September
means Citibank Restaurant Week India! A
whole week of 'food glorious food' and tough decisions (so many places to try, so
little time). I was invited for a preview dinner at one of the participating
restaurants and chose Republic of Noodles. In all honesty, it was not my first
choice but the world works in mysterious ways and I’m actually glad I went
there last night. After Indian food, I think Asian food is something that tickles my palate – the complexity of flavors never ceases to amaze me.
Republic
of Noodles is located at the Lemon Tree Premier on St.Johns Road. Started in
Goa in 2007, this award winning restaurant has slowly made its mark as an excellent
destination for food from the regions of China, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia,
Indonesia, Singapore, Cambodia, Laos and Burma. After alighting from the lift,
you walk through a wooden door to step into a space dominated by red and black.
The Buddha statues and green plants add the much needed contrast to the heavy colors
and in the end it results in creating an intimate and warm dining space.
The
restaurant week menu is curated to showcase a tapestry of the restaurants top
dishes and that makes it harder to narrow down your choices. Lucky for you, I’m
ruthlessly decisive when it comes to what I want to eat. (I had already made a
mental note of my order by looking at the menu on the RWI page). I also very
casually offered Arv suggestions on what he must order. That way I had all my
bases covered! (OCD much? Yes!).
The
wait staff offered us the drinks menu (not part of the RWI steal-deal) and the
RWI menu and waited for us to make our choices. Apart from an appetizer, main
course and dessert – Republic of Noodles (RON) also offers a Green Mango Salad
or a Tom Yum Veg Soup to start with. Arv with his crazy running and football
practice looked like he was coming down with a cold and he immediately picked
the Tom Yum to offer him some much needed nasal solace. I on the other hand,
cannot resist the allure of a Green Mango Salad. The Tom Yum Soup was rich with
the heady aromas of kaffir lime, galangal and basil and a great way to start a
meal. But the Green Mango Salad was something else altogether. Strips of Green
Mango and roasted cherry tomatoes dressed with a sweet-spicy-tangy sauce and
generously dotted with roasted peanuts. I literally slurped the remaining
dressing from the bottom of the little bowl!
For
Appetizers, Arv went with the Crispy Thread Prawns with XO Mayo and Golden
Garlic. Four large succulent prawns wrapped in thread noodles and
deep fried to a crisp. The XO mayo was interesting, but he much preferred to
eat it with the spicy pounded chilli paste on the table. This one makes a great
bar snack and would have been perfect with some beer. My only grouse was that
the Thread noodles had soaked in way too much oil for my liking. I had ordered
the Char Grilled Lamb with Spicy Basil and Cold Iceberg Lettuce. This one was
perfect. The succulent lamb strips were made even more delicious by the basil
and chilli sauce that coated it ever so lightly. And the lettuce cups made you
believe you were actually eating a salad!
Because
we were here for the preview, I was offered a small sampling of two other
appetizers. (Of course I get perks: P). The vegetarians will love the Chilly
Plum Glazed Crispy Shitake Mushrooms and Black Fungus. I think chilly plum
glaze on anything is genius – so clearly I’m already bought over! The most
sublime part of the whole meal actually came wrapped in a plain banana leaf
package. The Singapore Style Banana Leaf wrap grilled fish just blew my mind. I
didn’t even mind that the fish they used was Basa – that’s how beautiful this
was! You open the package to reveal a kaffir lime leaf and a slice of onion
resting on perfectly steamed fish. You pop a piece into your mouth and it just
melts – leaving behind pops of kaffir lime and chilly on your tongue. Just
exquisite.
For
Main course I had my heart set on the Roast Duck Red Curry with Grapes. I choose
to have this with some fragrant Jasmine Rice. Arv was torn between the
Malaysian Family style Chicken with Green Beans and the Pork Laotian Bong Sauce
with Bamboo Shoot and Cilantro. In my world, Pork always trumps Chicken and I
expertly guided him towards the same. I love it when my good deed for the day
is related to food!
The
Roast Duck came in a wonderful silky curry redolent of Thai flavors. The
disappointment however was the treatment meted out to the duck. No one ever won
a prize for roasting a duck, ensuring it gets a crackling crisp skin and then
dunking the thing into curry so that the skin gets all flabby and frankly
unsightly. I rescued my main course by diligently prying the skin away from the
beautiful pink tinged meat, but I doubt everyone else will have the patience or
the sheer gumption to go through with the dissection.
Arv
won the lottery on his main course. The Pork Laotian Bong Sauce (really don’t
know what it means) with Bamboo shoots was very agreeable. Reminded me of a
cross between a Naga Pork curry and some Malaysia rendang. We thought this
would taste best with the Jasmine Rice but the surprise was how well it paired
with the Chilly Basil Udon Noodles. Now I’m very partial to Udon noodles – the thick
wheat flour noodles ticks all the boxes in my quest for a perfectly chewy and
robust noodle. So I sneakily started piling my plate with more and more of this
until I thought I would burst from eating so much! (The portions for both
appetizer and main course are such that it can easily feed two people!).
Asian
desserts are seriously uninspiring. I doubt a bowl of tropical fruit with jelly
will ever trump a gooey fudge cake with chocolate ganache, but yet they try. I
ordered the Almond Bean Curd with Lychee and Rambutan. I didn’t know they were
being so literal with “Lychee and Rambutan” – there was 1 lychee and 1
rambutan! :) The
almond bean curd itself was panacotta like, albeit not as silky. The zing was
provided by a dash of mango puree that actually complimented the bean curd very
well. Exotic – yes, oh-my-god-this-is-so-awesome …No.
Arv
pounced on the one thing that remotely resembled a western dessert – Banana
Chocolate Cake. This one however was wrapped in a Lotus leaf and steamed.
Pretty nifty actually, and it also tasted very good, especially with the
vanilla ice cream.
The
service at RON requires special mention with the wait staff being both knowledgeable
and polite. The cutlery was changed for each course and they were smart enough
to arrive when we needed something and discreet enough to leave us alone when
we were absorbed in conversation. On the whole the experience is well worth the
Rs.900/-++ that the RWI menu charges. You can even order one of their signature
main courses for an additional Rs.200/-.
Restaurant Week India runs till the 28th
of September for both lunch and dinner in 30 of the finest restaurants in
Bangalore. You will however need to log into their website and reserve a table
first. Bon Appetit my lovelies!
REPUBLIC
OF NOODLES
2/1,
St.John’s Road,
Bangalore
– 560042.
Ph:
+91 97421 06080
Timings:
Lunch 12:30 – 3:30 PM and Dinner 7:00 – 11:30 PM
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