Tangra Chinatown
ট্যাংরা চায়না টাউন
The Hakka Chinese quarter where Indian Chinese food was shaped.
About Tangra Chinatown
Hakka Chinese families moved to the marshland of Tangra in the early twentieth century to run tanneries. When the tanneries were ordered out of the city the big sheds became restaurants, and the community’s cooking, adjusted to Indian tastes, spread across the country as "Indian Chinese". The lanes still have high-walled compounds with Chinese gateways, a few sauce factories and a Chinese-language school.
Why visit
Dinner in the neighbourhood that invented chilli chicken as India knows it.
What to see and do
- Old tannery compounds with Chinese gateways
- Family-run restaurants
- Lion dances at Chinese New Year
Plan your visit
- Area
- Tangra (Chinatown), East Kolkata
- Nearest landmark
- Off the EM Bypass near Science City
- Best time
- Evening or night. Chinese New Year (January or February) for the celebrations.
- Time needed
- About 1½ hours
- Cost
- Usually under ₹500 a head
- Entry
- Open to everyone: a street, ghat, market or park you can walk into.
- Getting there
- Taxi or app cab; buses stop on the EM Bypass and at Topsia.
- Walking
- Some walking
- Photography
- Photography is fine with some care.
Tip
Come for dinner. The lanes are dimly lit, so use a cab or app taxi rather than walking in from the Bypass at night.
Nearby and related places
- Chinese Kali Temple: A Kali temple run by Tangra’s Chinese community, with noodles as prasad.
- Science City: One of the largest science centres in the subcontinent.
- East Kolkata Wetlands: A Ramsar wetland of fish ponds that cleans the city’s waste water.
- Gandhi Bhawan (Hyderi Manzil): The house where Gandhi fasted to stop the riots of 1947.
- Subhas Sarobar: East Kolkata’s big lake and park.
- Koley Market: The wholesale vegetable market beside Sealdah station.
More guides
- Places in Tangra (Chinatown)
- Heritage places in Kolkata
- Family-friendly places
- Classic food stops and sweet shops
- All places to visit in Kolkata
Last checked on 2026-10-02. Each place was checked to exist and its position confirmed. Timings, closing days and ticket prices are shown only where known and can change: confirm before you travel.