Dhaka eats in extremes: 04:00 hilsa auctions at Kawran Bazar, mutton kacchi sealed in copper deghs on Kazi Alauddin Road, and jilapi coils hitting ghee on Nazimuddin Road. Three days of Mughal-Bengali cooking, mostly eaten standing up.
Dhaka's largest wholesale market opens at 04:00 with trucks of Padma hilsa, mounds of shak greens and live koi in tin basins. By 09:00 the retail lanes trade jackfruit, bel fruit and cold-pressed mustard oil. Cash only.
Serving morog polao and beef tehari on enamel plates since 1962, this Old Dhaka counter seals its mutton kacchi in a clay-lidded degh. Salted borhani yoghurt cuts the ghee. Queues build from 12:30 and seating is shared.
The 300-year-old Hindu artisan street is barely 3m wide, lined with shell-bangle workshops and sweet shops boiling chomchom, roshomalai and kalojam in brass pans. Misti doi is set and sold in unglazed clay pots.
A 1949 boarding house where Dhaka's poets and publishers ate, still cooking in its garden courtyard: ilish paturi, shorshe fish, thick daal and steamed rice on brass thalis. Kitchen shuts at 21:00, cash only.
Breakfast here is nihari, paya and butter-slicked paratha from 07:00, joined by chui jhal beef later. The Dhanmondi branch seats around 200 over two floors and turns tables in minutes; shik kabab starts at midday.
Open since 1939 in Nazira Bazar and cooking exactly one dish: mutton biryani with khashi, ghee and no potato, scooped from a copper degh onto paper-lined plates. Fridays sell out by 15:00. Standing room and shared benches.
Trading since 1930, this counter sells shahi jilapi by the kilo, laddu, and the Ramadan-only boro baper polar khabar. Watch jilapi coils drop into ghee behind the glass, then leave with a pink box tied in string.
Kasturi's air-conditioned dining room plates riverine Bengali cooking: shorshe ilish, chitol macher muitha, prawn malaikari and a rotating bhorta tray with gobindobhog rice. Service runs until 23:00 and cards are accepted.
Old Dhaka's breakfast institution opens at 06:00 for beef nehari simmered overnight, paya soup and hand-slapped nan pulled from a wall tandoor. The khashir haleem is usually gone before 11:00. Upstairs has fans and cleaner tables.
The pavement outside the Natok Sharani theatres runs on chotpoti, fuchka and jhalmuri carts, with tamarind water mixed to order in aluminium bowls. Crowds surge after matinee performances end around 14:00.
Rural Bengali cooking served on banana leaf: shorshe ilish, crisp kachki fry, five or six bhortas, gorur mangsho and lau daal. The set thali is the quickest route through the menu. Weekend lunch needs a reservation.
One of the few licensed bars in a largely dry city, tucked off the lobby in Banani. Foreign passport or a Bangladeshi liquor permit is checked at the door; imported spirits and local Hunter beer are poured until midnight.