Think Indo pan-Asian chow that’s somewhere between the Wannabe-Chinese-But-I-Love-Masala tempo of your average ‘multi-cuisine’ eatery, and the borderline boring authenticity of the ritzy single cuisine restaurants.
Got a decent idea? Welcome to The White Elephant, Indiranagar. Another addition to the bizarrely rapid growth of restaurants on 100 Feet Road is this Thai restaurant, perfect for a lunch or dinner with a bunch of your favourite folks, and yes, complete with giant lit up lotuses and other eminently Thai props.
The starters here are crispy, tangy, greasy happiness - and incredibly guilt inducing if you’re watching that waistline (dieters in restaurants have always annoyed me). The crispy baby corn in rice cups are definite winners with the average foodie who loves about three different textures blowing up in his mouth.
The grilled fish is piquant and soft, and falls apart in the palate with a commendable consistency. The bursts of spice and zest keep you reaching out for more.
The vegetarian option recommended to me was the crispy spinach, which is essentially a batter fried leaf, so if you don’t mind feeling like a glorified cow (and if you were the kind who detested health food), you could go for it.
The prawns one can never go wrong with, anyhow, but while the crisp and the punch were much appreciated, the flavours were perhaps starting to get a tad repetitive.
The drinks were great accompaniments, though, such as the all time favourite coke float, and the slightly fancier cranberry fizz.
By the time we got to the mains, we were already mildly full with the heavy starters.
But the flat noodles I did like - it had a spicy dash to it that sort of broke the grease our palate was getting tired of.
The chicken red curry and the fish green curry were both good accompaniments to the noodles and jasmine rice, being hot and full of flavour.
The dessert menu is not very long (but is fully compensated for in kind by the starters menu!).
Tthe signature dessert here is their banana fritters with honey and sesame seeds, served with ice cream.
If you just went “wait, more deep fried?”, this one’s worth it, guys. It’s different, it’s fresh, and it’s sweet, and there’s nothing like a decent dessert to end a decent dining experience.
