Our next visit of Shantiniketan might be solely to taste the mutton curry of Bonolakshmi - so good was the dark reddish mutton oozing in spices and oil! The USP of this place lies in its food. From the first serving of moong dal, to...the juicy dhokar dalna to mutton or chicken curry its quite a feast. The main thali cost us Rs 130 and the mutton was an addon at Rs 200. You need to "book" your lunch and its suggested that you book it the day before. They also offer local handicrafts and stuff like ghee, honey, bori at a reasonable price but of high quality. The service gets a little slow at times - you need to bear with that aspect. Saturdays and Sundays get quite busy and you might need to wait for quite sometime - so factor that in. As an afterthought : We had visited Barishaler Rannaghar (spun off from Bonolakshmi) last year. The experience - which I had rated at 4 stars on TA - needs to be revised after this visit. Barishaler Rannaghar, according to me, is a good 2 notches down when compared to Bonolakshmi. https://www.tripadvisor.in/ShowUserReviews-g1436005-d4086502-r833282825-Bonolakshmi-Bolpur_Birbhum_District_West_Bengal.html#More

It's a great experience to visit Vanalaxmi specially if you want see and witness the actual village life of West Bengal. If you want have lunch at Vanalaxmi canteen then you have to prebook your meal over phone +91 94344 46150. You can have veg...thali @150 along with mutton @200 and on any given day you will get 5 to 6 type of fish preparations price of which starts @100 and so on. You will also get Bengali sweets obviously home made which is known as PITHAS, prices of which starts@30 per piece. I have also purchased GHEE @780 per kilo. You will get 250gm and 500gm plastic bottles. Coming to the quality and the quantity of the food. It may be mentioned here that the food which they provide is absolutely home made and the preparation of food except mutton all dishes are less oily and real testy. They keep on repeating the veg thali items. You will also be provided with their own made GHEE with hot rice when the thali is initially served, however they also repeat the same if you ask for. You can also go there without prior bookings but in that case you will get vegetables thali for sure but nonveg items can only be provided depending upon the excess availability of the same. Overall it's a great experience.More

This place which was a great stop for lunch near Santiniketan has lost its charm. Too crowded because of popularity, and over priced while the quality of food and seating arrangements have deteriorated. The products they sell from the store are still good but I...won’t recommend their food to anyone.More