I like sushi. I love the taste, the texture, the flavours and the presentation. And, fortunately for me, all my sushi experiences have been worth writing home about. The latest – in a trendy restaurant in a south Delhi mall a few weeks ago – was equally gratifying. I had a great meal, organised by a couple of very talented and interesting chefs. And sushis were just one part of it.
But let me start fromthe beginning. First there was a phone call from a tenacious publicist. Readers know that I am not greatly fond of malls and find South Delhi’s ever-increasing mountain of eateries a bit intimidating. But I was persuaded to try the place out, and went there with a friend on a weekday afternoon.
The restaurant is called B-Bar, and it is in Saket’s Select CityWalk. It’s a huge place, and the interiors are spectacular – with warm colours, an imposing dome flanked by Samurais and other Oriental artefacts. There is a large bar on one side, with some very, very expensive alcohols for the connoisseur, apart from cocktails, wines and other alcoholic beverages.
The restaurant, an international chain, has a pan-Asian menu, put together by chefs B. Richard and Vadim Shin. A meal for two, I am told, comes roughly for Rs.2500, without alcohol. The menu includes handpicked dishes from Japanese, Chinese, Thai and other Eastern cuisines – but with mild western tweaks. Watching food being cooked is a veritable part of the dining out experience – for it has live counters for sushi, teppanyaki (griddle-cooked food) and robatayaki (barbecue).
And what really wowed me was the food. I ate small portions from a huge menu – moving from sushi and sashimi to lamb, chicken and fish – and each dish was memorable. The watermelon tofu salad that we started with was an excellent mix of sweet and light flavours with a silken texture.
The tuna and salmon sushi — wonderfully fresh and moist — were delicious. I enjoyed the sliced chicken cooked with ginger and dry chillies and the shrimp tempura served with spicy mayonnaise.
By the time the main courses arrived, we had been suitably mellowed. I had eaten so many of the starters that I thought I wouldn’t be able to do justice to the dishes. But I surprised myself!
I loved the gochujang Australian lamp chops — gochujang is a pungent Korean mix of red chilli, glutinous rice and fermented soy – and the devil chicken with angry sauce.
The latter was a remarkable dish, for the sauce, let me tell you, was very, very angry, indeed.
There’s a lot for vegetarians, too – including crispy sesame tofu with ginger and misoyaki eggplant. And the desserts are stupendous – ranging from chocolate sesame bar with coffee ice cream and Philadelphia cheese cake with raspberry coulis to chocolate cream chiboust with pistachio cream brulee.
I had a nice chat with the chefs – Chef Richard is from Calcutta, and Chef Shin is a Russian of Korean descent. With a mixed cultural heritage of the kind, the food has to be good!
What’s memorable about the food is not just the freshness and flavours, but the little twists that the chefs have given to age-old recipes. The outcome is finger-licking good!
