Wassup-bi or Wanabi

Japanese Fusion - Taj Mansingh, New Delhi - reviewed in June 2008

The swish crowd frequented mumbai restaurant wasabi is open in Delhi, there was not much pre-launch hype just a simple announcement and a few media coverage to announce the opening of the restaurant at the Taj Mansingh (in a location where I don't remember what was there earlier). So a few nights after it opened, I decided to go to Wasabi (not on a weekend mind you, there was no table available), with a few foodie friends. This decision got reaffirmed by the end of the meal, when going to fancy restaurants go with foodies and not with fussy eaters. The fussy guys wont enjoy their food nor would they let you enjoy your food, specially when it is as unusual as what is served at Wasabi.

First things first, the restaurant is hip and contemporary and does not seem to fit the Rs. 6000/head bill which was ultimately presented. I would have expected to see something far more proper and luxurious. The finishing of the restaurant was bad and seemed shoddy. The space itself seems tiny - not appropriate at all for a restaurant of this stature. Not that I am saying the decor was bad, it was great, for Pan Asia maybe but not for Wasabi. Which takes me to the staff, who seem to be the familiar faces from Pan Asia. A lot of poaching seems to have taken place. 

There is a sushi bar, a tepanyaki counter, some regular tables and of course the oh so ever private room. We decided to place our posteriors at the tepanyaki counter and started ordering the varied dishes - rock shrimp tempura, oysters with foie gras, mixed sushi platter and some tepankayaki meat dishes to go with the garlic rice. All in all, we had a feast, the food was a good fusion of - not cuisines - but tastes. I felt tangy, spicy and sweet in the same mouthful, like cirque de soloeil was performing for my private pleasure in my mouth, the butteriness of the foie gras was complemented well with the salty taste of the ocean in the oysters. All in all a great meal indeed. The sushi platter was great too - the fresh wasabi grated in front of us did wonders from a presentation perspective. The morsels of fish and rice on the platter were unknown to some extent and made it fun to enjoy them. The veggies on the other had (or I should say the non-foodies) did not enjoy their meal so much. They ended up eating veg fried rice with some mixed veggies tepanyaki style ! Shocking, specially when you pay so much for something so basic. The service was a little confused, I guess the staff would need time to get accustomed to the menu and being high headed, they are not, but the management would want them to be. There were also logistics issues - I gave my credit card for the bill and got a call from the restaurant after 5 minutes on my cell phone letting me know that I have forgotten the credit card at the restaurant. All this when I was sitting and waiting for the bill to arrive at the tepanyaki counter. A little confused, but can let it go considering they are new. A word of advise though, order from the menu only, do not the server suggest and order anything off the menu if they do the charges could be anything (Kobe Beef - 10k per serving).

The ambiance (read the crowd) was pretty much Delhi - that should say it all, some P3 personalities, some wanna be P3 people all talking loud enough to create a din which was after a while intrusive to the taste buds. With every new party entering the restaurant there was "hey how are you" and shallow kisses being exchanged, a place to be seen for sure, Wasabi is going to be a permanent fixture around for sure, after the initial hype dies and the P3 are gone, it would be left alone to serious foodies or for some serious high level entertaining for business (Daichi san with Mr. Singh at Wasabi's private room maybe?). A good but very very expensive restaurant making it one for the special occasion - just like the orient express. Wassup-Bi is here to stay, for sure.

Overall Rating - 8.5/10

Food - 9/10

Service - 7.5/10

Ambiance - 7 /10

Value for money - 4/10

Repeatability - On special occasions

Costs - Budget 5k for a meal per head, 6k with a glass of champagne.

 

Ginger Moon

Chinese - Khan Market, New Delhi - reviewed on 28th June 2008

A friend from out of the country wanted to eat what most self respecting Indians do when they come back to India after a long time - chinese, not just any chinese "punjabi chinese". We Indians have improvised on the cuisine consumed by a population larger than ours to our taste, it is the fusion of two of the worlds largest cuisines at it's best. 

When thinking of options after a bad movie we shortlisted 3, mainland china, the side wok at khan market and the newly opened ginger moon. For the sake of being adventurous we picked the new restaurant. We reached there around 8.30, after climbing up a flight of stairs to the first floor eatery (which is oh so khan market), we entered a tiny hole in the wall restaurant. Done up in regular manner, nothing extraordinary about it the meal started with ordering appetizers and soup. We had a tough table that night, of the four of us, one was a veggie, one did not eat seafood (except fish), one ate only seafood (no lamb or chicken) and I ate everything. Ordering was tough, a linear program was warranted but we made do without it. 

For the appetisers we ordered a portion of crispy fried mixed veggie and chicken in hunan sauce. The soups were varied - each portion was enough for an individual but could have been split for two people too. For the main course we kept it light and ordered veg fried rice and lamb in chili sauce and some veggies in soya sauce. On the whole the presentation was food was dismal if non existent, it seemed to be slopped on to plates right out of the wok. The food itself, soup was average but everything after that was downhill - the appetisers were soggy, the main course was anything but interesting. Ginger moon has taken the concept of Punjabi Chinese and stretched it to the extreme, so much so that the sliced lamb actually tastes like Rogan Josh ! Imagine having that with veg fried rice. It was adventurous for sure but not something that I had bargained for that night. 

The tables are also set too close for comfort (space constraint due to the 1,000 Rs. / sft rental I guess) and you are, whether you like it or not, part of the conversation of the next table where the girlfriend is complaining to the boyfriend that she got ready for ricks and they are here!

The total meal cost us Rs. 600 per head and was average in all regards. The smartest decision of the evening was to skip dessert at Ginger Moon and head downstairs to Big Chill for some ambrosiac desserts !

Overall Rating: 4/10

Ambience: 3/10

Food: 4/10

Service: 3/10

Value for Money: 4/10

Cost: Rs. 600/head (with no alcohol)

Repeatability: NO