GOURMET CUISINE SOFT PORN STYLE. Review on The Princess, New Market, Kolkata

I first visited the Princess restaurant about 21 years back.It was a place where a family could sit down to finish a decent dinner safely,comfortably and peacefully.The drinks menu included the best and the most happening.''Something Special'' a whiskey which was a favourite of the permanently controversial and colourful,Khushwant Singh was served here,one of the rarest places to do so. The cocktails included the usuals like Bloody Mary,Tom Collins,Whiskey Sour,Gimlet,White Lady,Gin fizz,Planters Punch and a delightfully prepared Field Marshall, a tall drink packing a punch worth its name.The continental menu which included the Au Gratins(Veg. and Non-Veg),the Stroganoffs and the Baked Fish tomato were decent too.The Thai dishes ,the newest addition then, were however nothing to write home about.The stewards and Captains also did not recommend them.The Indian section included perennial favourites like Gosht Vindaloo.The tandoor section included their signature dish ''Mixed Grill Sizzler''.This dish which was also served in other restaurants was the best in Princess in terms of standard of cooking and the number of pieces.The fish,chicken mutton ,paneer(Indian cottage cheese) and egg pieces were cooked in the tandoor to perfection with just the right amount of salt and no over-burning.With fresh,hot bread rolls and soft butter it was heavenly for all the senses.Well,I wish I could write more but then I would be doing injustice if I did not brief the consumer on the harsh ,painful reality that is the Princess of today. Today the Princess is nothing but a sleaze joint!!.It can rightfully stake claim to being the heir to the shady,controversial Saqi bar and Restaurant on Lenin Sarani which has lost its sleaze appeal nowadays(and with it its loyal''guests'').There are in place two live bands on the two floors with screeching music being belted out by damsels with croaky voices,dresses which are ''Tight at the Right'' places ,and tittialating gyrations. The family clientele have been forced to disappear with the old Saqi brigade promptly switching their loyalty to Princess.The place resembles some of the Mumbai dance bars.There are official looking(blazers,white collar shirts,silk ties et al) people who are often mistaken for managerial staff.They take pieces of paper with ''request'' and currency notes from the ''guests'' to the lady singers;and mind you the requests are not only for a song a guest wishes to hear from the singer.The senior manager,a certain Dallas Martin entertains only some of his close friends who used to drink with him and regales other '' less-fortunate ''guests with stories of offers he receives from 5 and 7 star establishments,Oberoi,ITC Sheraton,Leela,Taj,Hyat(and his ''refusals'' of those ''offers '') while subjecting them to very humiliating levels of non-co operation,many times to accommodate his buddies(a bunch of 24 x 7,365 days booze worshippers).Well!So much for professional managers.I did hear from somebody that this Dallas Martin was thrown out of ''Silver Grill'' restaurant of Senator Hotel,(where, hold your breaths, he was in charge of housekeeping not Food & Beverage) ,which sadly is not even rated and qualifies only as a ''Budget Hotel''.Perhaps Dallas Martin has the habit of seeing STARS too often. The prices of each and every item has been increased exorbitantly,the amount,quantity and quality plummeting to abysmally low levels(with stale bread rolls,leftover from yesterdays stock reportedly being served) The management feels that since the ''Guests''now frequenting Princess do not mind paying ''a bit extra'' for the ''privileges'' , so they can jolly well charge more and serve them stale food ,served ''piping hot '',with lots of spices(to guise the odour of stale ingredients,perhaps) for them to digest.Perhaps their rationale is that the heat kills the germs ,so the food is perfectly healthy and edible.After all none of the ''honourable'' guests are complaining.According to their interpretation the place is on a fast track to the jet-setting age. I visited the place a few months back with my wife.The stewards and captains (who have been working for the past 2 decades or so) asked me not to come back for my and my family's safety.I cannot blame them.They love us (as loyal customers/guests, we visited the place when we dating also);and they are concerned genuinely.Perhaps we as a couple are to blame:We only may not have kept pace with the times''.