1. Kotal’s Satyanarayan

Pic source: Srilekha Biswa, Google reviews

The sweetmeat manufacturing business house was established in 1952 and has expanded to a chain of retail outlets across the city.

The nolen gurer bacchabog (a sweet made with jaggery) is the main draw here with its kheer filling in the centre, called kheerer guti.

2. Nalin Chandra Das and Sons

For over 175 years, the sweet shop has been priding itself on its sandesh (a milk-sweet made from fresh curd cheese).

The story goes that founder Johuree Lall Das had fled to the city from his village in Dubrajhat — where the Britishers were forcing Indians to engage in indigo cultivation. In Kolkata, he began making sandesh. One day, barrister Biswajit Ghosh of Pathuriaghata gave Das cocoa powder from England challenging him to prepare chocolate sandesh, which continues to be popular.

3. KC Das

The rosogolla was the result of an afternoon experiment in 1868 by a man named Nobin Chandra Das.

Rolling balls of curdled milk and then boiling them in sugar syrup resulted in the beloved sweet that even Rabindranath Tagore was a fan of.

4. Balaram Mullick and Radharaman Mullick

The guest list here has always been coloured — including Barkha Dutt, Prannoy Roy, Ranbir Kapoor and Ashutosh Mukherjee. The eatery is famous for its korapak (a Bengali sweet made with cottage cheese) and nolen gur (a special jaggery found in Bengal).

During the Emergency, when milk was banned, the women of the family stepped up to create sweets out of cashews and pulses to keep the business running.

5. Chittaranjan Mistanna Bhandar

The 115-year-old eatery is one of the 71 certified sweet shops in the city to sell the GI-tagged rosogolla earning it the name of ‘Rosogolla Wala of Kolkata’.

Their madhuporko (a sweet made from curd, ghee and honey) is equally amazing. And a fan of it is none other than Indian chef Saransh Goila.

6. Girish Chandra Dey and Nakur Chandra Nandy

The eatery is renowned in Kolkata and one of the most legendary sweet places. Nakur Chandra Nandy was the son-in-law of the renowned confectioner of Shimla, Girish Chandra Dey.

And their sandesh has found fans in Abhishek Bachchan, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, and Satyajit Ray among others.

7. Bhim Chandra Nag

Started by Paran Chandra Nag in 1826, this seasoned sweet shop is credited with coming up with the ledikeni.

The anecdote says that Lady Canning, wife of the then viceroy of India, Charles John Canning, was once visiting erstwhile Calcutta in 1858. She wanted a special sweet made for her birthday. Nag took up the challenge! And it is this creation that was named after Lady Canning, which over the years became ‘ledikeni’.

8. Flury's

Founded in the year 1927 by a couple Mr and Mrs J Flury, this Kolkata outlet was frequented by some of the most notable names in both Indian and British history.

In fact, the eatery was featured on the 2023 list of ‘150 most legendary dessert places in the world’ released by the popular food guide Taste Atlas.