Baking History: Kolkata’s Iconic Saldanha Bakery is a Living Legacy of a Trailblazing Woman

After walking for about two minutes into a narrow lane off Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Street in Kolkata, I spot ‘Saldanha’ written in bright red on the walls of an old, brown building. The bold red stands out amidst the mundane colours of the lane. As soon as I walk in, I’m greeted by a curved stairway and the irresistible aroma of vanilla essence and freshly baked cake. Saldanha Bakery, the only Goan bakery in Kolkata, has been run by four generations of bakers. Helmed mostly by women, it has been delivering goodies across town for over 90 years now.

Alisha Alexander, 28, the fourth in the generation of bakers running the show, meets me at their ‘store’, which simply comprises a wooden table and chair. The table is stacked with bills and memos. This is where the family has been selling from, for years. The side of the table is crammed with multiple boxes with the ‘Saldanha’ branding. This is the tiny counter where, beyond the cakes bought and sold, relationships have flourished through generations.

Alisha shows me an assembly room, where boxes are counted and gathered, and then takes me behind the counter, through a door, to what looks like a living room.

As we settle down, I can’t help but rave about my all-time Saldanha favourite -- their decadent, famous Christmas cake. In the run-up to Christmas, lines from Saldanha bakery can be seen from the main road, 100 metres away. “Our walnut cakes are wiped off the moment they’re out of the oven, it’s madness!” Alisha says. The walnut cakes are sold through the year on order, but are their Christmas bestsellers every year.

Saldanha Bakery: Synonymous With Tradition in Kolkata

Started in 1930, Saldanha Bakery serves up a mix of sweets and savouries, and the prices are quite reasonable, starting at Rs 22 for a mini chocolate tart, Rs 25 for cookies, and Rs 35 for cupcakes. Birthday cakes, made on order, start at Rs 600 for a pound (0.45 kg). My favourite moist walnut cake, where one gets a generous dose of chopped walnut in almost every bite, is priced at Rs 380 a pound.

Extensive and varied, the menu has all the usual favourites that you’d look for in a bakery. The zingy lemon tart, rich black forest slices, and savoury snacks like chicken patties, sandwiches, and quiches are Saldanha’s bestsellers.

Without a storefront, branding, or marketing for most of its existence, Saldanha Bakery has managed to remain one of the city’s most-loved bakeries just through the loyalty of customers, and word-of-mouth popularity.

Started by her Grandmother, Before India Became Independent

The bakery was started by Alisha’s great-grandmother Ubelina Saldanha in 1930. Back then, women were mostly confined to homes. Ubelina was from Goa, and she came to Kolkata with her husband, a musician, who was from Kolkata.

“My great-grandmother loved baking and was a very enterprising woman,” Alisha says, “She wanted to do something for herself. This was way before India gained independence, and it was mostly unheard of for a woman to be starting a business.”

Alisha shows me around the ground floor which houses their huge wood oven, where everything the bakery produces, from the cakes to the bread, is baked. She adds some more history to the mix, “The oven we have right now is a huge one my grandmother envisioned for the business. She’d built a wood oven and a version of that is what we continue to use today. We don't use any modern machinery to bake.”

Several tin storage units are scattered around the room. Trays of fresh-out-of-the-oven coconut macaroons are laid out on some countertops.

Ubelina’s legacy was carried forward by her son, Denzil Saldanha, and daughter-in-law Mona Saldanha, who were Alisha’s grandparents. Eventually, Denzil and Mona’s daughter Debra Alexander took over the reins. Now the brand is jointly run by Debra and her daughter Alisha.

What Each Generation Brought to The Table (Read: Oven)

Alisha describes how her great-grandmother started with chicken patties, cream rolls, walnut cakes, and some puffs, most of which are still on the menu. Each generation since has added to that.

She excitedly narrates, “When my grandparents got into it, they brought in the wedding cakes. My grandmother brought in her own designs for these cakes. When my mom, who was a banker for 25 years, got into it, she brought in the savouries, the chicken envelope, the chicken quiche, and different sandwiches.”

In picture: Alisha (centre) with her mother Debra (left) and grandmother Mona

Alisha’s grandparents were insistent on her having an educational qualification in this field, so she went on to study at Le Cordon Bleu, London, among the most prominent culinary institutes in the world. This exposed her to all the fascinating pastries and desserts that were being made around the world.

When she came back and dipped her hands into the business full-time, she added customisable birthday design cakes, occasion cakes, floral designs, and piping work to the mix. “I even introduced colour to our age-old wedding cakes. I think I added the modern touch to the business overall,” she smiles.

“My grandmother’s vision, being a woman back in those days, was quite something. I think that passion and brain have just trickled down from each generation to the next,” she adds.

A Day in the Life of a Baker

For Alisha and her mother Debra, work starts every day at 5 am. Since everything is made fresh, ingredients are also ordered fresh as per requirements. Running around finishing deliveries, Debra drops by our conversation, “I still text my chicken guy every day at 5 am, telling him how much chicken I need!”

The first things they cater to, Alisha explains, are the school or corporate orders for breakfast boxes and other such orders. “It’s often a race against time!” she says.

The oven is lit once in the day, and the heat generated from that is used for a full 24 hours. The cakes and pastries are baked in the first shift, while the bread is made in the second shift.

Alisha sits down with her mother at night to chalk out the production plan for the next day and goes to sleep usually past midnight.

The biggest pitfall of choosing to personally supervise everything? That they never get to take holidays together. “I have to consciously take out time to meet friends because there really aren’t any holidays!” quips Alisha.

Building Relationships, Memories Beyond the Brand

Last year Alisha received a text from a customer who said that her mother would buy from Alisha’s great-grandmother. She would come to pick up bread, and every day the two ladies would chat before parting ways. That relationship got carried forward with Alisha’s grandfather when he took over and then continued with her mother as well.

“She said, ‘Saldanha isn’t a place I just come to buy, it’s a place I make memories’,” Alisha recalls. “It isn’t just about one cake or one festival, but it's about memories because we have so many such customers.

But there was a time when Alisha’s grandfather contemplated shutting down the business owing to certain personal circumstances. He couldn’t, because people came and urged him not to.

Queue in front of Saldanha Bakery, Calcutta ❤️ #calcuttagram#calcuttachristmas#Christmaspic.twitter.com/Z64yH2pv2P

— Sayantan Ghosh (@sayantan_gh) December 23, 2022

“The loyal customers keep telling their friends, and every year, the queues seem to keep getting longer!” exclaims Alisha, while recalling the madness around Christmas. “The cakes were flying off as soon as they got out of the oven! People even wait 45 mins to an hour for cakes to come out of the oven, so that they can buy them. Within ten minutes, the batch gets over. We can’t even keep track of the volume we produce!” What’s worth noting, though, is nobody fights or becomes impatient, because they know the people behind the brand.

It was also people saying that “Christmas won’t be the same without Saldanha” that tugged at Alisha’s mother’s heartstrings and prompted her to leave her career in banking and take up the reins of the business.

Loyalty hasn’t been limited to customers. “Workers too have been very loyal to us, to stick on for generations, despite so many changes in our lives,” says Alisha. Their food, lodging, and other necessities are taken care of. “It’s like one giant family,” she laughs.

Alisha says that another constant has been Calcuttans’ desire to experiment. “Especially with them travelling a lot, they pick up new stuff, their palettes get exposed to everything that’s in trend outside, and then when they come back, they want it here,” she says.

Lockdown and Looking Ahead

The Covid-induced lockdown changed a lot of things for Saldanha, including the expansion of the menu, a new logo, new box designs, and a ramped-up online presence.

“For over 90 years, we practically had no social media presence. During the lockdown when we had little or nothing to do, we brainstormed. We started taking orders over WhatsApp and even started delivering across town,” said Alisha.

Alisha’s bigger dream is to open a cafe. “I’ve always wanted to open a quintessential Goan cafe in Calcutta. With work keeping us tied here, I don't know when it’ll be possible, but that has always been my dream,” she says.

Overhearing the conversation, Alisha’s mother Debra chips in, “We want to grow, but within limits. Our personal supervision won't be there if we exceed that. So we are quite happy in our own little way. We do have bulk orders, and take mass orders, but whatever we know that we can commit to and oversee. We don’t want to open a franchise.”

For the Saldanha family, the bakery is not just a business, but a labour of love – a testament to the enduring power of family, tradition, and, of course, good food.