Check most of the menus in town and you will find at least a handful of Chinese dishes featured on the list. However, there is Chinese and then there is CHINESE! Striving to click a fine balance between the two is an Indo-China food fete at Hotel Hycinth. The man heading the fiesta is Macs Millyan Colbey.
“Not many in the city will enjoy the flavours of ‘authentic’ China as they might find it bland. At the fete, we offer customers a mix of both; ‘real’ Chinese and a version of the popular ‘Udupi’ Chinese.
“Our concentration at the festival is on Cantonese and Macanese cuisine [blend of Southern China and Portuguese cooking]. We also have a few Indian dishes on the menu. By gradually introducing diners to the authentic taste of Chinese cuisine, we hope they will start adding it to their palate,” says Macs.
Macs who has worked at The Venetian, Macao, admits that he too found the food unappetising in the beginning. “But then I started appreciating the colours and flavours of the dishes.”
And so while dishes such as dim sums, roast duck and bitter gourd omelette feature on the menu of the fete, so do the more popular and familiar in taste, Gobi Manchurian, chilli chicken and fried rice.
“If people were to order the ‘real’ fried rice, they would call it kichidi and turn up their nose at it. Most chefs in India adapt the dishes to suit the local palate and that is why Chinese food is popular.”
The fact that the preparations of quite a lot of Chinese dishes involve stir-frying makes it a perfect fast food and hence the popularity at even wayside stalls, he adds.
According to Macs, the aroma and the colours that go into the dishes are what attract customers to Chinese food.
“Chinese cuisine mostly involves cooking fresh ingredients on a high flame. This helps retain the moisture in the ingredients, be it vegetables or meat. There are also a lot of colours used in the dishes as most of the dishes have both meat and vegetables.”
The various sauces such as XO, plum, black bean, oyster and more give the dishes varied tastes and cooking wine helps enhance flavours.
The fact that most of the ingredients and sauces are available in the market, makes serving ‘authentic’ Chinese dishes easier.
Macs who is now six months old at Hycinth, says he will be introducing some of these dishes in a new menu at the hotel’s restaurant, Café Jade, soon.
The Indo-China food festival is on till February 1.
