In your lifetime
you come across various characters but there are only few who leave a positive
impression just at the dawn. The character I am talking here about is a remarkable
person, a Chef by profession and his experience is way more than my age. I am
referring to Chef Narender Singh, Culinary Director at Park PlazaBengaluru, a member of the prestigious Chaine
Des Rotisseurs and he was recently awarded with the Hotelier India Award 2015-
Chef of the Year.
It is always a
pleasure and honour to meet a Chef of his calibre. It is no surprise that I
have been to Park Plaza as many as three times in a month’s time.
Few days back, I
was invited to Shao at Park Plaza to be part of pre-festival dinner prepared by
the ever smiling Chef Narender celebrating ‘Year of the Monkey’.
Our evening started
with a revitalizing drink and surprisingly good prawn crackers. I first took
one, than two, than the third and it just followed but I was relieved to see
that I was not the only person who couldn’t hold on to just one. Ahh! what a
start it was.
If it wasn’t for ‘Lung – Fung Soup’,
we wouldn’t have kept our hands off those crackers. Talking about the saviour,
it was a Chicken and Prawn mince soup with black mushrooms. That bowl of
steaming soup had the right amount of flavors and spices to set up the tempo. Absolutely
brilliant! It was served with steamed buns and oh boy, how soft was that. The
combination of soup and the steamed buns were so good that fellow bloggers
couldn’t stop but request for another small portion of soup.
Next up was
appetizers and Chef Narender has always something special to offer. This time
it was in the form of ‘Dragon Chicken’ and ‘Vegetarian & Sea Food Gyoza’.
Talking about the
former, the chicken was wrapped in a pandan leaf and was accompanied by rice
paper wrapped roll filled with fresh vegetables and musk melon. Two contrary
things on the same plate but still made so much sense. That’s the beauty of the
Chef. The chicken which was cooked with pandan leaves on, was imbued by kaffir
lime and lemongrass whereas the rice paper roll, a very light refreshing side
kick stole the show. The hint of musk melon amongst the veggies took this to a
different level.
And now the latter,
the veggie gyoza was stuffed with shitake mushrooms, water chestnuts and Chinese
cabbage. And the sea food gyoza was stuffed with scallops, tiger prawns and
water chestnuts. I really enjoyed the sea food stuffing and wished if it wasn’t
single serving. This really left me wanting for more.
And just when we
thought, it’s time to get started with the main course; Chef Narender surprised
us all by presenting a ‘whole cooked fish’, nicely dressed up with vegetables. Fish
is a very important element in the Chinese New Year celebrations. People there perceives
fish as ‘surplus’ and believes that some part of the fish should be left over
to indicate surplus for the New Year.
Finally, the main
course was served. It had a long list of chicken, sea food, lamb and farm fresh
vegetables accompanied by rice and noodles.
Everything served
on table as part of main course was top notch and had a distinct taste to offer
but the one which really stand out from the crowd was ‘Prawn Mandarin’.
Ohh boy, the how beautifully these prawns were cooked. I was already full and asked
to serve just one piece of prawn but regretting it I had call back and ask for
few more. A pat on the back of Chef for not letting the sauce over power my
favourite prawns. This is definitely a must try when you are visiting Shao in
few days’ time.
Other main course
included ‘Banana Leaf Wrapped Deep Fired Chicken flavoured with Galanjal and
Lemon Grass’, ‘Braised Shredded Lamb with Cha Choy’ accompanied by ‘Braised Soba
Noodles with Chinese cabbage and Mushrooms’, ‘Vegetarian Hakka Noodles’
and ‘Steamed Jasmine Rice’.
The vegetarian main
course included ‘Stir fry garlic bokchoy with water chestnut’, ‘Sichuan Style spicy
seasonal vegetable, tofu and bamboo shoot’ and ‘Shredded Shitke with
Asparagus’.
Concluding this
never ending menu with a Chef special dessert - ‘Crisp Fruit roll served
with Date and Almond Ice Cream topped with Lychee and Praline’.
What you have read
above was just a trailer of what is in store for you when you visit ‘Shao’ at
Park Plaza in the Chinese New Year Celebrations starting 5th February’16.
As usual, Chef Narender leaves his mark on the delicacies served. He is just
wonderful with the amount of knowledge that reflects in his cooking.
I would highly recommend
this place if you have any doubts in your mind.
Verdict: 4.5/5
What:
Delicacies prepared by Chef Narender to celebrate the Chinese New Year.
When: 5th
February’16 onwards.
Price: INR
1500 and 1800 (plus taxes)
Where:
Shao – Park Plaza Bengaluru
Thanks for sharing the great information. It is well written!!
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