To ring in the Chinese New Year, Jasmine restaurant of Hotel Royal Plaza had organised a week-long festival of food from the neighbouring nation. The aim behind preparing elaborate meals for Chinese food lovers, which had newly introduced dishes which would be incorporated in the main menu, to make them celebrate the special day, which fell on January 28, with classical dishes which are eaten by folks in Chengdu, Guangdong, Guangxi and other Chinese cities.
To create an unforgettable visual experience, the meticulously crafted special menu - which used chicken, prawn and duck superbly to create varied authentic dishes - was prepared right before connoisseurs of good food. In the interactive kitchen of the restaurant, I could see Atul Shanker Mishra, Executive Chief, with his hand picked team of Chefs dexterously cutting roasted Peking Duck into minuscule pieces and then stuffing the fragile pieces with great care inside long elongated rolls. This way he ensured that all pieces were proportionate and the length was such that all of them got easily inside the rolls. If one or two duck pieces had come out it would not have been a visual experience food lovers would have cherished.
His juniors could be seen perfunctorily lifting a mass of noodles and garnishing chicken and prawn. They took orders and placed dishes, mostly in dribs and drabs, on gleaming white plates.
It was cold evening and I was luckily inside the cozy confines of this restaurant, which had its heater at the right temperature. Chef Mishra, who has experience and expertise in his side, had done all the homework himself right from procuring all the ingredients from groceries to spices which could give flavour and tempting aroma to all his dishes. He had done meat shopping himself as he wanted no compromise with each dish. To give patrons authentic taste to Chinese cuisine which included Schezwan and Cantonese dishes, he procured a range of appropriate sauces from the dragon nation.
Altering spices
Overall the Chinese food, barring prawns, had authentic flavours but the spices were added or minimised keeping in mind taste buds of Indians. But that is understandable as Chinese cannot enjoy their food suitable for Indian palette and vice versa.
In starters, I was served chicken dim sums which came in a stylish bamboo basket. After eating a couple of pieces I straight away came to the conclusion that it had sufficient amount of tanginess. Varied flavours of ginger, garlic and cinnamon made the moon shaped balls irresistible. Best part was that garlic, which has pungent odour, was used in a minimalistic way. It was blended in a way so as to avoid making the aroma and taste of dim sums unpleasant.
Like dim sums, broccoli sesame seed dumpling also lived up to the expectations. They were prepared in a manner that the taste of broccoli was not able to overpower the soft taste of dumpling.
Broccoli sesame seed dumpling
Next came Mandarin prawn, in which the sea food was swimming in the curry. Prawns were supposed to be taken with Jasmine rice or the usual chowmien. I chose the former and had no regrets. Prawns were small, fresh, deveined but the taste of the crustacean, even though its crispy tail was intact, was somewhat lacking as it had perhaps been infused with Indian spices.
Braised lobster in black bean sauce. This indeed was a refreshing change to the earlier one. Lobsters were made in a way that its authentic taste was intact. The curry was mildly spiced and could not match the flavour of lobster pieces which were chewy and flavourful.
Complementing beverage
A Chinese meal is incomplete without Jasmine tea. And when the restaurant is also of the same nomenclature, I could not refuse the polite request of the host to enjoy my Chinese dinner with the customary tea. As soon as it was placed on the table the scented aroma of the tea leaves regenerated interest in sipping it. And the few sips acted as an appetiser for me.
Beijing Duck Rolls were excellent with long brownish pieces of the bird mixed with dollops of cabbage and topped with sweat tasting sauce.
Mid-way during my dinner, I was offered duck pieces which were heavenly. They were peppered with chilly yet spiciness went well with the meat, which was from the chest and leg of the bird. I had a couple of pieces but could not continue as without rice or noodles they were a tad difficult to digest. I was offered some more rice but I declined as even though the meat was tempting me to have another go I thought it was sensible to give it a miss.
On the whole, the food here was excellent.
