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A Perfect 10 at the Oriental Odyssey
Of course, it does not compare with Nelson Wang's China Garden, nothing does, but in its absence, the newly-opened Oriental Odyssey in Meadows Street (Nagindas Master Road), Fort, makes an excellent substitute. It is run by a young husband and wife team, late of the Taj Bengal, and it specialises in Chinese and other Far Eastern food, a menu running into 122 dishes, and most of which I can vouch for for quality and authenticity. I cannot list all the 122 items, that would take several Sundays, so I have selected ten.Item No. 1 is lamb, a roast lamb in a black bean sauce (Rs. 140). Yes, it is Chinese. The Chinese do eat lamb, though may be only the Muslim Chinese, living on the borders of the former Soviet Muslim Republics. The lamb is normally pot roasted and served in a thick sauce.
At the Oriental Odyssey, they use the meat from the leg of the lamb, deboned, naturally, since the Chinese do not eat anything with bones. It is pot roasted with soya sauce, with five spices, pepper, a bay leaf thrown in. When ready, it is tossed in its own brown sauce, mixed with other sauces, such as black beans, hot garlic, fresh chili. The lamb is tender and has the flavour of all the sauces, plus of cucumber and sesame seeds that go into it in the final stages. You have not tasted such delicate lamb before, this is not rogan josh.
Item No. 2 is sugarcane chicken (I am not observing any particular order in this selection, please note). This is a Thai dish, more a starter. The chicken is minced, along with red curry paste, lemon grass, Thai ginger, then the mince wrapped around a sugarcane stick, and fried. A sweet chili sauce is served with it. You eat it like a lollipop, use your hands, dip it in the sauce, then bite into it. Rs. 115.
Item No. 3 is a banana wrapped chicken, same price. The chicken is a piece of the breast, and it is wrapped in a banana leaf, like the Parsi patra fish, or the chicken wrapped in a haldi leaf at Konkan Cafe. The leaf is to prevent the meat from getting scalded when fried. You have to unwrap the parcel yourself, not a difficult task, the meat inside is tender and juicy. Also Rs. 115.
No. 4: Another starter and a favourite of mine is the crackling spinach. I first had it at Mainland China, Saki Naka, then I had it at a restaurant in Bandra, this is the third place. It is actually mock seaweed. In Hong Kong, they serve seaweed, here, both because of the non-availability of seaweed and also its non-acceptability, they serve spinach, our palak bhaji. But they transfer it into a magical item of a crispy, crunchy delight. The spinach is very finely shredded, then deep fried, to give it the crunch.
A generous amount of sesame seeds are added to it to bring in a nutty flavour, plus salt and pepper, a chopped chili, and a little sugar, in case the palak turns out to be bitter. You can feel it crackling in the mouth, taste the sesame, the spinach, the edge provided by the chili. Rs. 85, have it with drinks, a change from the usual siumais and spring rolls. Before I move to the next item, I must say something about the place.
It is located where, if your memory goes back a few years, the Pickwickian little Parsi restaurant with its grand variety of Parsi dishes was. I regret the closing of Patuck very much. Those who regret with me, join me in shedding a tear. For a while, the place served Kashmiri food, with two cooks imported from Srinagar, then became a Sports Bar. Now it has been completely renovated, overhauled, made into a neat little boutique restaurant, full marks for food, and service, run by the young couple, Indraneil and Dilshad Palit. Both have worked at the Taj in Bombay and Bangalore, and Indraneil has experienced the legendary Brando, a chef whom Golden Dragon regulars will recognise.
Meadows Street is the sea food restaurant zone, at one end is Trishna, at the other end of the lane Wall Street. Palit is aware of this and decided to compete with them at the sea food level.The Oriental serves crabs, lobsters, squid, ravas, pomfret, prawns, the sourcing is good, direct from the fishing trawlers, no middlemen, the pricing reasonable.
Item No. 5 is pak choyuk prawns (Rs. 175). These are steamed prawns, larger than king and smaller than jumbo. They are placed on the side of a bowl, and the bowl contains a green dip that is perhaps better than the prawns themselves. Its base is green spring onions, and these onions are finely chopped, then sizzling hot oil is poured on them and the vessel covered, so that the aroma and flavour of the onions remains inside. Later, chilis, garlic, ginger and soya are added to it. The prawns are then dipped in it. The smokey onion flavour is very distinct. The best part is it is not onions, it is spring onions, so much gentler on the taste buds.
Next, No. 6, prawns with Chinese greens in oyster sauce, as Cantonese a dish as you can find this side of the Great Wall of China. And no fuss, no ceremony, simple delicate cooking, and therefore the most difficult cooking. The prawns are cooked with bamboo shoots, Chinese greens and black mushrooms in oyster sauce.
No. 7, a chicken dish from Shanghai, with Chinese cabbage in rice wine. The Chinese wine is not on sale, but if you ask the management, perhaps they may let you taste it. The rice is got from the Nepal border and fermented locally. It is sweet and sour, slightly nutty in taste when used in cooking, since sesame oil is used, and a little spicy, since chili is put in it. The chicken is the breast meat, sliced.
No. 8 is braised ravas, hot and sour. Rs. 120. The rawas is first fried, then cooked in a Thai influenced sauce with a tamarind base and including Thai curry paste, lemon grass and fish sauce. The ravas is served full, but with the bone removed. The fish is crusty, the meat inside moist and spicy.
No. 9: The crab pepper garlic is only Rs. 350, and I say `only' knowing the prices in the neighbourhood. It is dipped in hot oil, tossed in green onions, with ginger, garlic, black pepper, a dollop of butter is added to it (that's the Korean part). Served in the shell. No. 10: Peking crab toast (Rs. 125) is minced crab meat, with a little minced prawn to help it to bind, seasoned, put on a piece of bread and deep fried.That's ten.
For more, you will have to try out yourself. I am full. Better still, for Sunday lunch, and this offer is only for Sunday luncheons, four can have a Dragon Feast of 12 select dishes, plus glass of beer, for Rs. 888. Let me clarify, Rs. 888 is for four persons, not per person. Lunch service begins at 12.30.
- By BusyBee
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