04 February,2011 10:30 AM IST | | Amrita Bose
This Pan Asian restaurant gives the usual Chinese fare a miss and instead focuses on food from the rest of South East Asia
If you walk into Republic of Noodles (RON), a restaurant located at the new business hotel Lemon Tree on St John's Road, expecting Chinese fare you might be in for a surprise. For there is no mention of anything remotely Chinese on their menu. What you will find instead are starters, soups, curries, noodles and sticky rice from different parts of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Republic of Noodles
Food: good
Service: efficient
Ambience: business-like
RON has a very business-like air to it, clearly catering tou00a0 frequent fliers and corporate pushers. The interiors are done up in reds with bamboo and clean rattan furniture. The walls are lined with South East Asian currency, symbols, Buddha statues and the obligatory bamboo plant or two.
We started our meal with cups of lemongrass tea, Thai Garlic Pepper Prawns (Rs 550), Fresh Cilantro Duck Rolls with Hoisin Sauce (Rs 400) and Vietnamese Grilled Beef Tenderloin in a lemongrass dressing (Rs 400). The prawns were juicy and came with bits of crisp sliced garlic and slit Thai bird chillies. The duck roll was crisp and fresh thanks to the stalks of green onions and coriander complimenting the bits of roasted duck packed into a roll. Duck goes well with a sweet sauce and in this case the Hoisin sauce proved to be the best match.
The rolls went beautifully with the sauce made out of vinegar, salt, garlic, red chillies, sweet potato and rice. The beef was cooked to a tender perfection and the lemongrass and pepper marinade gave a lovely tangy yet crunchy flavour to the grilled beef. All of this was served with chilli sambal, peanut sauce and the roasted chilli sauce, a dip we highly recommend.
The Khao Soi (Rs 650) arrived not in a bowl as the Burmese version is served, but as a plateful of noodles on which curried prawns were ladled out with the sauce and condiments like red onions, fried garlic, coriander, fried potatoes and bird chilli. This Chiang Mai (Northern Thailand) speciality is creamier than the Burmese version, claimed the staff.
The noodles were not soupy enough for us and we would have much preferred it broth-like and in a bowl. The Bamboo Shoots with Pickled Chilli (Rs 400) tasted bitter, but the sticky jasmine rice served, went well with the wholesome Jungle Chicken (Rs 400), a watery curry made out of chicken, fresh basil, vegetables and green peppercorns. The Red Snapper grilled with roasted chilli paste (Rs 650) was crisp and charred on the surface and soft underneath; the chilli paste added a sweet as well as a hot bite to the delicate flesh.
Unlike other Oriental eateries that have limited desserts, here you will be spoilt for choice. There's Asian Five Spice Chocolate Mousse (Rs 180) to choose from along with a range of flavoured handchurned icecreams (Rs 180 for a scoop). We tried scoops of Tamarind, Wasabi and the Chocolate Chilli (there are others like Green Tea, Orange, and Kaffir Lime).
While the tamarind version tasted like good ol' Mishti Doi, the wasabi version came with a slightly pungent bite (molecular gastronomy anyone?), but it was the chocolate chilli that won us over with its pure chocolate flavours tinged with a sharp heat thanks to the thinnest possible slivers of birds eye chilli.
At: Republic Of Noodles, Lemon Tree Hotel, St John's Road
Call: 44802000
Meal for two: Rs 2,000
