Friday, February 22, 2008

China Pearl. No shes not my GF..unfortunately :(


China pearl, koramangala:

The occasion was a casual dinner party thrown by my roomie and some common friends. If you might have read my previous blog post, company really matters.

I don’t really fancy fancy places like this one, obviously they are supposed to be good, given that people who were hosting the party had tried or had been reccommended about it. Hence the notch goes higher this time.

My first night time in Koramangala, enjoying the sights and more sights (I was wearing a helmet) of Bangalore, the glam city. Hey this is what I came for. My earliest memories of Bangalore were a place where you could enjoy ‘american’ style food way back when there was none in Bombay and a hi tech, clean and functional city. Seems it still has it!

On a road full of similar joints, China pearl strikes no amazement into you. Enter and the décor is a bit crowded and usual. The staff were crisp ( hey I havent started tasting yet!) and very much in the ‘theme’ ! Not bad. The crowd seemed upmarket, except for us J had a good sprinkling of youngsters although it didn’t seemed like a very hip place (considering the fact that at one point they told us to pipe down, but we had our usual kind of fun). All this points to some serious dining. And. It’s Indian Chinese, not authentic.

We were 11 hungry people all from the same company. 11 different points of view, 10 great companions,7 states represented on a table and for sure 5 different languages spoken in a span of roughly 2.15 hours. I love my country.

So let’s eat.

What? The menu was huge. The sea food section was also well populated, which surprised me. The vegetarians definitely don’t lose out in this restaurant.
Heres what we ate, with an attempt at pro star rating, mind you this rating was done by 3 guys, hence I can say , this rating does good justice. Tabloids, please contact my agent.

Shaolin sticks (veg seekh Chinese style) – * * * * .5
Crispy paneer – * * * *
Momos – * * *
Lung fung soup – * * * .5
Chicken manchow soup – * * .5
Red Dragon chicken – * * *.5
Veg balls in hot garlic sauce – * * * *.5
Veg Chowmein - * * * *
Veg Schezwan fried rice (peas!) - * *
Chilly fish - * * * *
Kum Fa lamb - * * * .5
Chocolate mousse - * * * .5
Sweet lime soda - * * * *

Overall I can give it a * * * *. Lack s a full 5 because it seems a bit on the expensive side.

A meal I shall remember, for the food and the people.

Hey, I just did what many foodie columnists do; impose their judgement on the readers in metrics like numbers and stars. That’s the last thing I want to do.

Go to this place. It’s good.