The new Palladium mall at Phoenix Mills is not a happy place to be on a Sunday evening. The mall, for all its posturing about luxury, gets crowded with people who have sadly taken to strolling here instead of Marine Drive. In this clamour, Asia 7 is a gentle if unexpected oasis of bibimbap, miso soup and khow suey.
Asia 7 is so named for the seven countries its menu draws from. There are dishes from Vietnam, Thailand, Korea, Burma, China, Japan, and Indonesia. (There’s just one Malaysian outtake in the form of chicken satay.) The Sunday we visited for dinner, it had been open for only a week so we weren’t expecting to wait for our pan-Asian feast. But the restaurant was booked out. We had to sit at the not-yet-open teppanyaki bar. This was not such a bad thing as we had our backs to the mall. After the bar, we’d choose the semi-circular booths, which provide a cosy intimacy. The tables and chairs that fill the rest of the space seem too stiff to enjoy noodles and curry, even though they provide the widest view of the restaurant. Not that the sights are bad, it’s just that they meet all the clichés of modern Asian restaurant décor: red lighting, bamboo, and north-east-Indian staff.
The menu charms you instantly. The first page explains that the restaurant is still being set up, and says, “If we have goofed up, please do let us know”. It doesn’t warn you that they don’t accept credit cards yet, but it apologises for the limited selection. Even so, it is easy to over- order – the limited menu offers 75 dishes and takes several minutes to read.
Be warned, if your dinner group is not big enough, you won’t be able to cover every country in one visit. The helpings are enormous. Take for instance the meal in a bowl. Diners get to choose from sticky rice, regular rice or noodles, topped with their choice of sauce, meat and vegetables. What we got was good for three meals in a bowl. We finished neither that, nor our lamb bibimbap, a delicious steaming pile of sticky rice heaped with veggies and strips of meat, topped with sesame oil, sesame seeds and gojuchang, the thick, slightly sweet Korean chilli paste. We unsuccessfully tried easing greedy bites down with umami-rich miso, which had silken seaweed and tofu floating in it.
Then again, we had seriously compromised our capacity for mains. Our starters were competent salt and pepper shrimp, and crispy shiitake, deep fried strips of lightly seasoned mushroom that would be bliss for new vegetarians.
Until the liquor licence comes through, we’d recommend ordering the Citrus Fizz, kaffir lime leaves, plump lemongrass and slices of lime suspended in icy soda. The drink looked and smelled so good we admired and sniffed at it long before we had a sip.
Asia 7, which is a Delhi-based chain, should find it easy to win over Mumbai. Our palates are open to pan-Asian flavours thanks to the likes of successes such as Busaba, East, India Jones, Joss, and Pan Asian. All Asia 7 needs to do is offer value and maintain quality. It still has a few bits to fix though: we had to ask for our gojuchan, the dim sum was doughy, and we nearly washed the dishes when they turned down our credit card. Roshni Bajaj Sanghvi
Palladium, Level 3, High Street Phoenix, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel (4347-3901/98334-42290). Mon-Thur noon-3.30pm, dinner 7.30pm-midnight. Fri-Sun noon-midnight. Awaiting credit card machine and liquor licence. Meal for two Rs 3,000.
Source : Time Out Mumbai ISSUE 26 Friday, August 20, 2010
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