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A Chinese twist
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A new restaurant provides comfort food with a difference
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“No Buddhas. No dragons.” This was the basic idea of Varun Tuli for his Chinese stand-alone restaurant The Yum Yum Tree. Taken from a song, the name might not inspire much confidence, but the food does. Appointed into three separate spaces, this brand new restaurant includes a grill with outdoor seating, a dining area and a bar. The bar is still awaiting a liquor license, which should be procured in a few months.
Set in New Friend’s Colony, this restaurant has none of the trappings of a typical Chinese restaurant. Don’t expect red lanterns and heavy wooden furniture. Instead, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the fresh whites and cheery pinks. Delicacy is rendered to it through intricate damask motifs in the woodwork and wallpaper. With a seating capacity of over 150 people, it gives a sense of space by using colours cleanly. Elegance combines with fun in fashion designer Manish Arora’s mannequin, and bright, kaleidoscopic wall panels.
Hundred dishes
The menu offers an impressive list of over 100 dishes. Tuli, the Managing Director, says, “The cuisine here is from modern Chinese cities like Shanghai and Hong Kong. We are pushing the limits of Chinese flavours.” But why Chinese, when Chinese restaurants are so common? Tuli replies promptly, “Chinese is a comfort food.”
Chef Sandup T Shering Lepcha, the Executive Chef, uses his years of experience to create dishes that are different yet kindly.
The roast duck and noodles soup is fine. The flavour of roasted duck leaves a gentle aftertaste, prompting one to remember the duck affectionately! The lemon and coriander soup is like most lemon and coriander soups. It would not warrant a re-try.
The restaurant also offers some innovative sauces, besides the typical Chinese ones. The oat flake prawn appetiser is a pleasant snack, with the oat flakes and mint leaves adding a new highlight to the salt and pepper prawns.
The glazed shitaki mushroom is a unique dish. These slightly bitter mushrooms are prepared in a glaze of espresso coffee, a dash of a sweet jam and fresh red chillies. It is robustly crunchy, and the coffee flavour lingers mysteriously at the back of one’s tongue. There is a host of different dimsums to choose from.
The prawn dimsum reveals a seashell pink beneath its skin. Tiger prawns are used as they retain their moisture and texture. The dimsum is good but not exceptional. The duck based dimsum is exceptional as it combines cherries with the duck filling.
The chives and cashew nut dimsum is rather startling to the eye and the taste buds. The green is nearly neon, and the taste rather too strong. Crispy tofu with scallions in a chilli plum sauce is a treat, as the tofu is as gentle as silk within a crunchy outer layer.
For a new restaurant, this is certainly starting on a promising note. A meal for two will cost Rs.1200 plus taxes. For reservation call 011-42602020
Restaurant: Yum Yum Tree, New Friend’s Colony
Cuisine: Chinese
Meal for two: Rs.1200 (plus taxes)
For reservation:
011-42602020
NANDINI NAIR
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Metro Plus
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