Bilkis's Barisal Kitchen

Dhanmondi

Bilkis is from the backwaters of Barisal, where every family owns a boat and every meal includes fish pulled from the river that morning. Her father was a fisherman on the Kirtankhola, and Bilkis spent her mornings helping him sort the catch and her afternoons learning to cook it from her mother. Barisal cooking is river cooking — lighter than Chittagong, more delicate than Sylhet, and obsessed with freshness above all else. Bilkis's shorshe chingri, prawns simmered in a light mustard sauce with green chilies, is as close to perfection as river food gets. Bilkis moved to Dhanmondi fifteen years ago. She says the hardest part is finding fresh river fish in a city that runs on frozen imports. She sources directly from Barisal through a cousin who ships ice-packed coolers on the overnight launch every Thursday.

Signature dish: Shorshe Chingri (mustard prawn, Barisal-style)