DIDI INDULGES HER SWEET TOOTH IN DARJEELING

Amitava Banerjee, HT, 20 July 2014, DARJEELING: Mamata Banerjee was in the mood to spoil herself sweet when she walked into Darjeeling’s favourite bakery shop, Glenary’s, on Friday evening.

The landmark eatery houses a confectionery, a coffee shop, a restaurant and a resto-bar.

“I couldn’t believe it when she arrived in her traditional white saree. She ordered cappuccino, black coffee and coconut macaroon for herself and the officers accompanying her,” said Ashok Tamang, who served the CM.

“Since it was late, we had run out of macaroons. So we suggested she try our plain cake,” he added.

Interestingly, the chief minister ran into singer and director Anjan Dutta there.

“It was a pleasant surprise to see the CM. She invited me for coffee. She had heard a lot about Glenary’s but never got a chance to visit it earlier. This time she made it a point to do so,” Dutta told HT.

The confectionery that was established in the early 1910s, was first named Vado, after its Italian owners. Later, a tie-up with Austro-Hungarian Adolph Pliva, led to it being re-christened the Vado-Plivas. After the Vados returned to Italy, it came to be known as the Plivas. In 1959, when the Pliva family left for England, AT Edwards, the manager of the confectionery, bought the property and renamed it Glenary’s, after the building that housed it.

Despite the continental restaurant, the confectionery with its authentic recipes, is the USP of the food joint.

Margarethe Pliva, then in her 80s, had reminisced in an article in 2001, “Plivas even produced its own brand of chocolates. It sold bread, confection, cold meat, icecream, and even a popular local delicacy called the camel hump.”

“I can swear by the banana walnut cake and the apple and meat pies. They don’t even taste so good in London,” vouched Anjan Dutta. The CM made sure she bought a packet of the world famous Darjeeling tea.

“She loved the flavour of the tea that was being served at the Richmond Hill Government Guest House and bought a packet of second flush muscatel tea. I feel privileged that she visited my store,” said Sailesh Sarda, proprietor, Nuthmulls, Sun Set Lounge, Darjeeling. The CM left the hill town on Saturday.