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'Dwarik's' sweet shop was set up in 1885. Then it had
the facia – 'Dwarik Nath Ghosh'. In 1925, it was named as
'Dwarik Ghosh & Sons Ltd.' in 1948, the shop was rechristened
as 'Dwarik Sweets (India) Ltd.' Finally in 1955, the name
became 'Dwarik Grand Sons.' The very name contains the essence
and tradition of the shop, which has served the palates of
the connoisseurs of sweets in Calcutta for three
generations. In 1987 the legacy has passed over to the fourth
generation. 'Dwarik's' is an insti tution
in itself and today it not only bakes itself in its past
glory but is ever alert in maintaining and improving its
established standards.
'Dwarik' is not only famous for its sweetmeats but for salty
food as well. At first the shop was founded at 77, Shyama
Pukur Street. Initially, the shop used to sell 'Pera' and
'Borfi' made of thickened milk as well as 'Danadar', a granulated
sweetmeat and curd. Sandesh was not that favourite and the
specimen available was a grinded sweetmeat which did not
go down well with the masses. In 1925, Dwarik Ghosh founded the
second shop at the age of sixty. This shop no longer exists in Shyambazar. It was abolished while the Central
Avenue was under construction.
The sweets of Dwarik are exquisite in taste. He did not
introduce any new sweetmeat in the list of existing sweets.
So it may be assumed that his popularity and fame was due
to the superior quality and finesse in the making of the
sweets which were prevailing then. It is a known fact that
the same sweet has varied tastes at different shops. The
taste varies on several grounds viz. purity, superiority
and ingredients like milk, posset, sugar etc. Besides, grinding
them properly also made them more palatable than those which were
less grinded. One can get an idea of this
not so simple process from the stupendous arrangement as
in Dwarik's. According to an estimate of 1938, 'Ghee' was
purchased at no less than Rs.2 lakhs per annum for 'Dwarik's.
Milk worth Rs.2.5 lakhs, Rs.1.5 lakhs of sugar and casein worth
Rs.75,000 were also purchased every year. Au reste, 15 mounds
of flour were purchased everyday. It goes without saying
that Dwarik and his descendents have never compromised with
the quality of their sweets. With the aforesaid raw
materials,
their yearly turnover was Rs.9 lakhs.
During the last phase of the twenties, Dwarik's shop assumed
a new furnished look. Tables and chairs were placed inside the shop
for the convenience of the customers. The cups and dishes
served to the customers had the name of the shop emblazoned
on them. Before this, the customers who thronged the shop,
had to stand and eat and the place looked slovenly. The
sweets were served on plates of Sal leaves and the water
in small earthen vessels called 'Bhanrs'.
Although 'Dwarik', was not famous for any special sweet
or dessert, it had attained excellence in all its sweets. The
'Ice-Cream Sandesh' and 'Ice-Cream Sarbat' at 'Dwarik's', were indeed mouth-watering. Their ingredients were
thickened milk, ice, vanilla, essence, syrup etc. Now a
days, the same item is being sold at various places and is
called 'milk-shake'.
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