Once regarded as Kolkata’s lifeline, trams are slowly losing their relevance to other modes of transportation.
But there’s a place where one can relive the city’s heritage along with some lip-smacking delicacies—welcome to the Kolkata street food tram restaurant near the popular tourist destination Eco Park in New Town here.
This 20-seater restaurant is delighting food enthusiasts with its street food offerings, ranging from the crispy khasta kachori to the mouthwatering papri chaat.
Located opposite the Mother's Wax Museum, the traditional wooden seats of the tram have been converted into tables and chairs for patrons, while the interior maintains its original look with hanging fans, wooden log floors, and passenger notices scribbled on the walls.
Next to the tram café, a pillar is adorned with illustrations of Kolkata's iconic ambassador taxis and hand-pulled rickshaws, bringing back the nostalgic flavour from the 60s-80s when black-yellow taxis dominated the streets before being replaced by yellow taxis.
Despite the disappearance of trams from the streets, this café serves as a reminder of the heritage and culture associated with this antique mode of transportation.
Environmentalist SM Ghosh said trams are environment friendly, evoke nostalgia and there should be a move to introduce the younger generation to these disappearing forms of transport in an era dominated by app cabs.
Café manager Tarashankar Chatterjee said the eatery is open from noon to 9 pm and attracts a lot of people during evening hours on working days, as well as throughout the day during the winter season when tourists visit the area.
Debashis Sen, managing director of the West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (HIDCO), said the initiative is run by Café Ekante under HIDCO.
Café Ekante, a restaurant chain established by HIDCO, not only operates the tram café but also has a spacious dining area in Eco Park and a few other small coffee outlets in New Town.
A tram-shaped tea shop, which sells premium brands of Makaibari tea, was set up in front of City Centre-1 mall at Salt Lake in the early 2000s as part of the architectural plan of legendary architect Charles Correa, a spokesperson of Ambuja Neotia group which runs the mall said.
