While mixing up food from different parts of the continent, Ahoy! Asia went wrong with their menu, which left the good items unnoticed. Iknoor Kaur sampled the fare
Delhi has plenty of Pan Asian food joints and Ahoy! Asia is the recent addition to the list. Placed in the lanes of GK II, the restaurant greets you with its neon coloured décor, funky wall art and creative menu. Inculcating the flavours from different parts of Asia, Ahoy! Asia presents an array of food items and there’s precisely everything on the menu — from fancy dishes to street snacks.
Unlike most Chinese outlets this one is not a fine dining. In fact it is an ideal casual spot. Their beverage menu is an interesting one. Fruity punches like frozen sour apples, tamarind and thyme cocktail, spiced pears and sweet and salty plum soda proved to be good thirst quenchers. The ginger coke was a fun version of the dhaba special masala coke.
Most of their platter is overpowered with flavours of lemon grass and tamarind, which makes the taste different. The tom yam soup, which is a good mix of vegetables and Asian spices, is a good appetiser and is light, leaving space for the rest of the course.
The dim sums were a delight while the tofu lost its tenderness too soon. A fascinating section in their menu is Xinjiang, which is a locality in China that serves Chinese with a Muslim touch and Indian spices. They have burgers and sandwiches too as a part of this menu. The Xinjiang inspired lamb burger’s bread was toasted which made biting into it a difficult task. The lamb patty did excite the palate, but the dryness in the meat took away that pleasure too soon. The soy chicken sandwich was like caesar salad in a bun.
The good part of the meal was toho kawap, chicken wing kebabs infused with Asian spice mix, grilled over charcoal, served with yoghurt dip and the sizzling Sichuan vegetables. The chicken wings were juicy, while the vegetables had unique flavours which made it a cut above the rest. Surprisingly, the vegetarian menu at Ahoy was more of a delight than the non-vegetarian one. Their curries too had a nice tantalising aroma.
Their options for desserts were different and experimental. Some of the things were mango sago, a dessert from Hong Kong made from pureed mango, coconut cream and sago; banana spring rolls with ice cream, crisp, sweet spring rolls served with vanilla ice cream and drizzled with caramel sauce; the great wall of chocolate, a large slice of layered chocolate cake with raspberry coulis; Darsaan, crispy honeyed noodles with vanilla ice cream; milk tea pudding, which was milk tea in a form of pudding which inherited flavour, colour and its immense fragrance from the tea. Overall the place is a perfect stop for teenagers. As far as authentic Pan Asian is concerned, Ahoy! Asia misses the mark.