This Durga Puja Brut visits an iconic sweet shop in Kolkata to get a taste of Bengal’s obsession with all things mishti.
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00:00In winters, we make around 30,000 to 40,000 pieces of Baked Roshogolla.
00:21We're at the place that introduced the world to the wonder of Baked Roshogolla.
00:25Let's dig in.
00:26I needed a private moment with the sweet after that,
00:29but the regular customers didn't hold back.
00:59While these customers enjoy their sweets and snacks,
01:02let us take you through the history of this iconic place.
01:05In 1880, after migrating to Kolkata from Konnaghor,
01:08Ganesh Chandra Mulek started working in a sweet shop.
01:12Five years later, this dreamer set up his own sweet shop right here in Bhavanipuri.
01:29Later, the legacy continued with Ganesh's brother Balaram Mulek and his son Radharaman Mulek,
01:41giving the shop its name and identity.
01:44Now, Mr. Balaram's great grandson, Sudeep, along with his father, Mr. Pradeep Mulek,
01:50is continuing the family business.
01:59I've been trained in five-star hotels, in the kitchen of five-star hotels.
02:10I've always loved cooking since I was a kid.
02:12So, I started experimenting.
02:15The brand expanded their menu,
02:17introducing Kolkata to never-seen-before fusion sweets with mixed reactions.
02:23Bengalis are not as experimental in terms of food.
02:28They love trying new things.
02:31That's what excited everyone.
02:34But I've also found a resistance.
02:36Thara has said,
02:37I'm selling sweets.
02:39I'm making rasogollas.
02:41I'm making pithas.
02:42Pitha was always a taboo.
02:44No one would make pitha outside the house.
02:46We started selling pitha first.
02:48So, the pitha was slowly getting destroyed.
02:51We are proud that we rescued pitha.
02:54This gamble to merge tradition with innovation
02:58has a sweet ending.
03:20With growing demand,
03:21Sudip had to rethink production as well.
03:24There's no machinery available for making Bengali sweets.
03:27One of the best machines that I have installed so far
03:30was a mochi-making machine from Japan.
03:32In one hour,
03:3410 people used to make 1,000 pieces of jolbhara sandesh.
03:38With this machine,
03:38only one person is required to make 8,000 pieces of jolbhara sandesh in one hour.
03:44Till date, the best-selling sweet is jolbhara sandesh
03:47and you can say bek rasogolla.
03:50We do a lot of mischi doi also.
03:51We have a huge mischi doi incubator.
03:54In winters, we make around 30,000-40,000 pieces of bek rasogolla.
04:00Some other confectionery shops have maybe 10 varieties,
04:03but Balram Malik has around 50 plus varieties.
04:06The varieties of sandesh can only be found at Balram Malik.
04:10It's very different from what we normally eat.
04:13Falafel patties, which I love a lot.
04:17We experiment a lot.
04:20For example, patal-e-dorma.
04:22No one sells patal-e-dorma anywhere.
04:24We started selling patal-e-dorma.
04:27Chhana dal, ghuni khichuri.
04:30We bring as many Bengali snacks as possible to people.
04:39During the puja, we make bhog-e-thali.
04:42It has ghuni khichuri, aloo-dum,
04:44phulkopi-torkari, payas, and chutney.
04:47We present Bengali thali to people.
04:52Legend says that the educator Ashutosh Mukherjee
04:55was a big fan of founder Ganesh Chandra Malik's
04:58famous korapak sandesh.
05:00But Mr. Sudeep has his own special admirer.
05:03Mango gelato sandesh.
05:05Sachin Tendulkar used to call me and say,
05:08I never had something like this in my life.
05:10Can I get some for my kids?
05:12Sudeep hopes to give Bengali sweets
05:15their rightful place in the world someday.
05:18You can't get good sweets from West Bengal.
05:20I want to make the name Balaram Malik
05:23synonymous to Calcutta.
05:25I will say, come to Bangla, see Bangla,
05:28and eat Bangla sweets.