I love pop ups. Without having to worry about markets and sustainability, pop ups allow a peek into various cuisines that otherwise may not be feasible to operate in a city. Over the last few years, Ashvita Bistro has been bringing in chefs from around the country, both semi-professional home chefs with catering businesses and professional hotel chefs, to set up pop up festivals. When invited for their Vietnamese pre-launch dinner, I went waiting to be blown over by Vietnamese flavours and Phos.

Dinner started well, with a some Iced Vietnamese iced coffee. Though a tad on the sweeter side, it was refreshing and set the tone for the rest of the dinner. The first two courses arrived in a single plate. Fresh lettuce leaves with minced chicken and beautiful glass paper rolls stuffed with prawns were the two. The glass paper rolls had nice Asian flavours with loads of crunch and screamed the flavours out aloud.

And after that, it seemed like the rest of the dishes did not hear the first two courses and went off on their own journey. The soup bowl, while having a lot of elements, missed the most important one in a Vietnamese soup – a good broth. Clearly, this wasn’t cooked for long and with chicken in it, it probably can’t be cooked long enough for the flavours to embolden the broth. No amount of elements and condiments could make up for the carelessly prepared broth. Beyond a couple of spoons, I found it hard to keep going.

The next course tried to bring thing back on track, but barely managed it. The rice, again with a lot of Vietnamese elements, was a miss, but not as bad as the soup. The meat balls with whiffs of Asian flavours were the saving grace. I didn’t recognise the dessert, but it was very nice, though not Vietnamese at all. At this point, it didn’t matter anymore.

The chef at the end of the meal was super honest to say that this was her version of Vietnamese. She said that this was Vietnamese inspired at best, in trying to replicate plating and elements, but was also open to saying that there were limitations with ingredients and cooking techniques, so all the while, I was expecting a bold Vietnamese meal, but got just a whiff of it. Unfortunately this is what it was all about and if I had known that this was a Vietnamese inspired meal, I might have enjoyed it a lot more that I did.

The drawback to pop ups though are that some are great and some miss the mark and there have been some really good ones in the past. I’m looking forward to more pop ups and hoping more hit the bulls eye! A pop up, ideally should! A restaurant can customise to a palette, maybe even significantly customise to a community palette, but a 3 day pop up, shouldn’t. That of course is my POV! 

via Blogger http://ift.tt/2pRGzvN

Asian food has really taken India by storm. While it was limited to Indo-Chinese and Thai, now Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysian foods have become the new comfort eat out foods. While a restaurant each for the cuisines may not be feasible for all, the Pan Asian minus Japanese, I guess is going to be in for a while and seems to have taken out the sudden craze for mid eastern cuisine that was there for a bit.

Va Pho is a jugalbandi of everything. Is it a fine dine restaurant? Nope. Is it a coffee shop? Nope. It is a fun space that happens to serve food. There is an auto right at the entrance for photo-ops and selfie crazes. Walls full of graffiti. A large space with seats on three sides and two round tables in one corner that will be perfect for a large group that wants to nibble on food while playing scrabble. Oh, you don’t have to take your scrabble with you, they give it you. And chess. And some more board games. A high bar table with no bar! Comfy corner tables with some privacy. It is indeed a platter of things. A real fun atmosphere with a menu that comes with all inclusive prices, so what you see is what you pay.

I was there twice. Once with the wife and once with friends on the invite of Va Pho so I am going to try to focus on dishes. The soup, both times I had the Beef Pho soup. Light and warm, this definitely wasn’t the best pho and doesn’t stack upto Benjarong’s festival pho, but it is not pretending to be that either. Glass noodles were yum on the invite visit while the Spicy Malaysian fried rice was fantastic on my personal visit. It was really really spicy, but the tongue asked for more. Inspired by the Jungle Fried rice in Benjarong, the fried rice here is brilliant.

The bau buns are the next best things. Super soft, loaded buns with nice smoky chicken, but the thousand island type dressing spoilt it for me, so I asked for one without it and loved it without the sauce on top. The chicken satay for us with a modified peanut sauce was nice. I didn’t really like the dim sums. Rendang with coconut rice was also nice and tangy. The beef was soft and pretty much melt-in-the-mouth.

The chocolate dessert was fabulous. A nice mousse with a chocolate disc and the crumbs adding the crunch with the cherry was a beautiful dessert.

Va Pho is above Tex-Mex and Hot Breads on RK Salai, but with a dedicated entry via the side road, but valet parking is on the main road.

via Blogger http://ift.tt/2nAD6nG

I completely understand why Antony Bourdin took Obama for the noodle soup in Vietnam! It was a no brainer, really! While Mr. President had the Pork Noodle Soup, two Vietnamese chefs are in Chennai recreating the soupy magic with their awesome awesome Beef Noodle Soup. Apparently cooked for over 10 hours, the Saigon festival at Benjarong is all about the soup and the starters!

If there is one stand alone restaurant in Chennai that doles out the best Food Festivals, it has to be Benjarong. This time around, it has taken one step forward and created a new printed menu for the festival, complete with some of their old favourites, so there is just one menu! Prices are on par with their regular menu, so kudos for that too.

The typical platter with the leaf and condiments did not arrive and my friend and me thought we were going to be disappointed. Far from it. The Beef Noodle soup, simply was stunning. Apparently in Vietnam, this is a whole meal by itself, but here it is best you ask for a bowl for yourself! I am still searching for words to describe this soup!

My biggest grouse is that when you have a festival, there should be an option for a platter, at least with the starters. No such thing on the menu, so I requested if they could make a platter. They happily did. The platter was another stunner! But two dishes in the platter were simply mouth watering. A little beef rolled onto lemongrass! Oh-mi-Gawd! Soft, succulent and yummy, this is one of the best starters I have had in a long long time! Another dish in the platter, a grilled chicken in a crispy fried outer shell, that I think is rice paper. Yummy. Yummy! The rest of the platter was pretty good too, with a nice satay, a grilled fish and Vietnamese Rice paper spring rolls. Platter was Rs. 999 for two pieces each of 5 starters!

Ideally with the soup and the platter, nothing more is required. There were some interesting things on the menu, but we moved to dessert and ordered two, a mung bean cake and a crystal banana cake. The mung bean cake was dense and full of flavour, while the crystal banana cake wasn't all that great. Having skipped main course, we were adventurous and had one more dessert, a mung bean something with ginger syrup. It was super yummy!

A meal for two with a starter platter, the definitely must try soup and dessert would be around Rs. 2000! If not in the mood for a platter, you could go with a single starter priced around Rs. 350-650 and get a main course.

*image with President Obama and Anthony Bourdin belongs to the Mr. Anthony Bourdin. The photo is posted here for a reference and no copyright infringement is intended. 

The first time I heard the song, 'Hotel California,' I fell in love with it. For a long time, it was one of my favourite songs and still is, but it was after a long time that I realised the version I was hearing was from the 'Hell Freezes Over' concert and not the original. Immaterial of how many times I try to tell my brain that, the HFO version is the one that is 'original', to me. So I find it a little more difficult to enjoy creative versions of the song in other concerts because of the way my brain is wired. 

Welcome to Mamagoto! While looking around for a quick place for lunch in Bangalore, we stumbled upto Mamagoto. They had this 'Experimental Menu' that we ordered most of our dishes from. Loved them all. The Wasabi Hummus was a stunner and with the crispy Pita bread, it was a winner. The Goat Cheese Ravioli was another stunner and the Vietnam inspired rice bowl was gobbled down in no time.

So when Mamagoto launched in Chennai, I was looking for that menu. It wasn't to be found. I tried asking the waiters for that menu, but none of them had any idea of what I was talking about. Since it was the first week of the restaurant opening, I went with the flow and ordered some stuff off their 'regular menu.' Whatever I write now will be biased, because I was looking for another menu. I don't think I should be writing how I felt, because, I did really like the food, but clearly, I was looking for something else. Then the Director of Food of Mamagoto came around asking us how we liked it and I explained my problem to her. She immediately connected with it. She said they have an experimental menu that sort of changes every three months and they try to bring in food from that menu into their regular menu. 'I personally loved that menu, especially the Goat Cheese Ravioli and the Wasabi Hummus,' she said. She also said that she was trying to convince her top team to bring that into their menu. I was sad!!!

The desserts were pretty good. Since we did not have dessert in Bangalore, I did not have a blocked mind so was able to really enjoy dessert. The Caramel cake was super soft and moist and had the perfect balance without being overly sweet. The Banofee pie, though didn't look very pretty, was excellent, again without overpowering banana flavour!!!! The drinks were good, but my cucumber basil drink was excellent and I had to share it with the rest of the gang. 

I will go back with an open mind and try to write about this place again. Friends loved the food and I'm sure its good too, just that I need to be open to it. 

China Town.

The name brought back floods of memories. During the last of my school days, when the eating scene in Chennai wasn't as vibrant as it is now, few places stood out! And China Town was one among them. If the 'rich kid' was throwing a party, it was here. During early college, when one wanted to celebrate an 'occasion' it was here.

I was also starting to wonder why I forgot this place. There are times when we look around for a not-so-expensive Chinese eat out and recently, my brain hasn't been recalling China Town. I was glad that the invite came from the restaurant!!!!

The greatest part of the evening was Chef Ram of Benjarong! Wondering why the chef at Benjarong was here? I was too! Only then were we told that China Town is now pan Asian and serves a variety from Vietnamese and Malaysian and Singaporean while having a large Indo-Chinese selection too! And being from the same group, Chef Ram co-ordinates with Chef Lee, the chef at China Town and since the latter wasn't in town, Ram jumped!

Dinner started off with a pretty nice wanton, stir fried! While the soft wantons were nice as they were, the saucy stir fry add a zing to it. This was followed by a Beef Noodle Soup or they call the Vietname Pho. Apparently a meal by itself, we were served a very small portion and it was heavy!!!! The fantastic prawn wrapper completed the starters!

This was followed by the trademark conversation with Chef Ram, while the main courses were getting ready. While most of us now know that Manchurian is not Chinese and we boast this knowledge, did you ever think how and why that name cropped in? Like they say that every rumour has a whiff of truth, sometimes minuscule, but there, Manchurian has one too! So apparently the first set of Chinese settlers settled down near Calcutta, now Kolkatta! While they have moved on to another place, quite far away, apparently it is one of the few places in India where you can get an authentic Chinese breakfast, between 6 and 8 am!! Afterwards, this becomes a market leaving no traces of what happened before that!

Okay, back to Manchurian! So, these guys tried to fuse our gobi with whatever they could find that was close to the flavour back home and thus Manchurian was born! Of course, it was gone through various iterations and we have finally been told that it doesn't really exist, but it turns out that it does!!!! At least, it wasn't entirely done by Indians, but Chinese settlers in India, so there is a whiff of Chinese in Manchurian!!! I can sleep peacefully!

OK, back to the food fest! Four types of noodles were served with a Hunan chicken for company! I loved the spinach noodles, which they home make here. There was a Mee Goreng, a Malaysian style noodles with sea food, a fantastic Thai flat noodles with minced beef and a typical Vermicelli! We loved the fantastic flavour of the Spinach Noodles and being pure veg, I was surprised and amazed!!!

While there were three desserts, only one caught my attention, the Banana Wontons!!! While it was excellent, the others weren't!

It was a fun evening, reminding ourselves of the old times, remembering China Town again, catching up with Chef Ram and the nice dinner. The Noodles Festival is on till the 8th of March, but obviously China Town the restaurant will be there after that too!!! So glad that the brain now has another option when it comes comfort Indo-Chinese beyond Cascade!

CHAO, a very nice, South East Asian cuisine restaurant in T. Nagar, called a bunch of us from CFG over for a Chef Special Dinner. What this aims to do is to give people the option of having an exclusive dinner with stuff from out of the menu! With a small private dining space in the basement which can seat about 20 people, the restaurant is contemplating this 'by-reservation-only' model which gives you exclusivity, privacy and mostly good food! In a place with a cuisine like CHAO, where there is a real danger of every dish tasting very similar, the Chef's' dinner came as a pleasant surprise.

The names of the dishes do not matter because you will not find them on the menu! If you decide to have an exclusive dinner for a team, then you will have to decide on the menu with the chef based on your budget. Our evening started with a fantastic Soup Ayum - perfect flavours of the East Asia blended in smoothly, the soup was excellent. The starter arrived with the typical crispy corn and spinach, but was not typical was the flavour - I cannot describe why I liked it, because I don't know, especially being a vegetarian dish, but I liked it. The stir fried chicken was very very nice. Then came another dish that was a stunner - Bok Choy, essentially a type of cabbage, but the chef had it on plate that had so much garlic, I thought I was going to stink for eternity, but how wrong I was. In spite of what looked like the amount of garlic to feed India for a day, the garlic flavour was just right and I have no idea how he did it - and for his part, he was very clear that he was in no mood to share cooking techniques! Excellent stuff and this is the third photo!

Then there was a Bang Bang Chicken with Noodles, an excellent prawn gravy, coconut rice and a braised broccoli with tofu (no photo) which I thought was excellent. Dish after dish, we were served in small but right portions and every single time, we were left impressed. The evening ended with an excellent chocolate mousse which had a tinge of orange and strawberry and was a fitting finish.

The evening was excellent, catching up with friends after a long time and one where both the food and the company held equal attention and when that happens, you know it was great. CHAO starts these private dinners at Rs 1500 and it can go up to however deep your pocket is! Don't try to call in the house numbers and ask for this, I don't think they will be able to help.