Yauatcha

Rest : Yauatcha

Meal : Lunch
Loc : BKC

Yauatcha, sigh, i really get a hankering for Dim Sum once in a while and since it was my birthday and we Yauatcha was going to be en route, we decided to whizz by and do a quick all dim sum lunch. Little did i know, what a disappointment i was in for. 

the menu is fairly expansive, various options with dim sum, chinese tea as well as a set of mains, they also do some really interesting desserts, which unfortunately due to our paucity of time we could not try out. 

The vegetable crystal dumpling was strictly okay, no great shakes. 

The Truffle Edamame dumpling was actually underdone but the filling was okay.

i debated between getting the golden fried vegetable puff (which i did) and the fried turnip cakes, my last visit i had these and they were fantastic, this time however they were the exact opposite. nothing standout about em at all. 

the only saving grace was the lotus leaf sticky rice was pretty decent, thankfully.

Overall, i was pretty disappointed, the food was just not upto the mark considering dim sum is their specialty, definitely not a taste of the orient this one. Contrast this with my previous meal at Yauatcha or my meal at their far superior sister restaurant Hakkasan. Standards have certainly fallen. 

Food : 4/10

Service : 8/10

Damage : 1800 for 2 without drinks 

Hakkasan

Rest : Hakkasan 

Meal : Lunch 

Loc : Bandra 

I haven't been a fan of Chinese for sometime now as it really messes up my system the day after. So i have been mostly avoiding eating Chinese out. My kid brother on the other hand is a big, big fan and gets a lot of take away from China Garden which is close by.

However he swears by Hakkasan which is is his fav Chinese eatery in Bombay, in fact having studied in London, he was a fan of Hakkasan on Wardour St.

Somehow, getting to Hakkasan never quite worked out but this past week i got an opportunity i couldn't pass up. I frequently dine with some friends and got the opportunity to finally check the space out. (@anaggh, @theflyingsikh, @girishmallya) 

All i drink in the day.. 

The dim sum platter was fantastic, the black fungus dumpling was exquisite as was the crystal dumpling. The chive dumpling and the lotus roll were excellent as well. 

i think these were the carrot cake, spicy but excellent. 

these might have been the wild mushroom and veggies wrap, can't be sure but i remember eating most of em and they were pretty kick ass. 

stir fry french beans were a win, i wouldn't have ordered em, choosing a regular gravy main but this was excellent. 

the (relatively) weakest dish of the evening was the stiry fry lotus root with asparagus. 

i think this was blueberry sorbet with what looks like a blueberry cheesecake, both were awesome, the sorbet was something else. 

the mango fingybob was excellent as well. just loved it. 

cant recall the name of this one but was spot on. 

creme brulee was excellent as well. 

Overall, the food was excellent, kid brother says the London flavours are a lot lighter, so the dishes have certainly been adapted to an extent but they are still fairly different. There is plenty of choice and there are some delicate flavors which is not something Chinese in India is known for.

The Michelin star in London is certainly well deserved according to my kid brother but the Bombay branch is no slouch.

The desserts too were just tantalizingly good. They have a lunch special nowadays where they do a three course lunch which is vfm, although the restaurant is not nearly as expensive as its made out to be. It's not cheap but it certainly isn't extravagant. 

I joined  my friends who were there on invitation from the restaurant, so will not rate the food as such but i will say its worth a go.

Budhha Belly - Dim Sum

Rest : Buddha Belly
Meal : Dinner
Loc : Kemps Corner, 

Buddha Belly is an interesting experiment, the space is tiny but they have crammed quite a few tables into the space, there is a largish show kitchen towards the entrance and they serve a variety of Dim Sum. 

the menu is all dim sum, steamed, baked, fried all mostly Chinese with the odd Korean, Thai inspired 

while we tried all of them, this here is the Chinese mushroom which was pretty decent. They also have a truffle and edamame which has no truffle and no real taste. The spinach and parmesan is awesome. 

The Chef's special, Lu Buo Gao is spicy and i mean SPICY.. beware. 

the sticky rice is an all time fav for me, always get it when i see it on the menu, its fun unwrapping the thing, like a present. 

this one was not half bad, could have been better though. 

the khow suey was tasteless and didn't make much sense at a Dim Sum Joint, a noodle bowl of some kind would have made sense, i believe they cannot cook on the premises with a flame but doing a mediocre bowl of khow suey is not a substitute.

Overall, the food has potential but they need to work out their menu, its a little all over the place with an equal number of hits and misses which is not so cool when there are less than 20 dishes to begin with.

The portions are tiny but the pricing is pretty decent.

Having been there a few times already, the service has certainly improved but there is still room to grow. If you still feel hungry, walk up to Shalimar ...

Food : 6/10
Service : 6/10
Damage : 1000

Hao Chi

Had the opportunity to try out the brand new HaoChi at The Sun n Sand with Chef Mehrishi and two celebs, the god of all digital things @anaggh and long distance runner/ magazine publisher @girishmallya 

Hao Chi is a dimly lit but comfortable space, not overtly Asian or European, it straddles a comfortable area between the two and serves contemporary Chinese. There is an extensive tea menu which is du jour for a new Chinese restaurant nowadays. 

Jasmine Tea, delicious, delicate, fresh. 

the crystal dumplings were a good start for the meal. 

Tofu in garlic and spicy salt, enjoyed it, ingredients worked together quite well. 

the Lotus Root was a surprising dish and one i wouldn't order ordinarily. but fortunately we got a chance to taste it because it was terrific. star dish in my opinion. Its theoretically like a stir fried starter but it was pretty good 

'The pan fried vegetable dumpling was pretty good but a tad on the spicy side. 

the veg special soup was not very special and rather bland. 

the butter fried rice was interesting, not a dish i have had before and enjoyed immensely. very different and slightly weird but in a good way. 

asparagus in ginger and spring onion was the entree, not bad but not memorable. 

the orange creme brulee was terrific. absolutely loved it and hated sharing it. 

Overall, i like the space and i think for someone who loves Chinese food its an interesting place to try, i didnt get far enough into the menu to ascertain how contemporary it really is but they are quite serious about not going to the Indo-Chinese route. From what i tasted, i think it walks the talk but in the end all that matters was that the food tastes good.

A fine afternoon well spent. No complaints.

Ping Pong

Rest : Ping Pong
Meal : Dinner
Loc : Bandra Kurla Complex 

I have been to Ping Pong's Marlborough Street location quite a few times, my first visit is mentioned here so i was quite excited when they were opening their doors here in Bombay. I heard mixed reviews originally and was unsure of how the concept was executed here. I was happy to accept their invitation and was happy to find that its a loverly, largish space which takes its design cues from its London counterpart. 

Ping Pong is strictly a dimsum restaurant with no main courses etc in the traditional Indo-Chinese sense. They offer you a ticket which you fill out, those having been to the East will find this as standard operating procedure

They have a section of nibbles and sauces, from where chose pickled carrots and radish. 

Steamed Edamame, very happy to see this here, i used to get a massive bowl in Wagamama and its nice to be able to get it here now. 

the crunchy golden was not on the menu but was a special of the day and it was all right. not bad but not great. 

 

they have a selection of dipping sauces, which i personally didn't enjoy very much. 

the lemonade comes with a shot of fruit puree, this was strawberry and it was pretty good, one can also get peach. 

the crispy asparagus was perfectly lovely, well done and crunchy, must get. 

 vegetable wonton with coriander and garlic sauce, was alright, light on garlic but tasty nonetheless.

The Spicy Vegetable Dumpling was pretty good, enjoyed it with some vinegar, good stuff.

The Noodle Bowl, was a lightly flavored, sweetish preparation with noodles, broccoli and beans. I liked this immensely, loved the flavours. 

The molten chocolate, was boring but actually pretty good. 

Overall, Ping Pong is an interesting concept for this city and will require diners to be willing to accept a changed approach to the way their food is served. The concept of courses goes out the door, the food comes in as it gets ready, which sounds stranger than it is.

Its primarily a Dim Sum restaurant and there is plenty of variety.  The rice bowl is the same as the noodle bowl flavour wise and they should add another noodle bowl or two, for variety's sake. Portions are individual sized and that allows one to order more variety and reorder fav's.

Price wise its relatively cheaper than say a Yauatcha but then the two appeal to two different segments. A meal for two without drinks would run 2500. Service is super quick, you would be hard pressed to spend more than an hour there. 

The word is they might be setting up in Colaba, which would be pretty good considering BKC is a trek at the best of times. 

Pan Asian with Johnny Walker for the China vs Japan Debate at

The fine folk at the ITC were kind enough to invite me to The China-Japan Debate on a plate. It was a lot more fun and less literal than it sounds. Essentially, the ITC Grand Maratha and Diageo put together a dinner to debate how Chinese, Japanese cuisine pair with various Johnny Walker Whiskies.

 Heading the table was Raveen Misra brand ambassador for JW Gold Reserve and folks from Diageo and fellow food writers/bloggers. The menu had dishes paired with whisky pairings and one had to choose from either the Chinese or the Japanese. For the most part, i got both :) 

We started with an outlandishly oriental version of a Rob Roy, this one called Mao's Tipple was i believe whisky, vermouth and bitters, oolong tea leaves with flakes of sichuan pepper . once the tongue got burning, the taste of the drink completely changed. very cool. 

I chose the Chinese appetizer which was a silken bean curd with black pepper and chilli. Terrific, no complaints with this one. a must have. 

The Japanese appetizer was a tempura of asparagus and eggplants, which i found to be very average, especially compared to the near perfect Chinese appetizer. 

This was paired with Johnny Walker Gold Reserve, served with crushed ice which gets it to the right temperature without diluting the drink. I thought both dishes went well with the paired whisky, Japanese actually worked better.

The Veg Wonton in Hot & Sour stock was nice, the dumpling was fresh and good to taste, i was however quite distressed with the presence of nori in the soup which gave it a particular after taste i dislike. I tasted the Japanese soup which was a cold cream of lettuce with a dash of sherry which was pretty good.

The Chinese main was a crackling rice with veggies in sweet & sour sauce. Again a decent selection, the rice and the veggies worked well, although more sweet than sour. 

The Japanese main was grilled Tofu served with eggplant and it was very well executed. The flavours were lighter than the Chinese dish but i thought it worked well.

both the main's were paired with the Johnny Walker Platinum Label and this one was my fav of the evening. Went down very well and was quite smooth to taste. A dash of cold water helped salve the super strong vapors. 

I have never been a fan of Asian desserts, the winter cherry tart was okayish, the wasabi ice cream was perfect but i dont like Wasabi ice cream at all. The Chinese dessert too was okay, with fried ice cream and fresh fruits. Neither dessert better than the other however. 

This was paired with the JW XR21 which while prestigious didn't quite have the finish of the Platinum or ease of the Gold Reserve. 

All in all , it was a great evening, i thought the food was evenly matched but the Chinese had the edge, a slight one at at that. We Indians aren't big drinkers with our meals, its always a pre-meal activity for most of us, although wine is catching on. 

I usually avoid drinking whisky unless i am in a colder climate but this was lots of fun and fairly daring to pair Whisky that too with Asian cuisine. I was glad to learn that none of the Whiskeys clashed with the dishes being served and for the most part it all worked well. Although I believe it will be sometime before we start imbibing whiskey dish by dish. 

Kudos to Johnny Walker for ensuring and actually questioning the diners on how they were getting home and offering to have people dropped or driven home. 

It was a great evening with a bunch of friends and many thanks to Urvika Pandey at the ITC for having me over and being a great albeit teetotal host.