I am a foodie man and love eating delicious foods. I can eat a lot of food at a time, whether the food is so tasty or not, because I love to taste different foods. As I am living in China, where I can't find my native foods, I miss the dishes from Bangladesh. But it is also true that I love many dishes as well. So, I always wait until I can return to Bangladesh and taste the home foods. Most of the time, I love homemade foods because the foods from the outside are not healthy at all as these are cooked with bad oil and often deep-fired, which is carcinogenic. When I visited Bangladesh in September of this year, I was very excited, and as usual, my weight increased by around 2 kg in two weeks!
As my wife is a regular university student, we could get less time for cooking, so sometimes we wanted to try some outside foods, though most of the time, I ate at home as she loves cooking for me. And I love homemade foods that she cooks with care and love. So, me and my wife tried some foods from some restaurants in the Uttara area of Dhaka City. When I was checking my gallery, I was missing those foods, which increased my hunger, and it pushed me to order the takeout at 10:00 pm night.
The first restaurant I want to share is Ashta Banjan, a completely Bengali restaurant serving many Bengali food items. I got the opportunity to have a delicious meal at Ashta Banjan in Uttara, Dhaka, as a kind welcome gift from my wife's friend, and we enjoyed the launch together. However, I couldn't take photos of all the dishes as we had ordered many items after we had started taking the initial orders. I feel strongly nostalgic for the tastes and cosiness of Bengali cuisine as I go through the photos in my phone's album.
In Dhaka city people can be seen everywhere, some buying, others munching on roadside food. I was drawn to the restaurant's facade when we got to Ashta Banjan. Soft lighting and a well-decorated signboard that alluded to the traditional Bengali food inside made the entry hospitable. I felt completely at home in the restaurant's welcoming ambience as soon as we entered. I became hungry right away as the scent of freshly cooked spices and ghee filled the air. We selected a table by a window with a view of the crowded street. While we waited for our lunch, seeing the bustling metropolis outside was exciting.
We agreed to order khichuri, one of my favourite foods, as the main course. Made with rice, lentils, and flavorful spices, khichuri is a simple but extremely filling meal. Once it has been cooked to a soft, creamy texture, it feels like a warm embrace on a platter. We also ordered beef kalavuna, goose meat jhal fry, chicken roast, and Borhani to go with the khichuri. A perfectly cooked egg was served with every plate of khichuri, adding even more joy. For dessert, we ordered mint shakes and some yoghurt, which is a sweet kind of yoghurt; I also ordered a fine, which is also a traditional sweet dessert in Bangladesh.
We have also visited some eastern and western fast food restaurants on other days to taste the different foods in Dhaka city which were recently introduced in the area. The Western fast food chain Chillox is very popular for its extremely spicy Naga Chicken Wings. I love spicy foods, so it was a well-recommended food. The spicy level of the wings was really terrible, and I am sure most people on this earth will be unable to enjoy this dish, but I loved it due to the spices and strong flavour. Though we ordered a lot and my wife could not eat more than a single wing, I ate the rest of them, but it was not so easy!
The Eastern vibes were found in the restaurant named 'Tibet MOMO', which has many soothing dishes, and I prefer this one to the prior Western restaurant. My target was the MOMO, and I ordered two kinds of momo. it was so delicious that we forgot to take photos of them, which is just like a similar version of dumplings that I eat often in China. The other dishes, like the Garlic Mushroom and Chicken Cashewnut salads, were also so delicious, but I prefer the MOMO and the chicken cashew nuts salad as my top priority.
Last but not least, the foods that I want to share were from a kind of street shop that provides the most unhealthy foods but also the most delicious foods also. As a middle-class family, from childhood, I have eaten these foods a lot, but due to my age and weight gain, I have made a strong limit on consuming these foods, but I always try them when I visit Bangladesh.
The problem with these foods is the unhealthy burned oil that they are using month after month, the unhealthy place, and the lack of personal cleanliness. Many people from the Western world may find it very difficult to consume them as they can cause some stomach problems. But in Bangladesh street foods are 100 times safer than in India. I have seen some terrible videos which are really shocking and unimaginable for Bangladesh being the same life standard of both countries.
Let's end the long blog with today's late-night dinner that I have ordered. I feel so pitiful when I remember my native foods here, but these are also okay as I have been accustomed to this Chinese cuisine already.
I hope you like my foodie blog on my experience in Bangladesh and China! If you have any queries, let me know in the comments, and I will try my best to answer them.
Thanks a lot for your time and attention. I will catch up with you at the next one.
Wish you a great weekend!
