The Dim Sums At Bandra’s Newly-Opened House Of Mandarin Are Truly Unmissable! | Verve Magazine
India's premier luxury lifestyle women's magazine
Wine & Dine
September 24, 2017

The Dim Sums At Bandra’s Newly-Opened House Of Mandarin Are Truly Unmissable!

Text by Sadaf Shaikh

Bursting with both flavour and colour, the dumplings made our our table look less like a piece of furniture and more like a garden during spring

The House of Mandarin, founded by Rachel Goenka, CEO of the popular Sassy Spoon chain of restaurants, opened its doors to the public on Friday. Touted as the next cool contemporary Chinese eatery, the ambience is warm and inviting, with hand-painted murals gracing the walls and dark rosewood furniture lending a homely vibe to the whole affair. Among the first to review the fare, we were ushered in and seated in a snug corner where the head chef and in-house mixologist came to take stock of our food preferences.We placed our trust (and our stomachs) in their hands and asked them to bring us whatever they deemed fit. We then sat and waited with bated breath, hoping for the best.

And what a good payoff it was. We were first served a beverage each – my sister, who had accompanied me, sipped daintily on the Ruby Woo, a heady concoction of lychee green tea, cranberry and fizz, while I guzzled the Mandarin Xiaoling, an incredible amalgamation of espresso, vanilla and orange. The starters started pouring in around this time and we were presented with an impressive variety of dim sums. Truffle and edamame dumplings, Prawn Har Gau, Chilean Sea Bass dumplings, Corn & Water Chestnut dumplings and Asparagus and Mushroom Cheung Fun were bursting with both flavour and colour, as our table looked less like a piece of furniture and more like a garden during spring. We especially enjoyed the aromatic crispy duck where the meat served to us was succulent and saporous and came with a portion of flat round bread that could be eaten like a falafel wrap. Supplemented with a pleasantly piquant barbecue sauce, it set the perfect tone for the mains. By this time, I had practically inhaled two more glasses of the aforementioned Mandarin Xiaoling, much to the chagrin of the mixologist who insisted I try a different drink. After receiving a rather baleful glare from me, he conceded to my demands and served me another pint of the delicious refreshment.

It was now time for the main course. A suggestion – if you plan on visiting House of Mandarin, go there for the starters, the dim sums, especially. The egg white and chicken fried rice served to us with wok tossed chicken in black bean sauce was nothing to write home about. They may have had the chance to reclaim our praise had we been able to sample some of the noodle and sea food options, but we had eaten our fill by then.

Of course, every living being on the planet is aware that the stomach has dedicated a completely different compartment for dessert; I affectionately call mine a black hole. We opted for the seven textures of hazelnut and chocolate, which quite honestly felt like seven hundred layers owing to its gooey goodness. We snuck a quick glance at the adjacent tables to assess our choice of afters; the signature Belgian chocolate and mandarin dome with cointreau seemed like an outstanding option too. By now, the soporific effect of our hearty meal was beginning to kick in so we said our thanks to the chef and left the restaurant, satiated for a full five days.

Related posts from Verve:


Leave a Reply

Verve Trending

Sorry. No data so far.