The new menu at China Kitchen, Hyatt Regency, offers 31 varieties of dumplings and many salad options. Navneet Mendiratta sampled the fare
I know of a die-hard China Kitchen fan who has been visiting the Hyatt Regency Delhi fine dining ever since it opened about six years ago and swears by its beggars chicken and peking duck.
“I know the menu by heart — down to the page number and even positioning,” said this foodie as a matter of pride. His sentiment was echoed by the other members of his family who equally love food and kind of explaining the busy restaurant in the middle of a hot week day when I recently went to try out its new menu. “New menuIJ” blurted this one out, as if the world had come crashing down, clearly thinking of his peking duck and the other chicken preparation.
Well, six years on after the restaurant comfortably enjoys among the topmost position in serving its guests the authentic Chinese cuisine, executive chef Martin leuthard together with Chef Jack Aw Yongs decided to play around with the menu a bit. That its patrons knew the menu by heart was one reason, for sure, and the other being that they wanted to add to the kitty of vegetarian options.
Chef Yongs incidentally is the chef who planned the original menu. On trial as a separate section at this moment, this menu is a delight for the vegans, what with a wide variety of salads and green dumplings thrown in. “There is an organic wave about the city and there is no reason why it should not figure on our own menu,” shared the hotel spokesperson as she introduced the menu to me, clearly encouraged by my happy reaction to the exhaustive salad selection. I greedily eyed the “I love this salad” options with loads of greens thrown in with sesame seed dressing and touch of garlic. The consecutive votes went to the fungi salad (for those who love their mushrooms) and the “Northern-style” buckwheat noodle tossed with vegetables and chilli and dressed in sesame seed oil.
For those who have a thing for peanut in greens — cucumber salad served with roasted peanut is the option to go for. The other big addition after the salads is the dumplings.The new menu offers about 31 varieties of dumplings in the steamed and fried varieties.
I absolutely loved the chicken bun, mushroom, bamboo shoot in oyster sauce, chaozhou vegetable dumpling with peanuts, water chestnuts, lotus root and mushrooms, prawn siew mai with fish roe and traditional vegetable pot-sticker with cabbage and mushroom.
My strongest recommendation, however, is the crispy tofu with tomato and bell pepper done in a cheese puff. This baked varietal is sure to make it to the final menu.The other not to miss out dishes are baked shrimp cabbage roll and sea bass fish “pappiliote” (for seafood lovers), slow cooked peppery lamb leg and steamed rice shao mai.
Interestingly, the restaurant is taking votes from its regular and loyal diners on the recipes introduced before they decide on the ones that will actually make it to the final menu. And this should put the anxiety of my China Kitchen loyal friend to rest. Introduced from this May onward, this menu is actually meant to add to the list of favourites and not take away the existing ones. Happy trial is what I would like to wish him as he makes a booking for himself soon.