My wife and I have done many food tours globally. This one was the best. And surprisingly, it was the best by quite a margin. I rarely write reviews but felt compelled to complete one for this experience.
Soham is the owner / operator of the tour company. He’s clearly thought the entire tour through from the travelers perspective start to finish. He provided an ‘Uber to Uber ‘ experience. Meaning he met us as we exited our Uber and saw us off at the end of the excursion. We had trouble getting an Uber at the end of the night because of lack of availability. So he hailed a cab, negotiated a good rate and saw us off.
Finding the meeting site couldn’t have been easier. Inputting Calcutta Capsule into both google maps as well as Uber put us right where we needed to be. The doorway of the meeting spot has a large hand painted ‘Calcutta Capsule Tour’ mural to let you know you’ve arrived at the correct location.
The tour itself was excellent. Well designed. Stops were delish and threaded into an overall narrative conceived by Soham. Includes anecdotes from his life growing up in the neighborhood and some that are historically and culturally relevant. All weave into the overall story of the food stalls.
A particularly nice touch is Soham took pictures of us (with our permission) with a DSLR camera and sent them to us shortly after the tour. They were great.
There were a total of 8 or so stalls. They were well curated and all delicious. Standouts for us were the mutton with tamarind sauce for me and my wife’s favorite was a fried onion dish. Of note, there are quite a few stalls and portion sizes were not particularly modest considering the number of stops . My wife and I split single portions between the two of us instead of taking the full portion offered at each vendor. We both ended up quite full. If we had eaten full potions, we would’ve been probably uncomfortably full by the fourth or so stall. You can do this and get more at any time if you wish.
Overall, by far the best food tour experience we’ve had over decades of pretty extensive travel. Soham couldn’t have been a better host and his passion , meticulous nature and generosity of spirit really take this tour over the top.
Soham, I wish you the absolute best for this business and anything else for which you may endeavor. Best of luck and I hope our paths cross again sometime
