Cuisine: Authentic Dim sums and Punjabi Chinese Main Course
Approximate Price for two: Rs. 3000 including taxes without drinks
Contact Information: Eros Corporate Tower, 16th Floor, Nehru Place, New Delhi (Opposite Nehru Place Metro
Station), Ph: 011 49818000
Summary: Authentic Dimsums and Punjabi chowmein in a posh tacky restaurant!
If you’ve read the heading, you are likely to think I’m confused about what I saw and ate at the restaurant. The truth is I’m crystal clear in my mind and I can put it down on paper quite clearly.
Let me start with the ambiance. The place has valet parking for those of you who don’t love their cars. The restaurant is on the 16th floor of an 
office building. I think it’s the top floor and one side of the restaurant is just glass. Unfortunately, the view is a pretty run down part of Delhi which fails to impress. The restaurant has some of the most tacky, mossy looking carpets you will ever see in a restaurant of this price range. Absolutely hideous… and it spreads across the entire restaurant. In addition, you will find the occasional tiny bug flying around which is strange for a restaurant with no windows on the 16th floor of a corporate tower. There are also some massive speakers in the corners for reasons unknown. Its a restaurant, not a club. So in short, if I had a lot of money with no taste or brains, I would approve a restaurant design like this one.
Now for the food. The place offers a dimsum lunch for approximately Rs. 1300 per person including tax. For this price you get a bowl of soup, unlimited dimsums, either rice or noodles and then dessert. The soup was decent. No complaints. Not the authentic Chinese flavour but more of the Punjabi Chinese taste.
The dimsum was awesome, nothing Punjabi about it. The variety was quite interesting too because a lot of the dimsum were longish or 
pastry based with lots of sesame seeds. My favourite dish was not dimsum at all. They serve asparagus wrapped in barbeque buffalo meat with Chinese barbeque sauce. Other than that, I remember eating a prawn pastry with sesame seeds, Pork Bao (way too salty), Scallop Dimsum (amazing), steamed pork wrap (decent) and some chicken sui mai. But I stuck to the tenderloin for most of the meal. I must have had atleast 5 of them! Simply brilliant! My only complaint was that they told me it was beef when I knew it wasn’t (I wish it had been).
Then came the noodles. Fried, greasy, slightly burnt and totally Punjabi. You can easily avoid this course.
The dessert was really interesting. Bao (Chinese bread like dumplings) steamed with a chocolate sauce stuffing. So when you take a bite, the cholcolate oozes out. Consider a Punjabi Chinese equivalent of Chocolate Fondant. Very interesting and the overall appearance of the dish is exceptional.
The price is not bad considering the quality of the dim sum. I must give credit to this place for solving the dilemma faced by most Chinese restaurants in Delhi. The obvious choice most restaurants have to make is “do we go authentic or Punjabi Chinese?”. Most places opt for the latter. Some of the really posh 5 star joints opt for the former. This place answered the dilemma with another question… “why not both?”. The logic is simple. People who want Punjabi Chinese will never order dimsum. Similarly, people who like dimsum will rarely order Punjabi Chinese. So if you keep separate chefs for dimsum and other mains, you actually end up covering both ends of the stick.
In short, I applaud the idea but I JUST CANT GET OVER THE DARN TACKY CARPETS!! PLEASE JUST GET RID OF THEM!! YOUR FLOOR IS CLEANER WITHOUT THEM!!
No comments