What is the meaning of Tao of Peng? I did try a bit to find out. Both before and after I ate there. Intriguing that Dr. Google has no answer. Or maybe I didn't try hard enough. Maybe it doesn't have a meaning. Or maybe it is complicated.

Just like the food it serves.

Keep things simple, they say. Sometimes, I guess if you complicate it correctly, you may be able to pull it off!

And when faced with situations like this, I feel it is best to leave it to the chef to complicate your meal for you!

Thats what we did. How else do you expect us to enjoy food in a restaurant that makes it seem like it is going to serve you some super authentic stuff, when you have your mother for whom Chinese food is incomplete without Manchurian? With others who have traveled around the world and have opinions of Chinese food? A bunch of 5 people with completely different tastes!

'Start with some dimsums and then we will talk about the main course,' the chef said.

When four boxes of dim sums came, I was worried. Mostly about what the bill was going to be! For a minute I thought 'leave it to the chef' may not have been a good idea this time around. Its worked before, but...... oh well.  However with every morsel of dim sum, the worry slowly and steadily melted away.

Maybe it was the lobster money bags, a fabulous dim sum packed like money bags. Not quite simple, but the flavours were awesome. I am still trying to figure out what the bag is made of. Or maybe it was the prawn stuffed inside something which was stuffed inside something else! All white. And yummy! Especially when the sauce was poured all over it. The wok fried chicken dim sum was gulped down by everybody! And the squid with the salmon caviar! Slurp! With so many dim sums I was wondering what was left to talk about the main course. The sisters wanted something crunchy.

The chef came out and did speak about main course. 2 fried rice, 1 crispy prawns and 1 portion of exotic greens. We didn't even argue when he made the suggestion. We had seen enough to trust him.

I saw the mom's plate. It was clean after the waiter served her these dim sums. I am safe, I thought to myself.

The crisp prawns and the greens magically went well with the fried rice and we didn't need a 'gravy' to go with the rice. The rice was similar yet dissimilar to what we are used to. Authentic but not too authentic. Slightly moist. But mom's plate was clean again. The prawns had that salty crispiness that left the tongue wanting for more. The greens were yummy enough to make salad a staple food! More importantly it gave the meal a nice balance.

And dessert. We were full, but the chef insisted we have dessert to complete the meal and offered us one with his compliments. 2 plates of some random name! It had a green tea panna cotta. Panna cotta in China? It wasn't wobbly, but what is more Chinese than green tea? Didn't matter. The dish with the orange ice cream and the chocolate with the green tea panna cotta was a super hit with the family.

Bill came. Rs. 5699 and dessert wasn't charged. So I am assuming that the dessert, all of which were priced around Rs. 375-425 would have increase the bill to Rs. 6200 and that would mean we paid about Rs. 1200 per head. Allowing Chef Avinash Naha to complicate our meal was a good decision, I guess. Who is this guy anyway? Never heard of him before and here is doling out some super fancy stuff. Have to get to know the guy and his history a little more!

Hyatt tried it with STIX, Leela tried it with China XO and these are all very good restaurants, but for me, the best Chinese Restaurant in South India is tucked away in a resort in Mahabalipuram. Given the right media attention, it can give better known ones in the country a serious run-for-the-money!

I only wish we hadn't eaten so many dim sums because I am sure there is a lot more to explore in that menu. And about the chef himself. Unfortunately it is a 45 minute drive away!

Tao of Peng is the Chinese restaurant in Intercontinental Chennai Mahabalipuram Resort, located about 45 mins away from Chennai on ECR.

Speechless.

My camera bag dropped on the floor.

It took me a while to understand what was going on. When a restaurant where you have some special memories has a makeover, it tends to surprise you and make it difficult to reconnect with the same place. For the first time, I wished this make over happened when special memories were being etched. From being a nice rustic restaurant at the secluded end of the beautiful Fisherman's Cove, this has evolved, no, turned overnight, into a chic, pretty bistro by the sea. With rocks right in front of you and the sound of music (the natural splashes of the waves, I mean) and the beautiful decor staring at you, this is some transformation. When Taj called us over to try out the new menu at the revamped Upper Deck, this is not what I was expecting.

No food photographer can do real justice to the ambiance, I guess. So I just took one shot and moved on to the food! We started off with a nice French Onion soup, but without the cheesy mess. This was a fine dine version of the cheesy soup, but one that was right on flavour, but it stood no chance against the other soup, the Roasted Tomato and Basil soup! This was excellent with the flavours of the roasted tomato searing through the palate and the basil just caressing the tongue on its way down.

Then four wonderful dishes to start off, the beet salad and the chicken liver pate. Both were excellent in presentation and flavours, the beet salad being super moist for a salad with the perfect home made vinaigrette dressing, while the chicken liver pate, for someone who is not an offal fan, made me take two helpings. The third being the seared Tuna salad, which with the rocket leaves and done medium rare, left us wanting more, but we had to save space for the rest of the courses. The, fourth, a leek pie was simply excellent. The pastry used for the pie was a killer and I'd die to get the recipe for that!! The filling was just right and the dish as a whole was loved by everyone on the table.

Then came the disappointment. The Risotto wasn't up to scratch for me. The rice didn't have that bite, though the flavours were just right. The previous courses set the standards so high, that the risotto didn't live up to it.The next was a chicken stuffed with four cheeses. While the chicken was a little dry for me, the dish itself was pretty good and the flavours were brilliant. A slightly moist chicken would have nailed it.

Then came a dish that set the standards higher. Grilled jumbo prawns (I'm salivating as I write this), with cheese, salad and tagliatelle. The prawns were grilled to perfection, were juicy and yummy and the pasta was just right for this. The desserts simply did not live up the standards of the other dishes! The tiramisu and the chocolate mousse and pie were just about alright, so nothing special here.

The prices have dropped significantly from the older menu and meal for two will cost about Rs. 2800 without alcohol. They also have a sundowner menu from 4-7 pm, which I didn't get a hang of.

More importantly, the revamp is so good that I'd like to recreate memories here again and we have already planned it!!! But if you are yet to pop the question or the ring, this might just be the place to do it!