The Indian Coffee House, as it is known famously, is located opposite the Presidency College in College Street. It is renowned as a meeting place or for ‘ADDA’, according to the people of Kolkata. It is a very prestigious place as is it used to be the meeting place of many intellectuals of Kolkata. But since time, it has always been the meeting place for the students of Presidency College, Calcutta University and other colleges situated in the College Street.
HISTORY
Coffee house was previously known as Albert Hall which was found in April, 1876..Later, the Coffee Board decided to start a coffee joint from the Albert Hall in 1942. Notable citizens were frequent visitors to the place. In 1947, the Central Government changed the name of the place to “Coffee House”. The place became a meeting place for the poets, artistes, literati and people from the world of art and culture. In 1958, the management decided to shut down the Coffee House, but it was re-opened the same year, after professors of Presidency College and Calcutta University rushed off a special petition to the government, to save the heritage place. In 2006, a huge financial crunch kept the co-operative society from undertaking renovation of the coffee house. Few companies such as Asian Paints gave an offer to renovate the Coffee House but it was rejected by the management.
FAMOUS PATRONS
The prestige of the Coffee House increased with regular visitors such as Satyajit Ray, Manna Dey, Amartya Sen, Mrinal Sen and Aparna Sen The Coffee House is of historical significance for being the rendezvous of innumerable versatile people, from its inception to date. Scholars, editors, artists and writers like Ritwik Ghatak, Narayan Gangopadhyay, Sunil Gangopadhyay, Sanjeev Chattopadhyay,Biswapriya Mukherjee, Samaresh Majumdar, Subhas Mukhopadhyay and Shakti Chattopadhyay) have been just a few among the patrons of the restaurant. In early sixties of 20th century the coffee house became the intellectual battleground of the famous Several talented and illustrious persons from different streams have been thronging this renowned adda for a long time.
SPECIALITIES
I visited the Coffee House during evening time, and I ordered the famous ‘Chicken Kobiraaji’ with a cup of coffee, and it was so good that I could not help but ordered another one of those Kobiraaji. The service was quick and the behaviour of the waiters was warm.
The atmosphere, the sip of coffee, the gossips and everything, gave an exhilarating feeling and the visit was very memorable.
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