When food influencers discover ‘hidden gems’

It's a social media magic trick to package old wine in new bottles, but influencers don't realise that it is familiarity and connection to the neighbourhood that makes such places truly precious

- SANDIP ROY

A teashop that's been around for 75 years could be hidden for somebody out there.

(FOR REPRESENTATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY/ISTOCKPHOTO)

I had no clue I lived across the street from a 100-year-old “hidden gem”, a restaurant so hidden it did not even have a signboard.

I learned all that thanks to an enthusiastic Instagrammer.

Radhu Babu’s teashop in south Kolkata is old but not quite 100. I did not think of it as hidden since its tea was so famous that film stars like Raj Kapoor and Uttam Kumar are known to have come there for it. The story goes that Raj Kapoor would even take its prepped fish fries and cutlets back to Mumbai where his chef would fry them for him.

Also for a “hidden” gem, it was hiding in plain sight, as it were. Our neighbour would stand on her balcony and try to peer into its kitchen to see if she could decipher what went into their famous chicken korma. Every morning clusters of people gathered in front of it on the street to order its tea and toast. Many of them used to sit on the stoop of our house, drinking their tea and reading the newspaper (and cheerfully blocking our doorway). In the evening the menu expanded to fish cutlets, vegetable chops or croquettes and mutton stew (still available by the quarter plate). All of it was equally popular. A menu on a billboard hangs in front of the restaurant with its name clearly emblazoned on top. The influencer stood in front of that same menu as he breathlessly declared it was such a “hidden gem” it did not even have its name on a signboard.