Asian cuisine is making big moves in Delhi. Leaving behind the age old Chinese food at the old is gold restaurants, we now have places that specialize in Thai, Vietnamese, Korean food. And this takes the whole affair a notch higher. This definitely does not trump the Chinese van food that we all order and love but it also gives us the opportunity to taste what’s authentic. And what’s authentic is at Asia Central, the spanking new delivery place running from Shahpur Jat.
They use imported sauces and dry seasoning to make it all taste that good and they’re delivery time is so right. You’ll always get steaming hot food to your place and the beautiful cardboard boxes with some amazing artwork itself will make your start drooling. The only thing that you need to worry about is deciding what to order as there is a ton of stuff on their menu and most of it is good. With a large choice of starters you want to order a lot and then might not have room for main course. So judge well and order before you start the binge eating.
We had to cover a lot of territory here so we ordered the Pok choy and water chestnut crystal dim sum. The dim sum skin is translucent and the filling is firm and well cooked. Having pokchoy and water chestnut, the flavour was mild and delicate. Then came the chicken and chives dim sum, which were pretty much the same kind of crystal dim sum but with chicken and chives. The chives bring out a delicious flavour which is somewhere between spring onions and garlic. They were really good but were soon topped by the spicy chicken kothey. With our love for kohtey ever increasing it is hard not to order a portion of these wherever available and as it turned out the kothey from Asia Central are a work of art. The dim sum are pan seared to perfection and the chicken inside is juicy and punchy. They were slightly bigger than the usual dim sum and we weren’t complaining. All of the dim sum come with spicy dips that complement them. We really wanted to order the prawn har gau but that got replaced with tofu cups and Vietnamese chicken asparagus skewers. Yes these are all starters. The tofu cups were a surprise. Shallow tofu cups steamed and filled with cherry and garlic mince. It was mind blowing. We don’t really enjoy tofu as much apart from the sticky rice and tofu at Mamgoto but these have changed our mind since. And then the chicken asparagus skewers. Using asparagus stalks as skewers and wrapping chicken around them is a brilliant idea to begin with and then cooking it to perfection in another. The chicken was tender and the asparagus was bursting with juices with every bite. We could’ve ordered more of these.
Coming down to the main course, we got the rangoon night market noodles. This was basically a version of Khao Suey and a lovely one at that. Very fresh and full of flavour. It also had all the accompaniments that make a khao suey khao suey. The Tokyo chicken ramen wasn’t the best ramen we’ve had. But it wasn’t bad. Chicken in ramen is probably not the best thing as beef or pork brings out a deeper flavour. The ramen stalk however was fulfilling. We also got the lamb massaman curry, giving the usual green/red curry a skip and this was a good choice. It was brilliantly rendered curry with just the right amount of coconut milk and the spicy kick to make it go well with steamed rice. On the side we had the Cantonese steamed fish. They have at least three kinds of steamed fish on the menu but with went with the Cantonese style. It had delicate fillets of fish which were steamed with lemon coriander sauce and had soaked up all the juices. The fish was fresh, flaky and had it’s own flavour as well as that of the sauce.
With all that we only had space for the choco lava cake and the walnut pie. The walnut pie was exceptionally decadent and took the whole experience to another level. The lava cake was also good but nothing special. The best part was having the leftovers straight out of the fridge next day.
Meal for two: Rs 1000
