Luck by chance

If you have had a bluesy Monday morning, this place is the perfect refuge

If you have had a bluesy Monday morning, this place is the perfect refuge

Restaurants that serve oriental food I usually never associate with lounging. Not lounging the way a 24-year-old would define it but lounging in the way only perennially warring - with each other and terrible work schedules - married couples can define it.

It had been a bluesy Monday morning (of course) and an evening that was threatening to turn ugly when only the very convenient location of the newly opened Side Wok in Connaught Place got the wife to agree to dinner.
The long passage, too dimly lit to pass for mood lighting, warned me that maybe Side Wok is yet another of those places crowding the capital where the food and finer things are neglected for ambience and flimsy fanfare - the gaudy Royal China in Nehru Place being the first case in point.

I asked to sit on the terrace even before I saw the inside of the restaurant but it was chilly, but when I was guided to a cosy corner, I knew my caution was premature. It helped that we were the only customers - this is not to say that there aren't too many patrons here, we only dine post 10.30 pm which is the equivalent of 12.30 am in the Delhi winter - and were treated to quiet and measured service.

Again, usually I do not drink too much with Oriental food but the sudden relaxation made me not want to rush into eating.u00a0 But the rather exhaustive menu that runs into several pages was too tempting to resist and I ordered some light Thai salad and dumplings anyway. The Yam Takrai Kai, chicken lemon grass salad - a great achievement considering I don't remember salad ever of the oriental kind except for the one that is ubiquitously served at such places - was too tangy but I was too steeped in ennui to complain and Chicken and Chives Dimsums made up for the salad. So much so, I even ordered another starter - Spicy Pork with Chachoy -- though I had no intention of doing so.

Of course, I was not disappointed with ordering an extra dish, only so many places in the capital do pork well and Side Wok is an addition to my oh-so-short list. I would say you order anything from the main course, even the vegetarians will not be disappointed by the variety and quality, and you will be satisfied.

The Saute Lamb with Fresh Scallions and Fresh Red Chilly rivalled the pork with its excellent flavouring , even overpowering the chef's special Whole Fried Fish with Burnt Chilly Sauce. After a surprisingly delectable Monday evening, we wanted to (in the aforementioned sense) lounge some more and sat around till past midnight sipping jasmine tea, which in her rare bout of good mood, the wife oddly paired with Blueberry Cheesecake.
My fortune cookie said I would have a streak of good luck. That's right, I did!

At: P-21/90, Outer Circle Connaught Place
Call: 43509122
Timings: Noon to 1 am
Meal for two: Rs 2,000 + taxes (with alcohol)