When I potter around Old Delhi, trying out a kabab here and a kachori there, I am always happy with my surroundings. I like the colours and sounds of the Walled City, and always pick up new words that I add to my lexicon of phrases never to be used in front of elderly aunts.
But once in a while, I am equally awed by the ambience of a fine dining restaurant. I felt this most forcefully some days ago when I was invited to try out the food at Sampan – The Flavours of Asia, a rooftop restaurant that has just opened after renovation at the Suryaa New Delhi. The food, with signature dishes from across Asia, was delicious — and you'll know more about that in a bit — but the restaurant itself was so beautiful that I was floored. From its glass-sheathed walls, I could see the city lights. And inside the restaurant, the combination of subdued lights and flickering hanging lamps created its own magic.
The menu is exhaustive — and that worries me. Sometimes, when you have a huge menu, it is difficult to do justice to the quality of food. But I have to admit that almost everything I ate at Sampan that evening was superb.
We started with a crisp Thai mango salad (Rs.345) from the menu's Cold Selection. I love sushi and sashimi, and was happy to see that this section includes almost everything from tuna to eels (Rs.325 to Rs.1745). The signature sushi with prawns, cucumber, cream cheese, jalapeno and avocado was out of this world.
My tasting menu had been prepared in advance, and I had nothing to complain about, except for the fact that there was too much to eat. The dumplings (Rs.475-845) that came next were of various kinds, ranging from spinach dim sums and thin-skinned sui mais filled with minced shrimps to rou wan — a minced pork dumpling served in a very light broth – and guo tie, a lightly fried dim sum. The fillings were light, and the casings soft. I particularly liked the rou wan, in which the pork dumpling had been coated with rice grains. I would have been happy just eating those and ladling in the broth that it came with.
Actually, I was almost done by the time the dumplings came and went. It worried me that the chef had prepared a lovely dinner for us, and I'd had my heart's fill even before I came to the appetisers. But the tummy tends to expand when you are enjoying food, and mine did just that. When I ate the appetisers, which included braised wine-butter garlic prawns (Rs.1095) and tea-smoked tender lamb (Rs.695), I realised what I would have missed if I had called it a day.
The chef then ushered in the main course — and, at my insistence, in very small portions. I sampled the steamed basa fish, which I thought had been overcooked. The green kung pao chicken cooked with peanuts was tasty, but the lamb massaman curry was so good that it took my breath away. The meat was tender, the gravy spiced, and it went beautifully with a small helping of jasmine rice.
When I finally signed off for the evening, I decided to rest my stomach by devoting a few minutes to the vista. I looked out of the French windows at the flickering lights below, and realised what a beautiful city we live in. When the food is good, and the city warms your heart, what more do you need?
