As Yauatcha celebrates its third anniversary in the Indian market, chef Chua Kong Ngiap curated a special menu featuring assorted dim sum baskets with sparkling wine cocktails. Riya Sharma finds out that the place became a modern interpretation of an old traditional Chinese teahouse
When we heard that Yauatcha is celebrating their three years of successful business in the Indian market, we were thrilled to know what would this london-based Cantonese dim sum tea house chain would have in store for us. While we entered the place, we were shown a comfortable seating area to relax and enjoy our meal. The interiors with its blue glass and beautifully embroidered Chinese motifs on the leather chairs lend an added sense of grace to the restaurant. But, we chose to sit near the bar which gave us a view of the whole restaurant. In front of us, we had bartenders mixing cocktails and on our left, was the kitchen where the executive chef and his juniors were preparing the special menu curated for the anniversary.
As we sat down to have the sumptuous meal, we were presented the special menu which had an assorted dim sum basket offering both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes to select from the range of options available. Not only this, the chef keeping the taste of their clientele, paired the menu with pink sparkling wine cocktails. We were delighted to try one — which looked exotic enough to take us back to a fancy holiday where we imagined ourselves in a pool holding that fancy glass of wine.
Our drink, the red dragon, was mixed well with lime, cucumber and rose champagne. Cucumber overpowered the taste as we sipped on, but it was light and not so strong.
Though we wanted to stick to the curated menu, the manager told us that we should definitely try their other specials. One of the curated dish was the fried turnip cake with vegetables. Pieces of turnip was cut into cubes and deep fried, attributing to the crunchiness. For someone like us, who are not very fond of turnip, this one came as a yummy surprise. The garlic sprinkled on the top complemented the whole dish.
The chef told us, “Our cuisine is a modern interpretation of an authentic dim sum teahouse. The chefs have taken recipes from all over China, and using cooking methods true to a thousand years of Chinese tradition, have infused them with a modern sensibility. The result is authentic Cantonese cooking with a contemporary flair – at once subtle and thrilling – and all made with the best ingredients.”
As we were enjoying the little sips of our drink, we were suggested to try their green tea. Mind you, we were told that it is not going to be the same as what we usually have. Though apprehensions surrounded us until a small Chinese tea pot with small cups were placed in front of us. Taipei san xia green tea, contrary to the green tea that is available in the market, took us by surprise. It was light not only in taste but also for our stomach. To describe it in simplest of words - we would say, it had no sugar, and no salt with no added flavour. As simple as it can be. While we were enjoying our green tea, we were presented with vegetable chiu chow dumpling with chilli sauce. Though little spicy, we really liked peanuts and red chilli combined for our dumplings. “We import the red chilli that we use in while preparing these dumplings. Most of our ingredients are imported, however vegetables, meat and seafood is procured locally as we are very particular about our food safety standards,” shared chef Chua Kong Ngiap.
The next on plate was scallop shui mai and steamed chicken dumplings. The chicken dumplings had a covering of potato starch. It looked like a transparent covering and the presence of starch made it sticky. They were combined well with the pieces of fresh chicken, leaves of coriander and bit of cinnamon to add to the flavour. The scallop had prawns in it and trust us, you are going to love their prawns if you taste this.
Though we were almost full after gorging on oh-so-yum food, we managed to keep some space in our tummies for the dessert. The curated menu has champagne cherry macaroons which you can’t give a miss. But, we also tried their classic raspberry delice which was a raspberry mousse that blended perfectly with chocolate. The base was created using chocolate to keep it intact and we loved every bit of this heavenly delight.
As a beautiful afternoon concluded for us, we took with us a lot of memories and the taste of sumptuous food. As we came with out tummies full, we would recommend that you don’t give their raspberry delice a miss.