Actually at one point of time, the only alternative cuisine to Indian food was Chinese food in Chennai. It was the time when Wangs Kitchen, Nanking and Mandarin were ruling the roost. Infact I was so in love with Chinese food, it was my second favourite cuisine. To top that, I had a dad who loved the food at Nanking! So Chinese it was. Of late Chennai seems to be getting varied options, with Thai food taking centre stage and pushing Chinese to the next place.

Now that Chennai already has quite a few really good Thai food restaurants, what can a Thai food festival do any good, to a restaurant of Flying Elephants calibre? Thankfully chefs have taken care of it. Instead of offering a Buffet and diluting a nice cuisine, they have wiped up a separate menu and to make it really special flown down a Speciality Thai Chef from Park Hyatt, Dubai.

Food:
When in Flying Elephant, let the Chef wow you. We gave our preferences with regards to the meat and sat back. First to reach the table was the Seafood Salad. I am generally not a salad person, but My O My! I was floored. Loaded to the brim with freshness it just hits you and gets your parotid glands working. You get the instantaneous rush of salivary fluids into your mouth. WOW!


Next up was one of the best Prawn Tom Yum soups I have ever had. True to its origin! I finished the entire bowl. Then we had the Shrimp Toasts, a first for me. Never knew a toast can be made with shrimps on top. It was simply divine.






Next we started going through mains. Pad Thai and Wok tossed Tenderloin were the first. I simply don't have enough words to explain this. PAD THAI was out of the world. This just blew all the Pad thai's I have had up until now. Minced Tenderloin with the freshness of Basil was just fabulous. Fantastic combo. Just to sample we went ahead with Sticky Rice and Chicken Red & Green Thai Curry. Freshness... Awesomeness... Wowness... I was floored.


Finally for desserts we had a Water Chestnuts and Jackfruit in Coconut Milk and Sweet Sticky rice pudding with Mango. Simple dessert to end an out of the world experience.

If this meal was a Rollercoaster ride, then this will be like the FASTEST rollercoaster in the world like the one at Ferrari World. It was a course after course of pure bliss. If you love Thai food, please don't miss this.

Ambiance:
It stunning as ever.

Price:
It is a ale-carte meal. So proper three course meal should set you back by Rs 2500/- per head.

This Thai food festival is on till 29th of April 2016 at Flying Elephant

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Park Hyatt is located on the entrance of Velachery High Road on 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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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.

**Want instant reviews follow me on Instagram!!

Food:
I visited Lotus Thai for the on-going Sea Food Festival which mix matches local produce with a contemporary Thai twist. So we started our meal with the fffantasticcc Prawn & Garlic Crackers with an assortment of dips. My favourite combo was the Prawn cracker with the Tamarind Dip - the crunchy texture with the liquid sauce accentuated the flavours.


This excellent dish was followed by the Grilled Scampi which I felt could definitely pass of as a Lobster (LOL!!). It was simply huge, I wonder where do you even get these? The general thought is, the larger the size of seafood, the more difficult it gets to infuse them with flavours. But that simply was not the case here, as it had nice lemon grass flavour to it.

To accompany this we had the Rose Lemonade and Pattaya Beach Cooler. Both were excellent. Next up was Crispy Fried Soft Shell Crab with Lemon Basil Sauce which was out of the world. I do not have words to explain the gastronomic feeling which I had when I took a bite of it. Absolute must have. I really do wish they could add this to their regular menu.

After killing through some appetisers we had Prawn Tom Yum & Tom Kha which were definitely great palate cleansers.



Moving to the mains, I must mention all the dishes were fabulous. It started with my 900g Lobster friend ( Not pictured here - do visit my insta for it) who was simply grumpy looking at us killing it. But must say he was quite well dressed with glass noodles and had a garlic and pepper perfume LOL!! Then entered the Golden Fried Anchovies - divine. Another must have and would love it if it made it to the regular menu. Following which we had Jasmine Rice with Lotus Homemade curry with seafood fabulous well known combo which worked well.

Finally we finished our meal with a Twist. Lemon Grass Ice cream and a Water Chestnuts in Coconut Milk which were decadent. The way the chef has used the water chestnuts for the crunchy texture in an otherwise sweet coconut milk deserves praise.

Ambiance:
Lotus Thai after the reboot has had amazing image makeover. New contemporary decor was simply fabulous

Price:
A meal for two should cost an upward of Rs 4000/- . Again it based on your appetite.

This food festival is on till the 28th of February 2016. Seafood lovers should not miss this.

Disclaimer : Invited Review

The Park is located on Anna Salai and it is hard to miss.

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.

**Want instant reviews follow me on Instagram!!

This was followed by Crispy Corn with Spinach, the combo of the Spinach with the Corn was fabulous, crispy at its best. Next came the Namprik Gai which is stir-fried Chicken with chilli, garlic, onion. A very zingy dish, I would sure make a note of it and order the next time I am here.


Next dish which was served was the Poached Bok Choy with Garlic. Bok Choy is essentially a Cabbage which is much smaller in size than the ones which we are used to. Bok Choy was perfectly poached to maintain the juiciness with a load of garlic sauce. I have heard of the Non-veg version with the Chicken as a part of the ingredient on TLC Channel. But this was the first time I had tasted it. Must say it was full of flavors, rich in every possible way.






Next up was the Braised Broccoli with Tofu. This is one vegetarian dish which I would not mind having again. The Tofu had a texture which was almost similar to that of the Chicken. The flavorful sauce went well with the Nasi Kunning. Nasi Kunning quite literally in Indian cooking is Thenga Soru ( Coconut Rice) with a Malaysian name to it. It tasted just the way my Grandmom makes.

While the veggies relished the load of veg dishes, we were served with Choo Chee Goong. This is a proper Thai dish. The dish acquires its name due to the noise it makes while cooking which is sounds like Chooooo Cheeeee!!! A proper prawn lovers delight. Small size prawns cooked in red curry and coconut milk with loads of ginger and pepper. This turned out to be a fabulous combo with Drunken Noodles with Bang Bang Salad. The Drunken Noodles is a Thai twist to Chinese noodles with loads of soy sauce, garlic and stir fired. Finally there was the T.Shanghai Chicken. The 'T' is silent. Its like "Tsunami ". Just like the Tsunami it did pack the punch. Heavenly chicken with garlic and ginger masala.

After having a course of meal which was fit for the royal. We finished off the meal with Chocolate Mousse with Orange Chantalay & Strawberry in Red Wine. This was one hell of a rich, divine chocolate overload. What a way to end a killer dinner.

Ambiance:
As I had mentioned earlier this place packs the oomph factor to blow you away.

Price:
A meal for two should cost around Rs 1500- 2000/- odd. But it is definitely worth the price.

Chao is located in Thiyagaraya Nagar off North Borg Road.