The best Shorshe Ilish in Kolkata
Also spelt sorshe ilish, ilish, hilsa and hilsa in mustard. A curated shortlist, shaped by your votes.
Editorial picks
Selected from published food guides and local reporting. How the list works
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Number 1.6 Ballygunge Place
- Open
- 12.30 to 3.30 and 7 to 10.30 daily
- Where
- 6 Ballygunge Place, off Ballygunge Circular Road, Ballygunge, Kolkata 700019
A restored bungalow where the mustard is kept in check and the fish is cooked slowly. Shorshe ilish with rice, nothing else needed. Prices run above the local average and lunch stops at half three.
What to orderShorshe ilish with steamed rice
0 votes
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Number 2.Kasturi (Marquis Street)
- Open
- 11am to 11.30pm daily
- Where
- 7A Mustaque Ahmed Street (off Marquis Street), New Market area, Kolkata 700016
Dhakai cooking, and the mustard comes at you unapologetically. Order the bhaapa shorshe ilish with plain rice. Service wobbles once the room fills, and one piece of ilish costs around five hundred rupees.
What to orderBhaapa shorshe hilsa with steamed rice
0 votes
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Number 3.Oh! Calcutta (Forum Courtyard)
- Open
- 12.45 to 3.30pm, 7 to 11pm; noon to 4pm weekends
- Where
- 4th floor, Forum Courtyard, 10/3 Elgin Road, Bhowanipore, Kolkata 700020
Mall dining on the fourth floor, though the hilsa menu from July is taken seriously. Order shorshe ilish and leave the smoked version alone. Weekend lunch service ends at four, so book it.
What to orderShorshe ilish from the hilsa festival menu
0 votes
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Aaheli, The Peerless Inn
- Open
- 12.30pm to 11pm daily
- Where
- 1st floor, The Peerless Inn, 12 Jawaharlal Nehru Road, Esplanade, Kolkata 700013
Formal hotel dining room, but the ilish is cooked straight rather than tricked up. Ask for shorshe ilish while the August menu runs. Off season the fish is frozen, so telephone before travelling.
What to orderShorshe ilish from the monsoon ilish menu
0 votes
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Parbati Hotel (Bhowanipore pice hotel)
- Open
- 11am to 4.30pm; evenings 7 to 10.30 except Sunday
- Where
- 66 Ashutosh Mukherjee Road, Bhowanipore, Kolkata 700020
An old pice hotel near Jadubabur Bazar where the morning market sets the menu. The mustard hilsa curry is the reason to come. Doors shut at half four, and Sunday has no evening service.
What to orderMustard hilsa curry with rice and dal
0 votes
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Swadhin Bharat Hindu Hotel
- Open
- Lunch about 11am to 3.30pm
- Where
- 8/2 Bhawani Dutta Lane, below Raja Guest House, College Square, Kolkata 700073
Century old pice hotel behind Presidency, banana leaf on the table and water in clay cups. Shorshe ilish when the market delivers. Listings disagree on hours, so treat it as lunch and arrive before two.
What to orderShorshe ilish with rice
0 votes
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Tero Parbon (Purna Das Road)
- Open
- Noon to 10.30pm daily
- Where
- 49C Purna Das Road, Golpark, Kolkata 700029
During Ilish Parbon the kitchen runs about twenty five hilsa preparations, which is more choice than anybody needs. Stick to the shorshe. The room is small and the ilish list ends with the season.
What to orderShorshe ilish, ordered early in the meal
0 votes
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Jagannath Ashram (College Street Market)
- Open
- 10am to 4pm, then 7pm to 11:30pm, daily
- Where
- 114 College Street Market, College Street, College Square, Kolkata 700007
Inside College Street Market, cooked the way regulars say their mothers did. Ask what ilish is on that morning and eat it with rice. Nothing is written down and the fish finishes at lunch.
What to orderThe day's ilish with rice
0 votes
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Sonar Tori (City Centre 1
- Open
- 12.30 to 3.30pm, 7 to 11pm
- Where
- 4th floor, City Centre 1, DC Block, Sector 1, Salt Lake, Kolkata 700064
Top floor of City Centre, decorated hard, but the ilish shorshe bhapa holds its own. Order that with rice. It remains a mall restaurant, so Sunday means a wait and no ilish off season.
What to orderIlish shorshe bhapa
0 votes
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Sonargaon (Taj Bengal
- Open
- 12.30 to 3pm, 7 to 11pm
- Where
- Taj Bengal, 34B Belvedere Road, Alipore, Kolkata 700027
Hotel Bengali cooking with the annual hilsa run from mid July to mid September. Ask for sorshe ilish, or the ilish thali if you want the range. Budget well past a thousand rupees each.
What to orderSorshe ilish, or the grand ilish thali
0 votes
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Bhojohori Manna (Hindustan Park)
- Open
- Noon to 10.30pm daily
- Where
- 18/1A Hindustan Road, Hindustan Park, Gariahat, Kolkata 700029
First of the chain and still a tight room down a Gariahat lane. Shorshe ilish with rice, then stop. Ilish is a monsoon item here, so check by phone before you travel out of season.
What to orderShorshe ilish with rice
0 votes
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Kewpie's (Elgin Lane)
- Open
- 12.30 to 3pm, 7.30 to 10.30pm
- Where
- 2 Elgin Lane, off Elgin Road, Bhowanipore, Kolkata 700020
The family dining room in Elgin Lane, food arriving in earthenware, now trading as QP's after the 2025 rename. Regulars order the ilish bhapa. Portions are small for the money and the kitchen is slow.
What to orderIlish bhapa with rice
0 votes
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Bhooter Raja Dilo Bor (Jadavpur)
- Open
- Noon to 10pm daily
- Where
- 174, 175 and 179 Block C, Raja S.C. Mallick Road, Jadavpur, Kolkata 700032
The Jadavpur original of the Ray themed chain, packed with students and families. The mahabhoj ilish thali covers the ground, and the shorshe piece is the reason to order it. Weekend evenings are loud.
What to orderMahabhoj ilish thali
0 votes
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Ilish Truly Bong
- Open
- 11am to 11pm daily
- Where
- 83B Park Street, Mullick Bazar, Kolkata 700016
Whole menu built around the one fish, in a room up a narrow stair off Park Street. Take the ilish thali and ask for the shorshe piece. Two people will spend about twelve hundred rupees.
What to orderIlish thali with the shorshe preparation
0 votes
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