Dhaka Dining

Dhaka is a city that covers the entire spectrum from black to white. It is similar to the country’s history, alternating between turmoil and peace, prosperity and destitution, and a love and hate of everything Western. The food scene is no different. There are classy restaurants in the up-market suburb of Gulshan that would not be out of place anywhere. Then there are those places that a recent newspaper article chronicled as, “the restaurant people were caught red-handed using chemicals and artificial colors in their food, which are usually used in dying clothes.” There are also hundreds of budget eateries where you see men shoveling down rice, dhal (cooked yellow lentils), and perhaps some meat as quickly as possible with their hand. Notions of hygiene are pretty basic in these places, and you run a high risk of stomach problems. Women customers are extremely rare. Most visitors will chose the better restaurants for good reasons.

Bangladeshi food consists of rice, vegetables, and meat prepared in different ways. Bhuna is fried meat in a rich gravy sauce. Bhaji can be any kind of fried vegetable. Biryani is a rice casserole cooked with chicken, beef, or mutton, or sometimes just with vegetables. Bhetki is a variety of sea bass with few bones and I recommend it. Kebabs and sugar-loaded desserts are also popular. Try them all while you are visiting.

Quick Tips:

If you want to be safe, you need to be careful with your choice of restaurants. Friends in Dhaka say that while you can go down-market in accommodation and transport, you should never do the same with food and drinks. The restaurants recommended here are mostly in the medium-to-expensive categories for Dhaka, but I followed their advice and didn’t have any adverse experiences. Compared to restaurants in most other countries, these restaurants are cheap.

Water is a big problem. Many locals don’t even use the tap water when brushing their teeth, but even bottled water can be suspect, as some companies don’t treat the water properly and there is a whole industry devoted to refilling plastic bottles with new water. You should pick one brand and stick with that all the time you are in Bangladesh. Mum seems to be a reliable brand and widely available. Make sure the seal is intact.

Milky white tea is widely available, but I didn’t enjoy it because it was usually too milky and sweet. Coffee is way less popular. Cola drinks are readily available, both international and local brands. Try green coconut water, particularly if you have mild diarrhea. Alcoholic drinks are unavailable outside the five-star hotels.

Best Way To Get Around:

Most of my recommended restaurants are in the Gulshan area. Depending on where you start, they can be reached on foot or by rickshaw, three-wheeler CNG, or taxi. Rickshaws cost about Tk10 for a kilometre or so or Tk 60 to 80 an hour. Taxi meters start at about Tk 20. The yellow taxis are better than the black ones.

Although this restaurant only opened mid-2005, it has already made its mark with its combination of attractive ambience and interesting cuisine. If you want Vietnamese food in Dhaka, this is really the only place to go.

As you approach the restaurant, the first thing you notice is the conical roof of the porch, similar to that found on a Vietnamese farmer's hut. You are greeted by a doorman in grand costume, then enter a room that is chic but unobtrusive. Cozy booths with wooden partitions, dark timber tables, wooden beams, colonial-style ceiling fans, antiques, and hanging lanterns create an inviting atmosphere. As if this wasn’t enough, there are paintings depicting Vietnamese life and an old-fashioned Vietnamese kitchen in one corner. The area upstairs is similar.

The food can best be described as delicate with a few tangy surprises, but overall I found it rather bland and lacking in interest. The combination of herbs, spices, and sauces makes it quite different to Bangladeshi food and distinctive even from Thai or Chinese. Fresh spring rolls are always one of my favorites at a Vietnamese restaurant, and those at Le Saigon do not disappoint. Of course, there is the Pho Bo or Ga, which is probably the most popular dish in Vietnam. For the beef connoisseur there is diced beef in garlic butter, sliced beef slivers in Vietnamese pepper and onions, and beef rolls stuffed with picked onions. Unfortunately, the beef was so tough that I had to leave most of this on my plate. Some of these dishes, along with the boneless chicken legs, show the Franco-Vietnamese culinary influence.

There are dishes from the three main Vietnam regions, north, central and south. Central food is considered more authentic because the north has been influenced by Chinese cuisine and the south by French, Thai, Indian, and, more recently, American. Probably one of the highlights on the menu is the Lau, a hot pot soup in which your choice of fish, seafood, noodles, vegetables, chicken, beef, and so forth is added to a clear broth. The two Vietnamese chefs prepare this with particular flourish.

When I visited, soothing jazz tunes wafted into the rooms, making a nice backdrop to the food. The service was fast but unobtrusive, and the price, while high for most Dhaka restaurants at around US$23 for two, was probably acceptable. There is a dinner buffet some evenings at around US$10 a head.

Thai cuisine is probably my favourite food but so often Thai restaurants disappoint by delivering dishes that have been changed to meet local tastes or lack authenticity because some ingredients are not readily available. It was thus with some trepidation that I went with a small group to Thai House. I need not have worried.

Thai House produced some of the best Thai food I have had outside Thailand. It was authentic, tasty, and reasonably priced. I was so impressed that I returned on two further occasions while I was in Dhaka. The secret it seemed was the Thai chefs who had come straight from Bangkok and their ability to source all the correct ingredients for what they were cooking. On the three occasions I visited, I didn’t have anything that I didn’t enjoy. The tom yum soup, the various curries, the dom kar gai, the fried rice and so on were all delicious. I just cannot select a favourite.

Thai House has only a very small frontage to Gulshan Avenue but it makes an impression with its entrance. After passing through the doors, you walk down a laneway before finding the restaurant on your left. You initially enter a large room with minimal decoration and a small bar down one end and off this there are other rooms so it is not difficult finding a busy or quiet spot to suit your mood. I found the staff attentive and pleasant and most seemed to speak some English. The owner is always around and he is a very pleasant character. This is a big plus for any restaurant.

Few restaurants in Bangladesh serve alcohol. Thai House offers soft drinks and juices. The fresh mango juice is particularly good and is my recommendation. With some soup, steamed rice and a main meat dish, I could ask for nothing more. Delicious!

I was initially surprised when I went to Dhaka to find restaurants advertising that they served a variety of different cuisines. I was more used to deciding which cuisine I wanted to eat before choosing a restaurant, then finding one that specialized in this cuisine.

Le Chalet falls into this ‘several choices’ category by advertising itself as a Thai and Indian restaurant and it certainly is. You are given a menu that is extensive but divides in half between Thai and Indian cuisine. It didn’t seem appropriate to mix cuisines so we decided on Indian.

The restaurant occupies most of the ground floor of a small hotel in Gulshan. The whole building is modern and the restaurant from the street mirrors this impression, however, once you get inside you find that there are several other rooms which are cozy and not at all in the same ambience.

We found the service to be friendly but slow, the food very tasty and well presented, and the price about average. The menu is extensive so I cannot make a judgment on all the dishes. The curries, rice dishes, vegetables and nan that we had were really enjoyable and we would go back for more of these, however, one of our party made the comment, next time we will try the Thai food. We had taken a bottle of wine and the restaurant happily served it without charge. We arrived early at around 8pm and were the only diners in the restaurant for nearly an hour. By the time we were leaving there were probably 15-20 other people there, so obviously this is a place to go to late.

We had arranged to go on to an ice cream shop for dessert, so I didn’t even look at the dessert menu here. My knowledge of Thai and Indian desserts is limited, but I don’t find either cuisine big on interesting items. I’m sure nothing would have beaten the Belgian waffles and ice cream we had later that evening.

There is no doubting the impression Chinese food has had on the world stage. It seems that no matter which country you travel to, you will find Chinese restaurants there. Bangladesh is no exception and while in Dhaka I ate in at least four of them. In my opinion Leung Hung was the best. The restaurant also has an extensive Thai food menu but I did not ever try this because I regularly visited other specialist Thai restaurants in Dhaka.

The restaurant is located on one of the busiest intersections in the suburb of Gulshan so it is well known to most locals. It has also built a good reputation with expatriate people living in the area so on the night I visited there was about a 75/25 mix of locals and foreigners. As with most Dhaka restaurants, there was no alcohol served but one of our party had thought ahead and brought a nice bottle of Australian wine which the restaurant gladly opened.

Chinese restaurants often have extensive menus and Leung Hung was no exception. When you analyze what is being offered it boils down to beef, lamb, chicken, duck, fish and seafood prepared in a variety of ways. Our needs were simple so we ordered beef, chicken, a vegetable dish and fried rice. The servings were large and four dishes were very adequate for three people. The meal was served quickly without fuss and the taste was just what we expected. What more could you ask for?

This is not the place to go if you are looking for top quality ambience and service but for a good honest meal it is hard to beat. We were in and out in well under an hour, satisfactorily fed and fully prepared to explore further the nighttime delights of Dhaka.

Samdado is probably the best Japanese restaurant in Dhaka. I discovered it by accident, then went there on three subsequent occasions with different people. The staff quickly recognized me and gave a personal greeting and that little bit extra service, so I must say that I am completely in love with the place.

The menu is quite extensive, and even after four visits, I don’t claim to be an expert. I enjoyed the sushi so much the first time that on each subsequent visit we also had that. It is not cheap, but it is excellent. After that we tried a whole range of dishes: various hot pots, tempura chicken, tempura shrimp, fried noodles, Udon curry, and so on.

There are several interesting soups, including a miso, a pork, and a vegetable. Salads are also popular, with many featuring cucumber. This happens to be one of the few things I don’t enjoy, so I steered clear of this. I did try, and enjoyed, the seaweed salad and the spinach salad with walnut sauce. Each visit was a great culinary experience.

Samdado can get very busy later in the evening. I used to try to arrive before 8pm so that we could settle in before the main crowd. Once seated, there was never any pressure to leave, and on a couple of evenings the night got quite late. It is just one of those places where it's great to talk and slowly order things that have appeal at that moment in time. Alcohol is not sold at the restaurant, but there was no problem taking a bottle of wine. The restaurant happily opened it and provided glasses at no cost. No wonder I enjoyed it.