The Spice Route at The Imperial Hotel has come up with a new vegan menu curated by chef de cuisine Veena Arora. She tells Arjita Mishra that the food has been inspired by Malaysian cuisine and perked up with Kerala spices
The Spice Route, a restaurant at The Imperial hotel, is one of its kind. It is designed in the form of poetry and has been heralded as one of the top 10 restaurants in the world by Condé NastTraveller.
It has been designed to reflect the journey of spices from the Malabar Coast in Kerala through Sri lanka, Malaysia, and Indonesia to Thailand and Vietnam.
Designed by Rajeev Sethi, the restaurant has an architectural marvel that offers a unique dining experience in a distinctively beautiful setting. The restaurant, that took seven years to finish, is completely hand painted with vegetable and flower dyes by mural painters brought in especially from a temple in Guruvayur in Kerala with a tradition dating back to 3,000 years. Designed on the principles of Feng Shui, The Spice Route a treasure trove of antiques is divided into nine different sections, each a part of the journey of life.
Keeping in tune with the impressive architecture of the place, the restaurant, too, is pretty much as impressive when it comes to the dishes they offer.
For those who are non-vegetarians and wants to quit it and are looking forward towards vegetarian food should definitely try the vegan food at The Spice Route, The Imperial hotel, curated by chef de cuisine, Veena Arora. The special menu offers a perfect tease to your senses with mock meat as a star ingredient which will keep you light and healthy.
Her inspiration for this special menu of vegan food is from Malaysia, as her home town is near to it.
After we found a place for ourselves, we were served the por pia. It is Thai style spring rolls stuffed with mock crab meat. According to the chef, “The mock meat is made of konjac (a vegetable from Korea) and Tapioca.” As we took a bite of it, we found it crunchy but was soft to chew. Another appetizer that we had was was luk shin thord. It was vegan fish fried dumpling served with sweet and tangy sauces and pickles. “It goes very well with the sauces as it adds flavour to it,” said the chef. Although its vegan, when you take a bite, you will get the taste of fish.
“These days, people are asking for vegan food and after seeing its demand, we decided to introduce it in our restaurant. That was the sole inspiration for this menu,” she said.
Tauhu thoren, that we had next, was made from the slices of tofu and was fried with aromatic spices from Kerala. The moment we took a bite, it melted into our mouth. Since it is prepared in south Indian spices one might find it a bit too peppery but the dish would undoubtedly be a favourite for those who like their food hot, especially tofu.
We also loved the way dish was presented with a generous topping of curry leaves, giving it the look of typical South Indian dish. “We have used ginger finger, green pepper and Kerala spices in each of our dish,” said Arora.
As soon as we finished tauhu thoren, chef Arora presented Kung Chae Thord. It was in the shape of prawns. “It goes better with sweet chilli sauce,” she pointed out, insisting that we try the combination. And we were not disappointed.
In the main course, we had the kai chae phad phirk. It was mock chicken meat stir fried with bamboo shoot and bell peppers. The dish is such that when you carve out a piece, it will actually feel like as if you are carving meat.
What we liked most was the Malabar curry which was served with steamed rice. The curry was sweet, tangy and chilli at the same time. The best part of it was that when we tasted it, it tasted like being made from yoghurt. “It tastes so but since it is vegan food we cannot use dairy products so we make it with soya,” chef Veena surprised us.
To end the gastronomic journey on a sweet note, we had ice cream krathi. Normally when you hear of ice cream, the first essential ingredient that comes to your mind would me milk. But chef Veena’s version of this popular dessert was made from tofu. She explained, “To pair the ice- cream with the vegan food, we made it with tofu and is flavoured with coconut cream and garnished with corn kernels.”
What we liked about the vegan food prepared by the was that it was healthy and was made in the minimal oil. “Tofu is rich in protein, vitamin and calcium. So it is good for health,” chef Veena pointed out.