A Taste of Landour: 100-Year-Old Anglo-Indian Recipes from the Himalayas, Kolkata tickets

About this place

High above the bustling plains of India, nestled in the foothills of the Garhwal Himalayas, lies Landour — a quaint cantonment town overlooking Mussoorie, where time seems to have stood still. Established during the British colonial era in the early nineteenth century, Landour became a retreat for soldiers, missionaries, writers and families seeking refuge from the heat of the plains. Its winding roads, stone cottages, old churches, wood-fired kitchens and mist-covered hills still carry the charm of another century. It is also the beloved home of *Ruskin Bond*, one of India's most cherished storytellers, whose writings have immortalised the everyday rhythms of life in the hills — the changing seasons, the mountain mist, the eccentric neighbours, the small pleasures of home and the comforting rituals of food. But beyond Landour's literary romance lies another fascinating legacy: *the kitchens of the hills.* In the colonial bungalows and boarding houses of Mussoorie and Landour, British culinary traditions gradually mingled with Indian ingredients, local produce and the ingenuity of Indian cooks. Recipes travelled across generations, adapted to what was available in the mountain markets and shaped by the tastes of the families who lived there. Soups simmered on kitchen stoves, meats were roasted or baked, sausages found their way into everyday meals, and puddings emerged warm from the oven. These were not elaborate restaurant creations but honest, comforting dishes, often prepared from handwritten recipes passed down through families. The Landour Cookbook, compiled by Mahshir Hond and Ganesh Saili, preserves this remarkable culinary inheritance — a collection of old-fashioned recipes and food memories from the kitchens of Landour and Mussoorie, evoking a time when meals were leisurely and hospitality was a way of life. *That Red House, in association with Immersive Trails Global, invites you to rediscover this forgotten chapter of Anglo-Indian culinary history.* Our s