Pathikrit Sen Gupta

Noida's Baby Dragon has Happy Hours all through the day. Shouldn't be too hard to fit it into your schedule

The Oriental food scene in Noida is starting to look up. And you don't need to have deep pockets to explore it. This view of mine was reinforced when I visited Baby Dragon Bar & Restaurant in sector 18 on an exceptionally bright monsoon day. So dazzled was I in fact that I allowed MD Vicky Saluja to play the good host to the hilt by permitting him to choose the fare that would be appraised.



The 70-cover restaurant built on two levels has soothing colours, a cosy ambience with comfortable seating. The menu also has an Indian section with the usual suspects -- Tandoori murgh, Nihari gosht, Dal makhani and Butter naan -- all in there. But hey, nobody's perfect.

As you perhaps know by now, the bar holds no allure for me. So, I opened my account with a Grainy apple mojito. If 'grainy' is supposed to be a reference to the chunks of coagulated sugar that I chewed on for the next five minutes then the kitchen got it spot on. A little jittery, I nodded gingerly to the offer of their Lemon coriander soup. But my fears proved to be unwarranted as things were a lot smoother from here on. The soup was quite enticing. So were the starters -- Chicken satay, Grilled prawns tangy Thai style (highly recommended) and Baby Dragon special lamb.

Main course followed. The Pan fried noodles with chilli bean sauce was satisfactory. But the Herb roasted chicken with onigiri rice was both inviting and interesting. Onigiri, also known as omusubi or rice ball, is a Japanese food made from white rice formed into triangular or oval shapes and often wrapped in nori
(seaweed). I would describe the rice that accompanied the chicken as glutinous rice, also called sticky rice, sweet rice, waxy rice and pulut. So, while the dish may have gone against the grain a bit, it was delish.
Go ahead and chase the Baby Dragon. Trust me, it grows on you.

At: G-34, Sector 18, Noida
Timings: 11 am to 11 pm
Ring: 4355260
Meal for two: Rs 800