Lunch on a weekday is a quiet affair at Sampan, and when I walk in, this pan-Asian restaurant located on the top floor of The Suryaa is mostly empty. I’m immediately drawn to the table by the large glass window, which offers a panoramic view of the city, laid out in all its crowded, brick and mortar glory. The view is breathtaking, but only if you enjoy looking out at a very urban expanse, blurred slightly by smog and dotted sparsely with little pockets of green.
Even so, it takes me a while to pull myself away from the scene below, and turn my attention to the menu. Sampan offers a selection of pan Asian dishes, and their range is quite wide — from China, there is Cantonese, bold Sichuan, traditional Mandarin, new-age Shanghai and Beijing cuisines. The South-east Asian section offers dishes from Myanmar and the East Asian part of the menu lists out Vietnamese, Indonesian, Malay and the Japanese food.
To begin with, I decide to opt for one of the dimsum packages on offer, and choose the prawn, fish, chicken and vegetable dimsums that come with unlimited beer or mocktails. There is an impressive variety of dimsums available, with four different vegetable options, five fish and chicken ones, and three prawn selections. The package also offers an interesting dessert; a pisang goreng, which is a fried banana and chocolate pancake, served with ice cream.
The service is both quick and highly efficient, and my food reaches me at a well staggered pace, giving me enough time to enjoy a dish before moving to the next one. There are some especially delicious dimsums on the list, and I quite enjoy the Chinese summer roll, filled with crispy, fresh vegetables and served cold — it makes for a pretty great start to the meal. Another exceptional preparation on the menu is the banana leaf wrapped fish, which finds a great balance between the smoky, mild flavour of the steamed fish and the punch of the spices used to marinate it. The chicken delight is also a highlight, and comes with steamed, sliced chicken, and shiitake mushrooms. The prawn and corn dimsums, the last dish on the menu, ends things on a high note, and the combination it uses is exceptionally well prepared.
While the dimsums have certainly impressed, it is time to taste Sampan’s sushi menu, and I opt for a tasting platter, complete with some of Sampan’s highly recommended sushi. When it arrives, the presentation is especially beautiful, as are the colours on the platter. I’ve got a selection of classic California roll, volcano roll, philly roll and dragon roll. The serving of vegetarian sushi includes asparagus tempura and ohitashi roll. Served with wasabi that carries a fresh, beautiful pungency, Sampan’s sushi, I quickly realise, is worth waiting for. The flavours are perfectly in sync, the textures amply different from each other to keep every bite interesting, and the freshness is delightful. I make my way through what had first looked like a daunting portion with considerable ease, and before I know it, my meal is at its end, and a portion of the dessert arrives. While it looks delicious enough, there is a kind of toughness to the pancake, and a cloying note to preparation that doesn’t quite sit well. Even so, its dessert is the only aspect of Sampan’s meal that doesn’t hit the right note. I’d definitely go back for some more of the rest.
Address: The Suryaa Hotel, New Friends Colony, New Delhi
Meal for two: Approx. Rs. 2500
