Govinda - Kolkata

Beautiful place with beautiful decorations. many options on the menu, they can choose without a cheese option. govinda dal is very tasteful. I have to take my lunch.

This is the second in the city and is very stylish and eating is exceptionally good.

The renovation work continued when we went there so that they don’t immediately see from the street where the restaurant is, but once in the inner they find themselves in a colonial ballroom with gilded pieces and paintings by Lord krishna’s pastimes. ac is quite cold, so they come prepared with a scarlet or pullover. we ordered the simple thiali on rs 140 and were not disappointed, eating was very fresh and tasty. we enjoyed especially the bhindi subji (ladyfingers), eating was not oily or heavy and they get a refill of most subjis and dal as well as rotis. there is a sweetheart with a few snacks and many sweets and some iceless cake. they looked delicious, but we were too full to try. highly recommended

When they go in, they only see a sweetheart counter. go through the door to the left to get to the restaurant. I would read the previous review and ask what was available before the decision in the menu. here are my thoughts: 1. the menu has no pictures or descriptions, so they need to know what is all. I was largely unaware. 2. I should have brought my vegan passbook. I expected that the search for something vegan in a vegetarian restaurant in a country where most people would have some English knowledge would be much easier than this. it was actually quite difficult because a) veganism was a difficult concept, since strict vegetarians included them many different milk products, and b) there was not much English, even combined with the staff (I know I was still surprised) but I was in another country. 3. Even after I managed not to explain any milk, no ghee, no milk products, I still have milk dipping on the side that I should not be shocked. 4. eating was pretty good, but not amazing, and it wasn't better than the street corner I was for 1/15. of the price. They usually pay for the service and the ambiente, but none of them was overly impressive. overall it was good and not bad, but I wouldn't be back. I wanted to give 3 stars as I found it good, but this is the 2nd-lowest rating for Veg sites, so this is the only reason I give 4 stars.

This restaurant is really top notch. Read my other reviews and you'll see that I don't really fawn over restaurants unless they are deserving. I'm pretty critical when I feel it is warranted, and I haven't spared this place either; but, for sure, I can't find a better pure-veg restaurant in Kolkata. First things first .... If you are coming here it is all about timing. Although they are open from 9am until late, the entire menu is only available from 1-3pm for lunch and then from 7pm-closing. If you come outside of that timeframe the South Indian menu and whatever is on offer at the sweet/savory counter is all you can order. So if doshas and milk sweets aren't your thing, you should aim for these times. Personally, I think the doshas are excellent though. The prices are amazing for the well prepared, generously portioned menu items. I recommend the Shezuan Paneer, the Govinda's special dosha, Chinese crispy noodle salad and pretty much anything from the sweet bar out the front. They make very nice traditional pera if you have a sweet tooth. The service is friendly and attentive, however, the place gets filled up quickly and I noticed it was a little hard for the waiters to keep up. A good strategy would probably be to order everything in one go unless you are lucky to go when there are few others there. I've been there four times now and this has never been the case except for once when I came around 9am before the lunch rush. One suggestion I'd like to make to the management would be to present the full menu only during the times it is available. At other times a simplified menu could be presented containing the South Indian items that can actually be ordered. It was a little disappointing to scope the menu only to be told that everything I wanted was not available for another 4 hours. Still, the Govinda's Special Dosha they recommended did not disappoint.