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Boulevard to good food

THAI DELIGHTS Zest Boulevard’s speciality is Thai. The restaurant.

Driving along Poonthi Road you would not think that this is the road to good homely food let alone varieties of international cuisine. Until that is, you come across Zest Boulevard the newly opened multi-cuisine restaurant, which is about a kilometr e or so down the road from Kumarapuram junction. Zest Boulevard’s bright lights, its trendy vibes and tantalising aromas make even the most discerning of passers-by to stop and indulge their taste-buds. The airy open-plan restaurant painted in a cheery yellow and festooned with multi-coloured ceiling lamps serves a range of cuisine from Indian to Thai to Chinese to Maldivian.

However it is Thai food that is the restaurant’s speciality. Says George Kuruvilla owner and chief chef: “My partners Ruben Cherian ‘Cherry’ Issac, Johnny M. and I felt that there is a definite lack of authentic international cuisine at affordable rates within the city. So we decided on the concept of a multi-cuisine restaurant with special emphasis on Thai food. Besides, the genesis and principal culinary influence of Thai food is Indian and Chinese cuisine, so it is very palatable for Indian tastes. They only totally different taste is that of lemon grass.”

Thai fried rice

Usually, theThai food that we get here is Chinese inspired Thai rather than pure Thai (just like Indian-Chinese food) but George and Co. have made sure that it is as authentic as possible with all the sauces and spices used in the dishes being the real deal. Not surprisingly, this holds true in the case of each of the Thai dishes. For starters there is the Tom Yum seafood soup which is a little on the expensive side (Rs.150) but redeems itself on portion, chunkiness of the ingredients and the piquant flavours of lemon grass and galangal. Then there is the Pad Thai chicken noodles (Rs.80) which is best described as yum. It is made of stir fried noodles with fish sauce, oyster sauce and sweet plum sauce. Although most of the Thai items available at the restaurant are not mentioned on the menu, you can request the maitre d’ and they will make it for you.

Among these, the Thai fried rice made of red sauce, red curry paste and oyster sauce is a delight as is the Thai green curry and the Massaman curry. In the former, especially, the flavour of the lemon grass shines through.

Pad Thai noodles.

For those who want to try a bit of island food you can choose from the special Maldivian menu. Gardiya (fish soup), Kulhimas (fish curry), Gula (fish balls) and the samosa-like Bhajiya are all worth a try. Plus the Chinese dishes especially the Dragon chicken/beef are spot on. Contact: 9895223332.

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