The world comes closer when it comes to cuisines, and here
we are talking just about our Asian Continent. So it will take only 38° East to
travel to the Asian Continent, wherein the new Pan Asian restaurant called 38° East
at Powai will be coming up soon.
Now if you are wondering why the name ‘38
Degree East’, let me turn the magnetic needle towards the reason.
The cocktails/mocktails and cuisines are specially curated across Asia right from India, Burma, Tibet, Singapore, Thailand, Korea, Malaysia, Japan, China, Indonesia , Mexico, Hong Kong etc by the Master Chef. He had travelled 38 degree east from India on the Asian hinterland to discover their local cuisines and hence the name.
I was very fortunate to receive
the invite to preview the pre-launch of this place; and geared up to experience and
encapsulate the journey of Asia wrapped into the 2 storey (floored) stand out
to narrate different stories of Asian Continent
As soon as you enter the interior showcases the theme of cuisines
that is being served. The ground floor had a fine dining setup with a representation
of Asia. The entrance had a niche wall
with statues of Buddha meditating in serenity; while the textured wall with
huge Chinese dragon is what caught my attention.
The ground floor ambience was
perfect for a casual dining experience.
The wall filled with graffiti reminded
me of Café Mondegar, as we walked up the stairs to the first floor, which
was a lounge bar and was stocked with various kinds of spirits.
Here is where
all the mixology gets into action.
They served drinks at the wholesale rate and
the stewards wore T-shirts having a back print of this motto saying “#PITERAHO Drinks @ Wholesale price”.
After drowning yourself into the wholesale drinks,
when one gets upstairs, you find yourself embracing Nature on their open
terrace overlooking the beautiful Powai Lake.
A perfect place for a romantic dinner date.
After we all settled down in the bar lounge, for our preview
session, the Cranberry Delight, a refreshing mocktail made the first entry on
our table. This ruby red mocktail was a mixture of refreshing sweet-sour
cranberry, slight sharpness of ginger ale, citrus lemon juice and mild spiciness
of the in-house spicy citrus lemonade. This beauty was served chilled with dry
ice adding all the smokey drama on the table. This turned out to be my
favourite drink of the night.
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| Cranberry Delight |
The second beauty to arrive was Tango Twist, a combination of
Mango Puree, Strawberry crush, Pineapple juice, orange juice and vanilla ice
cream. This dense and creamy mocktail with its sweet & a hint of tangy
flavour would undoubtedly be a Hit with someone having a sweet tooth.
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| Tango Twist |
Now it was the turn of starters to walk in, Veg Singapore Spindles
walked in gracefully, with crispy fried noodles embracing its soft cottage cheese finger
spiked with oriental spices. It was served in the bombaiya “cutting chai glass” with sweet chilli
sauce at the bottom. The two different textures of crunchy noodles & soft cottage cheese fingers as well as the flavours of slightly spicy fingers dipped in the
sweet-chilli sauce was like a perfect medley in the mouth.
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| Veg Singapore Spindles |
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| Veg Singapore Spindles |
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| Veg Singapore Spindles |
Next on the lime light was hot and spicy Murg Lal Mirch
Kebab. Thought the name sounds scary,
the dish was super yummy. The Murg was
perfectly marinated with the right amount of spices to hit you on right spot.
The Chicken was cooked well, it was soft, moist and melted in the mouth. It was
served with mint-coriander chutney and lacha pyaz.
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| Tacos Lime Grilled Chicken |
Veg Tempura arrived in a shopping trolley, with delightful
crispiness. The juliennes of zucchini and other vegetable were dipped in
tempura batter and crispy fried to perfection.
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| Veg Tempura |
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| Veg Tempura |
Finally amongst the starter grand entry was done by this huge
Singapore Crab Chilly dish. The fiery red huge crab got all our jaws dropped
down and eyes popped with excitement. Cooked in spicy red chilly and tomato
sauce, flavored with Singaporean curry powder and garnished with coriander, the
crab was nicely cooked and fleshy with juicy meat inside. The best way to
indulge into its juicy meat is by being ambidextrous using both your hands and
fingers. This would surly leave you with a finger licking and a lip smacking
taste and memory.
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| Singapore Crab Chilly |
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| Singapore Crab Chilly |
I, being a Soup lover wanted to try one, the server recommended Burmese Soup which
had shredded vegetables and noodles cooked in creamy coconut milk with a mild
flavor of Kaffir lime. The sweet nutty taste of coconut milk gelled well with
their secret Burmese spice & kaffir lime that left a taste still lingering on
my tongue. This was like a bowl of golden creamy goodness.
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| Burmese Soup |
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| Burmese Soup |
Now it was the turn of the head of the family or you may call it
as main course to walk in.
7 Jewel Rice from the Chinese family walked in a bamboo tube. The
wok tossed fried rice was topped with exotic Chinese vegetables, chicken/prawns
in authentic spicy chinese oyster sauce. The rice was cooked to perfection and
the sauce was mild sweet and spicy. It was an amalgamation of different flavors
that danced on your tongue.
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| 7 Jewel Rice |
Nasi Lemak was next to greet us on the table and arrived with the
entire family. This Malaysian rice was flavored with coconut milk and panadan
leaves, was along with lamb semi-dry curry, boiled egg, cucumber and fried
peanut. The rice had mild sweet nutty flavor of coconut milk and crunchiness of
vegetable. However couldn’t get the strong flavor of panadan leaves. The lamb was soft and well cooked, complementing
the spicy sauce and the nutty peanut added crunch to the taste. This when eaten
in combination was like a party of different texture and flavors.
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| Nasi Lemak |
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| Nasi Lemak |
Last but not the least to arrive were the senior most members, the
dessert.
Gulab JamunTruffle took a centre stage on our table. The layers of
Gulab Jamun, whipped cream rabdi and cake were arranged in a mason jar and
topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream was loaded with rice creamy sweet
goodness for the sweet tooth. I would
not go for the second helping as it was way too sweet for me.
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| Gulab JamunTruffle |
Fruit Filled Baked Wantons was a show stopper of the evening.
These crispy baked wanton cups were filled with berry compote, cream cheese and
topped with scoop of vanilla ice cream. This was a cold treat to our soul. The
sweet & sour of berry mingled very well with the cold sweet ice cream and
crispy wanton adding a texture to the dessert.
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| Fruit Filled Baked Wantons |
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| Fruit Filled Baked Wantons |
This indeed was an extravaganza of culinary elements that allowed
me to actually circumvent the Asian subcontinent under one roof. Also, hats off
to the master chef for designing such a plethora of Asian variety on our plate.
Head to :
Panchkutir, Pawarwardi,
Adhishankracharya Marg,
Opposite Powai Lake,
JVLR,Powai, Mumbai
AVERAGE
Rs.1,000 for two people (approx.) with alcohol
VAT & service charges extra
Rs.99 for a pint of beer (approx.)
Cash and Cards accepted
Open the Doors for public:
From 15 March 2017
