Different strokes

Asia Seven's brand new menu lives up to its promise of authenticity

Asia Seven's brand new menu lives up to its promise of authenticity

A pitter-patter rainy day and a quaint place for lunch. It couldn't have gotten better, really. Or so I thought till I landed in Asia Seven at The Clarion in Qutab. The restaurant, which serves food from across seven countries in southeast Asia, has just launched its new menu.


The quaint restaurant looks out into the greens

Corporate chef Bakshish Dean says that their aim was to introduce dishes that one won't usually come across. The chefs had to choose from seven countries -- China, Vietnam, Thailand, Japan, Malaysia, Cambodia and Singapore -- and seem to have done a great job. I had one lingering worry though, would the food be Indianised, like most Chinese or Thai places have become? But the chefs seem to have taken care to ensure that every flavour stands out. The bar is well-stocked and though it isn't overloaded, it has just about the right ones, and every item on the list was available.

Delicious dumplings
We started with Shanghai soup dumplings, filled with chicken jelly and crab meat. Statutory warning, don't go fancy and use the fork. This one's filled with soup inside so it's best put in your mouth. The tiger prawn Shuijiao that followed was tasty too but the Peaking vegetable pancake just bowled me over. For appetisers, I tried Gai Sai Takrai, a Thai dish of grilled lemon grass chicken leg. I didn't have to battle with the knife and fork, which meant the chicken was cooked just right.

My day of happiness seemed to have just started for the Tom Yum soup that followed was nothing short of mouth-watering. If you associate Tom Yum with the reddish glob that most places serve, then this dish is best avoided here. For here, it is almost like clear soup with the ingredients added and simmered slowly. Chef Dean says he picked it up from a small place during his travels of Thailand. By the time the next item on the list came -- the Japanese Udon Noodle Soup -- I was almost full.
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Plights of fantasy
Call it the reviewer's plight - the main course was yet to arrive. So I decided to just taste them. Little did I know that the first item on the main course -- Malaya hot red pepper and sour tamarind prawn -- would knock off my stumps. The Burmese Khow Suey chicken was also unusual, different from the brothy stuff served elsewhere. The Cambodia-style prawn I could give a miss but the stir-fried pork was again worth mention. I couldn't care less for the stir-fried seasonal greens, though and it tasted quite bitter. Vegetarians can take heart though, for Chef Dean informs me that about 45 per cent of the menu is vegetarian. The Soba noodles was again passable but the Malaysian Nonya quite appealed to my fantasy.

Sweet delights
By now I was so full that Iu00a0 almost excused myself from the dessert till the manager insisted. And it truly lived up to its promise.

Asia Seven
Food: Delicious
Service: Attentive
Ambience: Good
At: Shahid Jeet Singh Marg, Clarion Collection
Timings: 12pm - 3.30pm and 7pm - 11.30pm
RING: 9310670674
MEAL FOR TWO: Rs 2,000 plus taxes