Chittagong eats hotter and oilier than Dhaka: Mezbani gorur mangsho fired with local chillies, Kalabhuna cooked black, shutki (dried sea fish) from Asadganj, and Burmese-influenced sweets. Three days of markets, mess-house lunches and Patenga fry stalls.
Chittagong's wholesale sea-fish landing on the Karnaphuli, busiest 05:00–10:00. Rupchanda (pomfret), loitta (bombay duck), coral and hilsa arrive by trawler. Hilsa runs BDT 1,200–2,500/kg in season; pomfret BDT 900–1,600/kg.
Serves the city's signature Mezbani gorur mangsho — beef slow-cooked in mustard oil with local chilli, garlic and a Chittagong spice blend, ladled over hot white rice. A full mezban plate with dal and salad costs around BDT 350–500.
South Asia's largest dried-fish wholesale bazaar, on Asadganj Road near the old port. Sacks of loitta shutki, chhuri and churi fish, plus dried chilli, turmeric and Chittagong's five-spice mixes sold by traders whose stalls date to the 1940s.
Student-packed tea lanes beside Chittagong College. Malai cha (thick cream tea), lebu cha and seven-layer-style tea served in glass cups, with singara, piaju and beguni fried to order in mustard oil from about 16:00 onward.
The old-city stretch around Anderkilla is where Kalabhuna is done properly — beef reduced with roasted spices until almost black, no water added. Plates with paratha or polao run BDT 300–450; breakfast service starts near 08:00.
An old mess-style eatery serving Chittagonglish daily plates: shutki bhorta pounded with chilli and onion, chingri (prawn) malai, beef bhuna and boiled rice. Communal steel tables, hand-washing basins at the wall, no menu in English.
Momin Road's sweet row sells Chittagong's Burmese-influenced desserts alongside Bengali classics: mishti doi in clay pots, chomchom, kalojam and jilapi fried in the late afternoon. Clay-pot doi about BDT 80–150.
Chittagong's modern kacchi biryani institution at the GEC junction. Mutton kacchi cooked sealed in clay handis with aromatic rice and potato, served with borhani (spiced yoghurt drink) and jali kabab. Full kacchi platter roughly BDT 450–700.
Roadside breakfast around Kotwali Thana and Laldighi: hand-slapped parathas with dal bhuna, halim, chana and sweet milk tea, cooked on kerosene stoves from 06:00. A paratha-dal-tea breakfast costs about BDT 60–120.
Indigenous Chakma and Marma cooking around Bahaddarhat: bamboo-shoot curry, hebang (fish steamed in banana leaf), sticky rice and nappi-fermented pastes — the least Bengali food in the city, and much less oily.
Chittagong's central bazaar for hill-grown produce trucked down from the Hill Tracts: pineapple and jackfruit from Khagrachhari, kamranga, jaam, plus achar sellers with mango, olive and tamarind pickles ladled from glass jars.
Sunset stall row along the Patenga seawall: crab, prawn, coral fish and squid fried to order in chilli batter, plus chotpoti, fuchka and green-coconut water. A fried crab plate runs BDT 200–400; prawn skewers about BDT 150.