| Where | China Town, Gopalapuram |
| Occasion | Pan-Asian buffet |
| Duration | 1st June to the 19th June, 2016 |
| Restaurant Timing | Lunch – 12 Noon to 3 PM, Dinner – 7 PM to 11:30 PM |
| Price Range |
INR 645/- (inclusive of taxes) |
The Chinese specialty restaurant of the city China Town is hosting a Pan-Asian buffet till the 19th of the month. The elaborate buffet brings you some of the best handpicked vegetarian and non-vegetarian delicacies of Pan-Asian cuisines such as Chinese, Thai, Singaporean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Mongolian, Burmese and Cambodian under one roof. The buffet offers a wide range of courses – soups, salads, starters, main courses, rice and noodles and desserts. They also have a live counter for satays. The vegetarian as well as the non-vegetarian buffet is priced at Rs. 645/- (inclusive of taxes).
The Pan-Asian Buffet
Soups, Satays from the live grill and starters are served on the table whereas the rest of the courses are self. The chef walked us through the well-planned spread and we couldn’t wait to get started. Buffet menu is rotational hence most likely you wouldn’t be getting the spread that we had but food sure wouldn’t disappoint.
SOUP
Soup for the day was Spicy Lemongrass Soup (Cambodian) – both veg and non-veg variants. The only difference being addition of chicken chunks in the latter one. As the name says, it was quite high on the spice level with ample amount of veggies, mushrooms and chicken. Perfect soup for lovers of spicy food!
From the LIVE GRILL
- Chicken Sausage Satay – Chicken sausages satay’d on the live grill and served with peanut sauce. It was really good!
- Tofu Satay – Long chunks of tofu grilled. Tofu being bland, the peanut sauce complimented it perfectly.
STARTERS
- Dimsums (Thai) – This came in both Veg and Chicken variants, obviously. With the dips, the dimsums tasted excellent. I loved the chicken one.
- Veg Fried Wanton (Chinese) – Crisp fried wantons which were perfectly crunchy outside with a good amount of filling.
- Cauliflower with Cashew nuts (Vietnamese) – Crunchy chunks of cauliflower tossed in a sweet and spicy sauce garnished with cashew, this was the star among the starters. Excellent!
- Fish with Chilli basil sauce (Thai) – Soft and succulent chunks of fish tossed in chilli basil sauce was yummilicious.
- Chicken Lollipop – Though the sauce was a little on the sweeter side, I totally enjoyed eating the lollipops. It was yumm.
MAIN COURSE
We skipped the salad section (there were 3 veg varieties of it) and jumped straight to main course. There were 4 varieties of Non-veg maincourse and 5 varieties of veg main course along with steamed rice which was common for both.
Non-veg Main course : Right after the starters, I went on to attack the non-veg main course first.
- Jungle Fried Rice with Chicken – Fried rice mixed with a lot of veggies and chicken chunks, topped with a lot of fried onions. It went very well with both chicken curry and lamb as well.
- Vietnamese Chicken Curry – A creamy, flavorful yet lightly spiced was this chicken curry. Steamed rice paired perfect with it.
- Lamb in Chilly Oyster Sauce – The best among the non-veg main course. Succulent pieces of lamb cooked in a Delectable chilly oyster sauce. Mindblowing.
- Sweet and Sour Prawn – Wasn’t a favorite because I could get the peculiar smell of prawns. It felt a little raw too, like that in sushis.
Veg Main Course
- Jungle Fried Rice with Veg – The veg variant of Jungle rice. It was bit low on salt level. Otherwise thumbs up!
- Veg Hakka Noodles – Paired very well with the veggies in black bean sauce.
- Exotic Vegetables in Black Bean sauce – Corns, Zucchini and other veggies thrown into this black bean sauce gravy. The gravy though watery, was really well-made, loaded with veggies.
- Vietnamese Veg Curry – The veg variant of this creamy curry was loaded with veggies. Paired with steamed rice, this was perfect!
- Eggplant Pepper Salt – Steamed rice, veg curry and eggplant pepper salt. Spot on combo.
DESSERTS
This section had a lot of options like – Cut fruits*, Coconut dimsum, Jam Tart*, White Chocolate Delight, Bread Pudding, Caramel Custard, Butterscotch Pastry, Panna Cotta, Strawberry Mousse* and Honey Crispy Noodles with Ice-Cream.
I had almost all of them and liked most of them.
- Coconut Dimsum – Star of the desserts show!
- White Chocolate Delight – It was really a delight made with white chocolate.
- Bread Pudding – Unsual bread pudding and really nice.
- Caramel Custard – Good!
- Butterscotch Pastry – Bang on!
- Panna Cotta – Decent.
- Honey Crispy Noodles with Ice-Cream – This was served to our table. Topped with sesame seeds, it didn’t really impress me much.
- * – Did not try them.
MOCKTAILS
Apart from the buffet, we also ordered some mocktails from the usual menu.
- Fruit Punch – This one was ordered by a friend. She liked it but to me it felt very syrupy.
- Virgin Mojito – My all time safe order. And it didn’t disappoint at all.
Location & Ambiance
It’s located in the building in Gopalapuram that hosts some amazing restaurants altogther – Tapas Bar, Copper Chimney. While coming from the Nungambakkam side, it’s at the starting of the Cathedral Road flyover. Though China town isn’t easy to spot, this building is.
The way to China Town is quite shady that goes past Copper chimney and then to third floor of the hotel. But once you enter the restaurant, you are in for a very subtle yet a fine dining ambiance. The buffet spread welcomes you. Most part of the restaurant is chambered, hence privacy is assured. Comfortable seating with apt lighting.
Overall, if you’re as Asian food lover, you mustn’t miss this scrumptious spread. And the pricing is cherry on the cake.
Address: 3rd Floor, 74, Cathedral Road, Gopalapuram, Chennai
Phone: 044 28112246 / +91 9367704039
Hog On! 😀
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