Tuesday, September 06, 2011

All Stiry Fry - Return of the Prodigal

Rest : All Stir Fry
Meal: Lunch
Loc : The Gordon House Hotel, Near Regal Cinema, Colaba

Talk about a blast from the past (previous visits here and here) my good friend and frequent dining companion Mr.Patel and i were having one of our inane chats and All Stir Fry somehow came up, turns out, we hadn't been there for a good three of four years. We wondered if it was still around. Back in the day we used to end up there for our Asian fix a few times a month. However the quality really went downhill, some of the dishes we loved too disappeared.

Also, the dining scene in the city took a great surge forward with more cuisines and options mushrooming up. Chinese food though joyous has always been unhealthy and hard on the stomach, so it ASF all but disappeared.. until now.

While discussing lunch options on this bank holiday week we settled on All Stir Fry, to try out our old stomping ground going in expecting the worse. An addition being my wife, who tagged along, she was not in the picture during ASF's heyday.

The menu is much the same, dishes that cover a fairly wide area of Asian cuisine, you have Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysian and of course Thai with a smattering of Japanese. There is also a separate Dim Sum Menu. One can also do the Wok, where you get a bowl, fill up your ingredients (veg & non-veg) pick a sauce and toppings and they cook it for you while you wait.


The place too has not changed much in the last few years, it was always a pretty slickly done, Asian inspired layout, still one of the best casual dining layout in the city, i absolutely love the benches that give it a street food stand feel, although your back can only take so much. The biggest change they had made was when they took over the neighboring sea food restaurant Tides and doubled the floor space. This was also the time when the food and service really went downhill.

For those picking the Wok, as the three of us did, there are plenty of options you can choose from Onions, Peppers, Mushrooms, Bamboo Shoots, Carrots, Corn, Leafy options to fill up your bowl with. Add one or more of the five kind of noodles, choose from the dozen or so sauces (mild, hot, spicy) and add your toppings (crushed pepper, chilli flakes, garlic, crushed peanuts etc etc etc) There is a fairly large selection of meats as well.


As you can tell, i really love mushrooms

the wife chose bean sprouts and corn (yes, she could be slightly deranged)

i stuck to my old formula, mushrooms, onions, peppers, bamboo shoots, spaghetti thin noodles, garlic and crushed peanuts. The sauces i went for were Woh Ping which is mild, Kung Pao & hunan both of which were hot.

One can taste the sauces separately before ordering too. Next time i am hoping to try some of the Spicy selections. I would also say that one must make at least three trips to the Wok and therefore its important to fill the bowl as little as possible before handing it over.

The Wok was not bad at all, its also a very well priced option (450 + taxes) a shame that it took so long to come back, the service was strictly okay and i think the menu and the Wok need some refreshing but otherwise no complaints.

I think i will easily be back here soon enough.

Food : 8/10
Service : 7/10
Damage for 3 without drinks 1800

2 comments:

Kalyan Karmakar said...

not been there in ages but do remember piling up the bowls with prawns when we used to ... in fact used to observe the chefs there then to pick up cooking techniques...I still follow their formula of meat first then noodles then vegetables in order of things going in to the wok

Gaurav said...

ASF just sort of disappeared from our dining consciousnesses. Also i think overall for me anyway, Chinese has lost out, Thai is tastier and easier on the stomach.

But ill surely head back one of these days.

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