Monday, April 21, 2014

Tigers Experience at The China House - Connaught Palce , New Delhi


If a Dosa can be modified to the North Indian Palate / If an American  burger Can be modified to the indian palate / a pizza can be made the Punjabi way THEN  why cant Chinese Food be modified to adapt to the Indian palate... I feel; we in INDIA have created a new wave of food called Indianised Chinese or Indian Chinese food . The Ingredients may be original , the meats maybe the same , the style of cooking maybe the same but the end result maybe different .. its called cooking  Our Way and why not ?Basic Chinese food from the entire continent .

The China House .. Swank ,gorgeous airy interiors caters to the masses and the Indianised Chinese appreciators... serving super comfort Chinese food . It is definitely not a touch me not tye of a place ..Affordable , Comfortable, Pocket Friendly place for the Foodies.

The Interiors really need to win a prize - beautiful thai umbrellas hanging from the roof , metal orchids on the white  rough finished walls .. very artistically done for sure , they have used the double height of the ceiling to their advantage . Typical red and black used on al signage attracts the eye .... most Chinese restaurants back home have red painted all over as it is a sign of wealth , luck and relationships. . The restaurant has two levels - on the ground floor they have the bar and pure dining , on the first floor they have a private dining section .


The restaurant is positioned for - the Shoppers of CP , The Strollers , The Tourist , The Lunch time eaters, The after Office Grabbers and the foodies like me who like Chinese food our way .

Chef Anil Kumar - 18 years of Experience in Chinese and thai kitchens - has worked in places like QBA, Bercos, Ego Thai  and Monk .. he is well aware of the Desi Palate and pelts out dishes with pure experience ..  the only thing he said to me was Sir please leave all your historic flavors behind and try my dishes ..  yes he was right.

Crispy Rice Thai Salad

Thai Chaat lol . crispy rice made the Thai way excellent - sweet sour like all thai salads - excellent crunch of the crispy rice like out own bhel puri .. mildly spiced .. great chat pata starter . Now say , how much research the restaurant has done on the punjabi habits - they know all punjabis love chatar patar with a drink , they all love khata meetha flavor and this starter fits it all . You will definitely ask for more , like i did.


Butter Prawns


A very rich dish - butter laden prawns . The Prawns are marinated in butter , condensed milk and a Chinese sauce for the flavor - the lachha that u see is something known as the Crispy Egg - a good discovery. Yum dish to start with .. perfectly cooked prawns , the flavor  of the marination lingers in your mouth for long . A must have .

Vegetables Lemon chilli Sauce
The most popular dish in any Chinese restaurant beside honey chiilli potato - Lotus stem , Broccoli and baby corn stir fried in chiili paste and lemon . Loved by all for sure . Is it true that anything fried taste awesome ??

Dimsums Three ways - Chicken Garlic/Chicken three spice/Prawn corriander

Three variety of Dim Sums - trust me they were one of the best i have had - the chicken with three spices is a good version of the duck dimsums , cooked chicken as the filler of the dimsum - fab flavor ; The chicken and garlic dimsum was a traditional chicken momo juicy and soft ; the prawn coriander is always the most flavored dim sum - the mix of prawn and coriander is a very thai concoction and works superbly - the dimsum was bit dry tho but i loved the colorful presentation . 

Fish in Black Pepper Sauce
Simple Ethnic Dish - stir fried sole fish with black pepper topping  and sauce . my yard stick for fish is very simple - shud not smell , shud not have thorns thats it . Being a true punjabi i love fried fish the most - batter fried wil do also with some spicy dips .


Khao Suey - chicken and Prawns


Every house has there own version , every hand makes it differently - having tried it in many places i do confirm the fact that all khao sueys taste different - even though they are born from two specific regions - Burmese and Singapore . This is one of my most favorite dishes and the reason being you can add your favorite condiments to make your flavors - i love it with more garlic , lemon and fried onions . Some of the other condiments served along with a khao suey are peanuts, boiled eggs ,fried noodles,green onions etc - but the bests part of a khao suey is the flavor of fish sauce -its yum .The one at china House is the chefs adaption - more to the Thai side of flavors but a good effort .

Sticky Rice with Chicken in XO Sauce 



This is the food of the future... actually this is the prediction for the year to come - Bento Box, meal in a bowl etc ... This is for the people on the Move , People who want a quick meal, people who have a economical budget , people who know what they want to eat ... Meal in  bowl .. simple sticky rice and a gravy mix . i personally love to eat meal in bowl when in a hurry , its a complete meal just enuf for one person .

Garlic Fried rice
Garlic Fly Lice hhahahahahahahaha as they wud say it in Thailand, too much thai is it .. simple fried rice no soya to make it black just plain rice with veggies and topped with burnt garlic - all u need is a nice chilly sauce to complete the dish .. good one

Lamb Chilli Bean
Chilli lamb - with chily bean sauce and topped with bell peppers , yet again a ethnic dish of Delhi an loved thoroughly by all . Trust me chatting with the chef i finished the full dish lol had the crispness, the sweet n sour tinge to it .


Chilli Garlic Noodles
This has become my latest obsession - taken over from hakka noodles - i think the reason is the garlic chilly mix and the noodles a bit sticky .... this is a dish on its own - maybe if we put some prawns in it , cud be a hot seller 


Fish Sichuan


Quite similar to the fish in Black Bean but the fish this time was Basa .. dont know whats the truth about basa - i quite like it . The best part was the combination of the fish and bell peppers, earlier was not so fond of bell peppers but ever since they are available every where they have become a household veggy and liove them stir fried in some tangy sauce .



Chinese Greens
Boss after eating so much meat Veggies to banta hai na - otherwise i wud feel guilty hahahahahahaha .This is the only dish i complained about - not for any other reason but the size of the greens was small - i prefer my Chinese cabbage etc in full length - the flavors were simple the burnt garlic affect was good . This is one dish we must order when ever we go out to eat as a family - wife insist, otherwise imagine tiger ordering veggies huh .

Prawns Kung Pao

Oh Gawd how much food , luckily the chef gave me small portions - and he insisted i ate this last dish of Prawns kung Pao - becos we were discussing common dishes in menus - so chicken kung pao is one of the most common onces in all Chinese restaurants , hence he insisted to try his dish with prawns hmmmmmm ya it was nice topped with bell peppers and cashew ... 

The Trio Sauces 
What i like about Chef Anil , like me he also loves trying new sauces - the red one s the traditional chilly garlic hot sauce , the green on is a pepper corn sauce - something new ; the yellowish one is chilly lemon yet again a new one tasted awesome ; besides this they have a jaggery chilly sauce which wil go superbly with any thing fried . See the indianisation of Chinese here the achaars . Im mad about the chutneys more than anything else.


The Legendary Caramel custard - 10 Years and Still in Demand

This is a new dirty habit i have picked up in my journey of being a foodie - i ask the restaurant very blatantly if te deserts are made inhouse or r they out sourced - yes there is a difference for us and for them too . The Caramel custard is an inhouse produce of QBA and claims to be the landmark desert . Well yes nicely made specially the burnt lower part - which i love . 


The Boss - Atul Kapoor (Binny)


The Boss and the Group CEO Sunil Tickoo.

The Team A of the QBA chain , a successful boss and a very successful CEO - sorry about the pic they refused to pose .LOL . Thanks to them QBA service and customer management is just amazing . The entire team takes pain in pleasing a customer - food recommendations etc . they help in making the entire dinning experience a delight . Atul popularly known as Binny is the creative man behind the interiors and man management - he is a people man ., and this is seconded by the retention rate of their employees. Binny come a long way from a linen store called bed n bath in HKV  to the first Kathi outlet in Ghitorni and South Ex  followed by the entire QBA chain - he is a experience Khiladi - loves to entertain , look after guest and loves to eat . 





Tigers Overall Experience : Very Good , beautiful decor , great food and service . The ambiance is amazing , double height ceiling , airy good natural light ,no running smells from the kitchen, elegant furniture ... comfortable sitting .

Food : Well done food - only advise is cut down the presentation on the sides and give more emphasis on the food itself , Simple on the move food , Flavors , quantity superbly modified to the Indian Palate .The plating definitely impress's you in the beginning but then it gets a bit over powering , need to tone it down a bit - chef has been told.

Ambiance: Swank , Trendy yet traditional  - beautifully rather tastefully decorated - easy to access , easy parking .

Service : Is picking up , the waiters knew the food .Give them time to settle down , dont bully them LOL.

VFM : 800 is the cost per person 

Ps : The Sizes Quantity of the dishes shown are not actuals , these are much smaller than the actual portions , you can expect much bigger portions .. so smile on




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