Guest Post by Aishwarya Menon
However much I like to call myself a foodie, the idea of trying new things is always exciting but also a little daunting. The opportunity to try authentic Japanese food a few months ago made by Chef Ashish Singh and his team at Pan Asian, triggered my curiosity but also made me a little sceptical because of the pre conceived notions I had about Japanese food and the nature of the flavours used in its cooking. It turned out that the scepticism was completely unnecessary. The food he made us took us by storm and exceed our expectations. Recently, we had the pleasure of being blown away by his food once again with the “Obento” another ingenious idea of his to take the concept of a Bento box and convert it into a fine dining masterpiece.

To start with, a Bento box is essentially a single-portion takeout or home-packed meal common in Japanese cuisine. Chef Ashish has taken this concept and created a Bento box which come with 6 broad components for both Vegetarians and Non- vegetarians alike. We both had the non veg obento but one was a little different from the other, because of our differing tastes. What impressed me the most was the flexibility of the menu. Chef Ashish explained to us about how he did not want to limit the variety but rather, eliminate the rigidity of a traditional menu and accommodate different tastes.

The Bentos served at the Pan Asian Consist of six elements

ZENSAI : Assorted Appetizers

SASHIMI : Palette of Premium and Select seafood with fresh Wasabi
SUSHI (for vegetarians) : Imari Sushi and California Aramaki with fresh Wasabi

YAKIMONO
Grilled Fish and meat for the Non Vegetarians
Grilled Mushroom and Asparagus for the Vegetarians

GYOZA
Pan fried Chicken Dumplings 
Pan Fried Soybean and Quinoa Dumplings (for the vegetarians)

TEMPURA
Deep fried Seafood and Vegetables
Deep fried Vegetables

CHIRASHI
Sushi Rice Topped with Seafood accompanied by Endamame Truffle soup

YASAI YAKI MESH 
Fried rice with vegetables served with Endamame truffle soup (for the vegetarians)

OR

YAKI UDON
Stir fry Udon noodles with either Chicken or Greens

DESSERT
Matcha Raisin Ice cream with Valhrona Chocolate

The Verdict

The food in itself was (needless to say) spectacular. What adds to this, other than the chef’s skills is the sourcing of the ingredients and how much care is taken in terms of making sure that the ingredients are of best quality. Right from the Wasabi to the pork (which was incidentally sourced from Holland) to the Chilean Sea Bass, Chef Ashish makes sure that he uses the best and most fresh ingredients possible.

This particular “Obento” will be served till the end of this week ONLY (though it may come on to the regular menu in some form ).

Although a lot of people hesitate when it comes to Japanese food or authentic Asian food in general, this Obento is a good start to the Japanese food journey.
​
The Vegetarian Bento is priced at 2650 + taxes
The Non Vegetarian Bento is priced at 3000 + taxes

I had been to Chao, the pan asian restaurant in T nagar on a few occasions earlier and have been very impressed with the ambiance and their food.  The first time I walked into the restaurant I thought to myself " With So many Serene Buddha portraits and paintings around a place cannot go wrong" and I wasn't wrong. Chao serves food from Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore. Over my visits I had compiled my 'Must have' list at Chao, which I feel is their specialty.
1. Tom yum Soup
2. Raw mango salad
3. Their Flat noodles (Kwey Mao I think)
4. Thai Grilled fish
5. Wasabi prawns
6. Dimsums
7. Jasmine Rice
8. Pumpkin Custard.

When a group of bloggers from the CFG were invited to Chao, I was looking forward to having a couple of the dishes that I had listed above. But I was pleasantly surprised when we were served a meal that was not on the menu in the Private Dining Area in the basement and it did not have a single item that i had listed above. 

Each dish out did the previous one and it was one of those rare occasions when one could not find a single thing wrong with either the food or the presentation. 

There could not have been a better demonstration of the culinary skills of the Chef and the fact that the establishment could dish up a " made to order" menu for a private dinner or lunch. The dinner menu we had was priced at about 1500 per person, and menus's apparently can be tailor made to one's budget.

A must Visit !!!
CHAO
North Boag Road, Lakshimi Colony, T Nagar, Chennai, 
Phone:044 6555 5553

Being an only child, has it’s perks, but having to make the choice of the restaurant to dine in every time we go out is definitely not one of them, in my opinion. So this time, I insisted that it was my dad’s turn. He suggested that we try something new. I, being the fussy critical one, wasn’t very enthusiastic to try something new, as to me, 'new' more often than not ends up being 'bad'.  We decided on going to Chap Chay, Raintree a Chinese restaurant.. But my expectations were merely a dot compared to how marvelous the dining experience was.

My dad and I, were greeted into the restaurant with wide, pleasant smiles. This is one of the things i look out for personally when I enter a restaurant.  We were then seated with the menu’s in front of us. We decided to try the chap chay. In Chinese chap means stir fried and chay, vegetables.

The waiter, then lead us to a table, which had an assortment of vegetables. So basically, we had to fill our bowl with the veggies of our choice and then the noodles. There was tomato noodles, whole wheat noodles flat noodles and spinach noodles and next to it, an assortment of proteins. Next, we had to pick out the sauces according to our taste, spicy or not too spicy. This was then stir fried.  When we got back, there was a little surprise waiting for us at our table. Crispy banana with vegetables. It was a delicious explosion of flavours. Finally, the stir fried food was sent to our table.

The idea was that we could different combinations and, Oh did we!1 The taste was spectacular, one reason being that it was  freshly made. The different flavours of the elements worked in harmony, creating a burst of flavour. I absolutely  loved it, an empty plate being proof enough.

Next was desert. I was eagerly waiting to order the jellied water chestnuts in coconut milk, having tried it before. Needless to say, i enjoyed every bit of it.

The check was given to us, accompanied with two complementary heart shaped chocolates, which i think was a very cute idea. At the end of it all, we were left with pot bellies and well content.
 It was a wonderful dinner and i wouldn’t mind going again, or rather, i would love to. To anyone who wants to try something new or even to go out for a bite, i would honestly and highly recommend chap chay, as personally, i loved every minute of it


Review by Aishwarya