I was mesmerised by the sight – on television – of a Chinese chef putting together a bowl of soup. A cauldron of chicken broth was bubbling on the stove. Noodles bobbed in boiling water elsewhere. He put some broth in the bowl, topped it with noodles and thinly sliced pork, and then garnished it with chopped green scallions.
He handed the steaming bowl of soup to the salivating diner, and I reached for the phone. I looked for Chinese eateries in east Delhi, and found a promising one. Called Hudson Chopsticks, it had (apart from mains and appetisers) various kinds of soups on the menu and included the one that I was yearning for: noodle-filled thukpa.
It was not just the food show, the weather too had set the mood for some bone-warming soup. We asked for three kinds – chicken thukpa momo soup (₹189), chicken hot and sour (₹179) and clear chicken soup (₹179). With that, we asked for steamed chicken momos (₹239) and chicken drums of heaven (₹329). The food arrived in well-packed containers and I had quite a fulfilling dinner.
Keep it spicy
I started with the momos. Large in size and six to a plate, the momos were soft and had been stuffed well with minced chicken. The chicken was just mildly spiced, which was good, for the drums of heaven had been coated w ith a hot chilli sauce and were deliciously spicy. I then moved to what I had been dreaming of – the thukpa.
This is a Tibetan soup dish that I grew immensely fond of back in those days when we used to visit a food hub called Tib Dhabs in north Delhi. Thukpa or thupka — a huge bowl of soup with noodles, shredded chicken and all kinds of greens — used to fill us up and cost just a few rupees those days.
Hudson’s thukpa was rather good. It had two juicy momos in it, some greens and a lot of noodles. It was hot and satisfying. I then tried out the clear soup and found it exceptionally good. The soup, light and fragrant, had thick slices of chicken in it, and various kinds of crunchy veggies – from broccoli and Chinese cabbage to carrots, baby corn and mushrooms. I had a spoonful of the hot and sour soup, just to taste it, and found it deliciously hot and peppery.
Our food came through Zomato from the Karkardooma branch of Hudson Chopsticks, but the eatery has branches across Delhi NCR, including Delhi University, Greater Kailash, Patel Nagar, Indirapuram and Noida. Their menus include the usual suspects – honey chicken with sesame (₹329), chilli paneer (₹299), crispy corn (₹309) and chilli chicken (₹329) and some surprises such as sriracha prawns (₹379). The soup list includes vegetable clear soup, vegetable or chicken manchow and one-pot meals such as khao sueys.
As the temperature dips, I see myself ordering (and perhaps even preparing) soups to warm the body and soul. After all, if winter be here, can the soups be far behind?
