Showing posts with label Vietnamese Cuisine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vietnamese Cuisine. Show all posts

25/03/2016

Pan Asian, ITC Grand Chola, Guindy, Chennai

09:12:00

I have been a big FAN of the food at Pan Asian. Yes Yes! I have not made post about it on my blog. But the restaurant had made me rethink the Asian style of food. Gone was the simple noodles, rice and sides. All thanks to the brilliant Chef Vikramjit. Having had two renditions with Chef where he set the bar really high for Asian fare my idea of having a simple asian meal was lost.

Yes! I know I would have loved it if Chef Vikramjit had stayed back in Pan Asian, but now that he has moved to Tian at ITC Maurya to much grander stage, Chennai was left with void which needed to be filled. Vola! ITC brings in Chef Ashish Singh to fill the space.

So I was invited to a Chef's table along with the bunch of other foodies from Chennai to pick Chef Ashish's brain over a delicious Sunday Brunch.

Food:
The brunch started off with a Fantastic Sashimi served on Bed of Ice accompanied by Salmon and Sea Urchin garnished with Shisho Leaf and Hanaho and the piece of resistance - Fresh Wasabi! There was many firsts for me with respect to this dish - Sea Urchin & seeing a freshly grated Wasabi. Sea Urchin - Big Fan!


Next to be served was the Sichuan Style Crispy John Dory. I did a small google search on the Mr. John Dory. Pictures depicted a grumpy lil fish. I wonder how a grumpy bugger became a tasty lil sucker.




Next was another first for me a Scallop and Salmon with a bit of Roe. It was an another stunner. In between all this I was served a Green Tea - Iced Matcha which was quite brilliant.



Next was Robatayaki in two forms. Veg was made with char grilled Avocado - simply brilliant. Not been a big fan a Avocado but in this form I did love it. Non-veg, the Char Grilled Black Cod was sensational.


Up next was a beautifully caramelised Duck wrapped in Nama Uba paper. Some foodies did not seem to agree with me. But I loved it. The duck was followed by a Lamb chop served with the cigar style Vanilla puff pastry. The Puff pastry was fantastic, the lamb was tender but I did not quite like the muttony taste which accompanied it.


Final dish part of the appetiser was the Tuna Sushi & Prawn Sushi both excellent and was mouthwatering plus eye watering with the wasabi.

After finishing the many courses of Appetizers I was nearly stuffed, and also I had to head back to work. So I began to inhale the mains rather than enjoying it.  For mains we were served with a bento box of sorts. I loved the Jasmine Rice served along with the yellow curry sea bass and the Wok tossed Lamb. The noodles which came with the lamb was a tad bit dry. I skipped the desserts as I headed back to work.

Overall the meal felt different with platting & presentation taking the centre stage and the antics pushed to the back burner. Looks like Pan Asian is in safe hands.

Ambiance:
It is not your regular chinese restaurant fare. Rather a contemporary mix of wood and fine lighting to go with the kind of gastronomical journey which we undergo with the meal.

Price:
This sit down Sunday brunch costs Rs 3300/-  per head.

Disclaimer : Invited Review

Pan Asian is located inside ITC Grand Chola in Guindy.

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*A review about a place holds good only for 6 months as there can be a change in quality and quantity of the food, the service and the staff, due to reasons best known only to them. So kindly consider these factors while visiting the places.


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05/09/2013

Chao, Thiyagaraya Nagar, T - Nagar

23:27:00

I usually do not write a post about the same place within a short time. But the last time I was at Chao, I was invited for a Chef's table and none of the dishes served were part of the menu. So this post is totally different from the previous post. 





Food:
We were seated in a nice cozy sofa on the ground floor. The reservation which had made did help us in a getting a good seat. Since I was here previously, the company with me wanted me to place the order. 

We started the meal with Lung Fung Chicken Soup for all. Lung Fung is more a chinese soup than a thai soup. It was a medium thick soup with egg, carrot, boneless chicken and green veggies. The soup was perfect or perfect-indianized. For starters we had Chicken Satay, nice, but nothing outstanding about it.  But the Devils Chicken and Wasabi Prawns were fabulous. Devils Chicken is a crispy fried sweet and hot chicken. Reminded me of crispy fried lamb. While the Wasabi Prawns was the best I have ever had. In-fact we ordered an extra portion of the Wasabi Prawns. To wash down the food we had ordered Fresh Lime Soda and Lime-mint Cooler. 





For the main course we ordered a Thai Chili Fish to go with Chicken Char Kway Teow and Wok Fried Chili Chicken to go with Chicken Rice with Garlic. Of the lot only the Thai Chili Fish were not to our liking. The rest deserve a big thumbs up! Fabulous flavors. Chicken Char Kway Teow, which is rice flat noodles with veggies, egg and chicken inter dispersed in it. The noodles by itself was amazing, sweet and spicy. While the Thai Chili Fish was fresh, but it just wasn't upto our expectations. The combination of the Wok Fried Chili Chicken and Chicken Rice with Garlic was fantastic. The best I have had. We were so full with all the wonderful food, that we skipped the dessert.

Ambiance:
As I had mentioned in my earlier post. This place packs the oomph factor to blow you away.

Service:
Service was quite nice. The waiters were quite good at explaining the dishes and they helped us all through out the meal. 

Price:
The meal for 4 cost us Rs 5100/- A bit pricy but the meal was well worth the money spent.

Food - 7.5/10
Ambiance - 8/10
Service - 8/10
Price - 7/10

Chao is located in Thiyagaraya Nagar, off North Borg Road.

If you like what you are reading, Please share it with others.

*A review about a place holds good only for 6 months as there can be a change in quality and quantity of the food, the service and the staff, due to reasons best known only to them. So kindly consider these factors while visiting the places