The Bengali food in Makkah and Madinah is elite level. Especially near the two mosques (Masjid al-Haram and Masjid an-Nabawi). So, if you’re traveling with Bengali elders or you yourself cannot go two days without home style Bengali food or you just want to sample some real good authentic home Bengali food, then you’ll be more than happy and satisfied with the options available. I preferred the restaurants in Madinah, but maybe because there were so many on one street as opposed to Makkah, where there’s a little less and they’re a bit scattered. Regardless, the food we had was insanely delicious and I have to say it was the closest to home food (you know the type your mother makes), that I have ever tasted out in a restaurant. Very impressive! How did they nail it!? And don’t worry, whether you’re after breakfast, lunch or dinner, they’ve got you covered!
Makkah
In Makkah, if you want Bengali food, you need to head down Ibrahim al Khaleel street. Keep walking away from Masjid al-Haram and you’ll start to see a lot of touristy shops, a lot of congestion, a lot of people, a lot buses trying to park and that’s when you’ll know you’ve arrived in the South Asian area. Here amongst all the gift/souvenir shops you’ll find a few restaurants ranging from Pakistani, Bukhari and Bengali grub. We noticed a couple of Bengali restaurants, and decided to walk into the one that was on the main road. Dastarkhan Restaurant. I tried to locate it on Google Maps, but couldn’t do so. So, you’ll have to try and find it yourself! We ordered a selection of dishes and we are happy to report that they well impressive. The chicken curry was a standout dish here.
Madinah
In comparison to Makkah, Madinah has a lot more to choose from in terms of Bengali restaurants. From what is apparent anyway (disregarding hidden gems). There’s a whole area full of authentic Bengali restaurants. I think the area is actually informally known as the Bengali market. From the back end of Masjid an-Nabawi, if you walk towards Sheraton Restaurent শেরাটন রেস্টুরেন্ট (search this on Google Maps), you’ll eventually come across the area (you’ll know). There’s a long way and there’s a short cut (which we discovered later!). If you see a Dunkin’ Donuts and McDonald’s, you’ll find an underpass/ tunnel next to it which leads you directly to the area, it’s a quicker route and you don’t have to walk in the heat. The main street has a row of Bengali restaurants and essentially these are the places we dined at, but if you wanted to go deeper, you can. There’s more on the inside! But from what we saw, they all seemed to have the same menu anyway. From all the restaurants it seems Sonargaon is the most popular (according to my TikTok anyway). We had our breakfast from there and were certainly impressed.
Breakfast
I see a couple of Bengali breakfast places open up in England and I find it funny how they seem to serving anything but Bengali breakfast. It’s basically breakfast that a British Asian would have at home – i.e. English breakfast but with halal ingredients. That is not Bengali breakfast. These boys need to travel back to their lands and discover what true authentic Bengali breakfast is. You can get a taste or sample of what that is here. The above restaurants are open for breakfast too (to be fair some are open 24 hours). So, straight after you’ve prayed Fajr, they’ll be ready to serve you authentic and delicious breakfast. What’s typically found at these spots for breakfast is: meat and beef curries, vegetable dishes, dhaal, paya, halwa and Bengali omelette (which is more of a mix between a fried egg and an omelette). All of this is consumed with paratha (as opposed to rice which is had for the other meals). The beef curry (ghoru mangsho in Bengali) was THE standout dish for me. It was flavourful and nice and spicy. The perfect morning pickup curry, if ever there was one.
Lunch
Lunch is usually chaotic as everyone seems to want to dine at the same time. So, you’ll have to be patient with the crowds if you want to dine at this time. What’s on offer are the typical more common dishes consumed by Bengalis, which are chicken curries, meat curries, vegetables curries and of course the fish curries. Just like the other meals actually there isn’t an actual menu (even if they have one on the wall) – it’s a case of what they have on the day. This meal was my absolute favourite. Couldn’t believe how close to home food they managed to do it.
Dinner
Dinner is time for the famous bortha (some call it satni) and bazi. Both are essentially dry vegetable dishes even though you can get some fish and wet ones. Bortha is usually boiled, mashed and spiced vegetables whereas bazi is pan fried vegetables. If they have it, make sure you try the potato bortha, kerala bazi and bindi bazi.
