The city's famous beef dishes are quietly disappearing, one restaurant at a time.

For regulars at Kolkata's iconic Olypub, the weekend came with an unwelcome surprise. Its much-loved Chateaubriand beef steak has been taken off the menu indefinitely, becoming the latest casualty of a prolonged beef shortage that has disrupted restaurants and meat markets across the city for over two months. 

The crisis, which began ahead of Bakri Eid this year, intensified after the renewed enforcement of the West Bengal Animal Slaughter Control Act, 1950, on May 14.

Since then, restaurateurs say beef supplies have remained severely restricted, forcing many establishments to either suspend beef dishes altogether or reduce portions to cope with erratic availability.

An Olypub staff member said the management had discontinued the steak because of the shortage and could not say when it would return, adding that supplies would first need to stabilise.

The impact has been particularly severe for restaurants whose menus heavily depend on beef.

According to Shadman Faiz, director of Zam Zam restaurants, all three outlets of the chain stopped serving beef from May 14. The move, he said, has significantly affected business.

Faiz said the restaurant chain has suffered nearly a 50 per cent drop in revenue, trimmed its menu and even laid off employees as the shortage continues.

He added that beef availability remains extremely limited, while some restaurants still serving beef are sourcing meat from exporters outside West Bengal because Kolkata's slaughterhouses are not operating.

The supply disruption has also affected smaller eateries. A staff member at UP Bihar restaurant in New Market said the restaurant has not stocked beef for more than two months after its supplier stopped deliveries, leaving it uncertain about when the meat would become available again.

Those still managing to procure beef say the economics no longer work in their favour.

Md Wasif, owner of Adam's Kebab on Phears Lane, said raw beef prices have climbed to between Rs 500 and Rs 600 per kilogram while supplies have fallen to nearly half of what the restaurant previously received.

Unable to pass the higher costs on to customers, the outlet has instead reduced the quantity of meat in each seekh kebab. The ripple effect is visible in Kolkata's meat markets as well.

A beef seller in New Market said most of the city's slaughterhouses have remained shut since mid-May, drastically reducing local supply.

While exported beef is available, it is considerably more expensive, with prices exceeding Rs 1,000 per kilogram.

Despite the shortage, some Park Street restaurants, including Beefy Affair, Mocambo, Peter Cat and Peter Hu?, continue to serve beef, though industry insiders say many are relying on limited stocks and supplies sourced from outside the state.

With no clear indication of when normal supplies will resume, restaurateurs say they are continuing to absorb financial losses while reshaping menus to cope with one of Kolkata's longest-running food supply disruptions.