In just five short years of its existence, the Chinese restaurant Yauatacha — with a menu that is big on dim sum and sharable plates — has made a name for itself after consistently serving good modern Cantonese food. At the other end of the spectrum (though in the same price range) is the city’s oldest truly Sichuan eatery, Golden Dragon, which introduced the city’s well-heeled to the spicy food of the Chinese region in 1973. This April, taking recipes (and a chef or two) from the Golden Dragon team, the Taj Santa Cruz quietly opened the doors to China INC, a restaurant that serves food from Sichuan and Canton. And then there’s JW Marriott Juhu’s Dashanzi — which launched a month ago — named after Beijing’s Art District, which serves Chinese and Japanese food. The Marriott has managed to lure chef Stanley Lum Wah Cheok away from Yauatcha Mumbai;. at his new kitchen, the chef will create a progressive Asian menu that features dumplings like the chicken and truffle sui mai (which come topped with a slice of actual truffle) and the prawn, shitake and chive variant that’s topped with Ossetra caviar, a twist on the offerings available at other city restaurants.
Traditional with a modern skew
As Chinese food becomes increasingly ubiquitous (and less Chindian), diners are demanding more, whether it’s ingredients, perceived authenticity or the luxury quotient. Chefs are responding by putting their best foot forward.
“In India, people love spicy food, they want something new,” says chef Cheok of Dashanzi. “They have become more sophisticated and are open to try new flavours and experiences. This could be attributed to the fact that they travel more often and are more exposed to diverse experiences today.”
Chinese cuisine has a rich, vast cultural background, with recipes which go back thousands of years, says Wang Yixuan, Yauatcha’s new head chef. “It’s only recently that Indians are experimenting and accepting the authentic Chinese way of cooking. But Chinese food still remains an unexplored territory here, and a variety of cooking methods are yet to make their way to the country.” Yixuan should know; he’s worked all over China in hotels like Yalongge Hotel in Guangzhou, Inter Continental Century City Chengdu and Hilton Wuhan Optics Valley Hotel.
Expanding on the desire for something that straddles the world of tradition and modernity, Yixuan continues, “Our dim sum are classical, traditional, infused with a unique contemporary twist. For example, the conventional cheung fun (rice noodle roll) is reconstructed to combine both, soft and crunchy textures in prawn, while the use of mock meat gives a modern twist to the classic puff dish. We take the best of both worlds, traditional and modern to create something unique.”
Similarly, the dishes at both China INC and Dashanzi use traditional Chinese ingredients — the goji berry in the case of the former or latter’s experimentation of taro — to heighten the dining experience for guests. For instance, a flavourful spicy lemon coriander soup at China INC is elevated by the inclusion of the aforementioned goji berries and bamboo fungus.
China INC’s chef Vikas Milhoutra explains, “Ingredients such as mala fish, poached chicken, and bamboo shoot are more traditional to the Chinese cuisine, and we have incorporated the use of those in our recipes. Whether it is a main course like the Sichuan poached chicken, or a dessert like the crispy fried milk curd with chilled rambutan, China INC has embraced the genuineness of the Sichuan region through its ingredients, flavours and textures.”
Dumplings are king
As the definition of what Chinese food is has changed — moving from American chop suey to har gow — Indians have embraced the dim sum.
In India, where dietary restrictions means that not everyone can eat everything served at restaurants, dim sum is an easy way for customers to get something that is easy to finish, packs in flavour and is also shareable.
The steamed or fried goodies have become the standard bearer for the new wave of Oriental eateries that have redefined the cuisine from the region. “Dim sum are an extremely healthy and tasty option. You can make it with your choice of ingredients and mix it with the sauces you like,” chef Cheok of Dashanzi says, “It’s really light, flavourful and healthy hence it has become so popular. Indians are loving them too.”
Chinese dumplings have been adapted to eating habits today evolving steadily. “Dim sum originally means ‘touch the heart’ in Chinese, so small bite-size portions were created to merely touch the heart with flavour,” says Yixuan of Yauatcha. “Their purpose is to be enjoyed as nibbles and not to satiate hunger. However, over time, dim sum became popular, owing to the fact that they are light to eat, can be eaten at any time and make quite a meal. Also, the fillings can vary from vegetarian to meat, and it can be steamed or fried, which pretty much means they are designed to keep everyone happy, including the picky eaters.”
China INC has gone a step further: it has a live dim sum counter, to meet the evolving expectations of the customers. There is an assortment of dim sum to choose from, including the Chilean sea bass dumpling, chicken sui mai, and the prawn and enoki (mushroom) dumpling.
The Masterchef effect
When Australia’s cooking show sensation first landed on Indian television sets, the lack of backstabbing and general air of geniality is what won viewers over. After all, Masterchef was a competitive television show, with its basic humanity still intact.
What regular watchers soon caught on to though, was the array of produce that the series used. Sometimes exotic, sometimes not, it spurred the well-heeled to scour the shelves of Foodhall and Nature’s Basket for high quality ingredients and sauces with which to recreate some of the dishes at home.
Besides trying their hand at making these exotic dishes, diners are increasingly willing to experiment with food that’s outside their comfort zone when eating out.
“In India, there is a growing group of people who are looking for authenticity in their food, in terms of flavours and ingredients,” says the Taj’s chef, Milhoutra. “Their curiosity and interest in being more experimental has led to acceptance of Chinese food in an unhindered form.” These new patrons are not solely interested in the food that arrives on their table. They’re just as curious about how it is prepared. “This will make room for more genuine recipes to surface to our tables,” Milhoutra says.
The drive for quality and consistency can be seen in the fact that Yauatcha has managed to open outlets in four Indian cities over its half a decade lifespan. It’s not a small feat for a standalone Chinese eatery, albeit one with international pedigree. “I feel that people are now opening up to try the different regional styles of Chinese food like Hunan, Sichuan and of course Cantonese food,” says chef Yixuan. “There is so much yet to explore, even within Cantonese!”
When it comes to the future of Chinese food — remember, it is a vast country, with regional styles of cooking that vary as greatly as ‘Indian’ food does — it’s impossible to know what Indians will take to next.
However, “there is an increased interest in unravelling the layers of Chinese cuisine,” chef Milhoutra says. And we’re all benefiting from every new thread that’s being explored.
The author is a freelance writer
