New Menu at Tangerine

With two good meals in the last two outing at Tangerine, I was excited to meet the owner of Tangerine. Finally. Dropping in sharp at the appointed time, the unassuming owner walks in and from that time on till desert, he took the four of us on a road trip down Tangerine, its menu, its new menu and the likes. First things first, a lot of dishes on Tangerine's menu have been thought of in house and he takes pride that a few names might mean something else in a different world.  Now that makes a lot of sense!

Every time I go to Tangerine, the first page of the menu is always called the 'New Menu' and that day we found out that they change their menu every six months and the popular stuff from the 'new menu' gets integrated to their regular menu. Apparently, they do this every six month. Religiously. In the process,  they wean out unpopular stuff from their existing menu, so this gives them a fairly updated menu. During the course of the meal, I discovered some new stuff from the menu that I will now be certain to try out the next time I am there.

First of the lot is the Lamb Cornetto, shaped like the Cornetto ice cream, but stuffed with an excellent lamb mince instead of ice cream!!!! The next, almost mind blowing stuff, was the chicken skewers. Apparently it is their own creation and the flavours were quite intense and was easily among the best two dishes of the night. A must try when you're in Tangerine. We went with our usual favourites for the soup, the Mushroom Mascarpone and a new Prawn Bisque, both of which were very predictable. While we waited for the main course, we had a chat on the missing Malaysian airlines, who the next PM could be and other life altering discussions.

And the mains arrived. While the jacket potatoes that come with most steaks are liked by most people, very few know that the mashed potato at Tangerine is outstanding. And since there is a lot of effort that goes into making it, it is not offered as an option for the sides. Fair enough I guess, but in the process very few get to taste good mashed potatoes. There are hardly any lumps in the mash and they don't use potato starch, but the real potatoes. No short cuts and that explains the wonderful mash. But going beyond the mash, the best dish of the day for me was my dish, the Beef Peruvian. I was not asked how I wanted the beef and when the dish arrived , I knew why. This had to be made well done and I don't think it would have tasted well if done any other way. I am not sure, but I think 'well done' is the best way to have it. It was an excellent dish with very good depth in flavour and I enjoyed it with the mash. The other dishes were a very good Prawn Candolim with flavours inspired by the Goa,  a nice grilled chicken called the Chicken Bruno and a Roast Chicken that was very predictable.

Since we always have the Death by Chocolate at Tangerine, we decided to try something else and therefore ended the meal with two very good dessert, the Lemon Cheese cake and the Strawberry Crumble. I was getting late for my ride as I was leaving to Bangalore that night and so I left, leaving the other three with the owner! As always a dinner conversation with friends and a new friend to try and learn something about the philosophy of a restaurant turned out to be a wonderful evening. My flash batteries had died and so I have used the photos from a fellow blogger, Shadir from Chennai Soru. Thanks Shadir.

And Tangerine is now open in Bangalore and Coimbatore!!!