ITP Indian Travel Places: Food, Travel, Tourism Business Events and Trade Shows
Address: Holiday Inn Express, Survey 169, Plot 1B & 1A, Rajiv Gandhi Salai, Kumaran Nagar, Sholinganallur, Chennai, India
Time: 12 Noon to 11:30 PM
Meals for two: Rs. 750
Cuisines: North Indian, Thai, Asian, Continental, Oriental
Facilities: Home Delivery, No Alcohol Available, Wifi, Free Wifi, Smoking Area, Buffet
Asia Kitchen, Sholinganallur, Chennai: DECOR
Floor-to-ceiling windows let the light into this uncluttered yet well done up restaurant with long tables. It gives me a sense of freedom. I like the greens and oranges that offset the grey upholstered wooden furniture, parked on wood design vinyl flooring.
I even like the shape of the wooden table base that holds up white-ish table tops.
Asia Kitchen, Sholinganallur, Chennai: FOOD
Living up to its name, the Brown Garlic Soup is slightly thick and mild. Soothing, even though the veggies it contains are on the overcooked side.
While the broth of the clear Tom Yum soup has all the flavours intact, the prawns are tough and give me a fresh-from-the-freezer texture. My heart sinks, as Asia Kitchen is well-known for its food in other cities. But Crispy Butter Chilli Garlic Water Chestnuts make me smile again. The cornflour coating covers each chestnut nicely. Deep frying them to a golden crisp, the chef does a good job of coating them with butter and chilli garlic. Dip them into the mild sweet chilli sauce to get a burst of flavour, followed by the moist crispness of the water chestnut inside.
I like the Chicken East Coast Bao better than the Cottage Cheese Bao. It doesn’t need the accompanying sauce. Soft, the bao literally plays a supporting role to the saucy, moist chicken morsels inside.
Cottage Cheese Bao, on the other hand, is dry. It needs generous dollops of sauce to help it moisten up a bit.
I make my own Khao Suey, adding some garlic flakes, fried crispy noodles, browned onions, roasted peanuts, loads of veggies and some noodles into the coconut milk broth. Topping it up with a squeeze of fresh lime, I mix it all together in a bowl, quite enjoying all those flavours and textures.
For dessert, my vote goes to the Honey Glazed Flat Noodles with Sesame Seeds and vanilla ice cream. I push the ice cream to the side as I really want to enjoy those crunchy, deep-fried noodles when they are warm. Gooey with honey and sprinkled with sesame seeds, those irregular twirlies are hard to resist.
Asia Kitchen, Sholinganallur, Chennai: PLUSES AND MINUSES
The ambience is nice and clean with comfortable seating. However, I wish Holiday Inn Express’s housekeeping would replace those rancid smelling orange table napkins with non-woven cloth or even paper ones. Prawns could be fresh instead of export-quality frozen.
