A Park Street Christmas: Then & Now

This story first appeared in The Telegraph newspaper. Trincas is 97 years old this year. It has seen the ebb and flow of Park Street from the colonial era right through World War II, Independence and the Industrialization of India. It has stood as a beacon of hope and carried itself, like a grand tradition into the new century with elan.

Corner of Park Street and Russell Street circa 1930s. Trincas collonaded porch (L), Queens / Galstaun Mansions (R).

Trincas is also one of those special establishments that feels like “Christmas” all year round: not just because of the joyousness of good food, music and celebration, but also more physically because it’s colours of red velvet, gold grille and green murals mirror Christmas colours. Just like Christmas, Trincas is memory and celebration all in one. This is not just a restaurant, it’s an establishment inextricably linked to the beating heart of the city and the urban culture that Park Street has spawned for 100 years.

In an effort to capture the spirit of Christmases-past and this month’s celebrations, I dug deep… chatting with people who told me about the gas lamps on Park Street that used to be lit in the evenings, the clop of horse drawn carriages and the smell of freshly baked bread on cold winter mornings when Trincas was a confectionery and tearoom.

I spoke to people who remembered the confectionery’s Christmas chocolates shaped like reindeers and Father Xmas and stars and angels. Others remembered how Phillips took on the annual chore of lighting up Park Street at Christmastime in beautiful, subtle, twinkling lights; and how restaurants put out Christmas trees on the street and how silver tassels adorned entrances of doorways.

Park Street was a much more residential area then. Groups of kids would flit between Karnani Mansions, Galstaun/Queens Mansions, Park Mansions, Chowringhee Mansions, King Edward’s Court and Middleton Street visiting friends and digging into Christmas goodies. Music and dancing were part of life and spilled out from homes and restaurants onto corners and doorways. Teenagers pulled out guitars, banjos, ukuleles and huddled in groups to strum, chat, sing and socialize while the weather was good and the mood festive. There would be a huge gathering of carollers and merrymakers on St Xavier’s field and midnight mass at St Paul’s Cathedral was always special.

I recently put out a reel on @trincasrestaurant talking about a Christmas Card from the early 1960s. I had found this relic a few years ago in the back of a dusty desk drawer. It’s an ingenious bit of celebratory marketing and one that harks back to a golden era.

This sepia coloured card was printed as an advertisement brochure. It talks of Monsieur Heierle (hard enough to say, let alone spell!), a Swiss Confectioner in charge of Trincas’ bakery. I’m immediately imagining Calcutta in the early ‘60s - the British Raj had departed, but the Europeans and their ways were still in slow exodus. It was a time where you could still find a Swiss confectioner (Heierle), an Italian restaurateur (Angelo Firpo), a British department store (Whiteaway Laidlaw), French dolls from Paris, a Czech finance director of the Bata shoe company (Mr Weisz), Polish neighbours (the Rembaums) and Russian traders. All these Europeans brought their version of Christmas to Calcutta in addition to a healthy population of Armenians, Goans and Anglo Indians.

The Trincas Christmas card is such a piece of history! Even the verbage of that time was different – “happy surprises”, “holiday fancies” and “gay new Christmas confectionery” are hardly words we’d string together these days. They hark back to a simpler time. One in which you could turn to the next page to be tempted to pick up seasonal mince pies, or order cocktail snacks for office Christmas parties, or treat yourself to chocolates made with (imported!) liqueur.

Trincas at this point in the early 1960s was transitioning from just a confectionery and tea room to a restaurant with live entertainment. The Christmas card advertises 4 musical sets in a day – one each for breakfast, lunch, tea-time and dinner. The now-renowned actress Sushma Seth had newly married and moved to Calcutta from Delhi around this time. She was a regular at Trincas’ coffee sessions and remembers fondly how Trincas, in the mornings, would be brimming with ladies meeting up for a cup of coffee and a bit of chatter; how there would be prizes to be won in raffles, and how a band played accompaniment to the festive atmosphere.

Evon D’Silva (nee Goldberg), a longtime Calcutta resident, and now 80 years young remembers Chris Perry and his orchestra. “The music was fabulous, fabulous, fabulous”, she says of Perry, his band and the golden voiced Molly.

Speak to anyone who lived through the ‘60s and ‘70s, and they will remember Trincas’ famous “Jam Sessions” held in the afternoons, with 15 minutes slots coveted by musicians from across the country. This was the place to meet, be seen, dance, snag boy/girlfriends, and set records for sitting the longest with a single Coca Cola (the lowest priced item on the menu!).

Christmas, as we all know in Calcutta, is not just a single day. It’s an entire season, and this was and is the season for excitement. This is the time relatives and friends appear in the city, there’s that all-too-fleeting nip in the air and the anticipation of everything from a new coat to a new year coming keeps that feeling of joy afloat.

While Calcutta may have become Kolkata, and while Christmas’ celebrators might have changed, it’s good spirit and excitement lives on. Kolkata is known across India for it’s enthusiasm for this holiday month, and Park Street and Trincas are at the heart of it all.

A stylized Gingerbread "House" depicting Trincas' stage made by WildYeastStories for Trincas in 2022

Taking it’s cues from a golden, nostalgic past, but adding little ribbon-twists along the way, Trincas gets into the Christmas spirit with it’s music, food and décor. Over the last few years the décor has featured white, branching trees which climbed pillars and branched out like a canopy below the ceiling. The trees were hung with a hundred origami paper ornaments shaped like reindeers, stars, angels and swans! Two years ago, an artisanal baker WildYeastStories made a gingerbread house in the likeness of Trincas’ stage, beautifully detailed and completely edible. This year, Trincas has gone traditional – red and green poinsettia plants, stuffed stockings, mistletoe and holly, and trees adorned with gold and red and candy canes.

The music hums retro-beautiful through hidden speakers during the afternoons as golden sunlight slants in through the large street-facing windows. It picks up in the evenings from 6 PM with both the daily bands playing more Christmassy numbers all season. Jinglebell Rock and Last Christmas are chart-toppers on the request list. On weekend afternoons, Jazz turns gold and green and red with the tinkling of keys, sparkling of high notes and rolling drum solos belting out the music of feeling. In this case, the feeling is Christmas.

Food at this time of the year lends itself to warmth, comfort and soul satisfaction whether it’s the deeply-loved Shepherd’s Pie with it’s creamy potato mash and slow-cooked flavours, or the wine-doused Stroganoff with bell peppers and onions, or the sizzling, buttery Chelo Kebab Sizzler sitting on a bed of scorching cabbage, which you suddenly notice has that hint of char adding to the flavour of the dish. This year’s special has salty, smokey bandel cheese, garlicky greens and one of Trincas’ special sauces to go with it…let it be a “happy surprise”  much like that old Christmas card’s wording!

If the walls of this grand establishment could talk, what carols would they sing? What moments of joy would they celebrate the most? What cheeky gossip would they sprinkle in? What language would they even speak in? If the walls could sing, maybe the spirits of Christmasses past would come together for a special concert - one called “A Trincas Christmas on Park Street”, one that would pull together the memories and moments of a century of a city, a street and a living breathing legend.