✍️By Special Correspondent
Kolkata, also known as a Foodie’s Paradise, has a new destination for delicious baked goodies and confectionery items boasting an inexhaustible range of products that will keep everyone craving for more. Aptly named Dunkel Braun, which means dark chocolate in German – this is a one stop shop for cakes, pastries, breads, sweets, pizzas, salads and more, all under one roof located conveniently at 176, Sarat Bose Road covering an area of 1200 square feet. The shop also comes with the second outlet of Craft Coffee, which opened its first outlet at Park Street a few months back.
Sandeep Gupta, owner of Dunkel Braun says, “Although Kolkata and Bengal is famous for its incredible range of cuisines, adapted from various cultures, when it comes to bakery and confectionery items, there is a lot of vacuum. People here have a sweet tooth but there are only a very few brands or upscale brands in the city.
Dunkel Braun is here to fill that gap because we are a product based brand with more than 300 items in the menu. We have our own manufacturing unit headed by the top chefs and researchers in the country and therefore our quality control is top notch. We hope that people will like what we have to offer.”
The highlight of Dunkel Braun is the range of products. There are off the shelf items like veg/ cottage cheese/ mushroom/ corn-spinach puffs, samoasa, quiche, pasta/ spiral/ spring roll, butter croissant, pizza ring, chilli cheese breads etc. Then there is plain nachos, nachos reloaded, potato wedges and cheese balls.
Apart from DIY salads, Dunkel Braun also has a variety of waffles and pancakes, burgers and pav, sandwiches, pizzas and wraps. There is a range of unique sweets and savories as well like tarts, fresh fruit bowls, veg and non veg buns, pastries and cakes, sweet breads, sweet scones, muffins, macaroons and more. The cookie range has items like chocochip, chocolate cashew, coconut milk, honey oats, mixed fruits, multigrain, saffron thandai, coriander chilli, and more, plus a sugar free range too.
One of the highlights of Dunkel Braun is the Turkish delicacy – Baklava. “Our focus is on ingredients and the product. So for Baklava we are sourcing the main ingredients from Turkey to give it the authentic flavor. The shelf life of the products is also good, some items lasting for up to 45 days,” says Laljee Gupta, Chairman. The price of the products will range from INR 100 to INR 3,000 plus for personalized gift boxes and hampers. With a detailed eye on packaging, the Dunkel Braun takeaway boxes and hampers are the perfectly stunning accessory to confectionery, bakes and sweet items that will be for keeps for anyone. The products will be available at Spencer’s very soon.
Talking about Craft Coffee, Abhinav Kumar, founder says, “Craft Coffee pays attention to how the flavors in coffee complement cookies, dessert and pastry choices. Unlike wine pairings, though, there are no hard and fast rules for pairing coffee with food. There are, however, some guidelines to help you choose the perfect coffee to pair with your favorite desserts.
That lead to collaborating with Dunkel Braun as an obvious choice. Both brands believe in curating artisanal products in their own domain and hence perfectly complement each other, thereby offering to our guests a coffee and bakery pairing suiting to the palette.” In the Craft Coffee menu, there is cold brew, hot coffee, cascara, cold coffee, espresso, Turkish coffee, hot and cold fusion coffee range and seasonal recipes.
Coming from a family business that is into food production on a mass scale, Sandeep feels that confectionary, baked and sweet items are infused with good memories and happy times. There is much to take way from the store once a person steps inside it.