverWheels]

Amazing pics. And storyline was such that seemed I had participated too. Such a catch up isn't complete until you have lined up the wheels in a single shot, and wow it is. Hope we can catch up on a different trip.

[ghodlur]

Great meet guys.

For a change I wasnt looking at the cars coz all the attention was towards the food. The biryani looked amazing and hope the other dishes were too. I think you kicked off a thought amongst other BHPians who will not plan for a meet just to have that sumptuous biryani.