17 November,2010 07:01 AM IST | | Aviva Dharmaraj
With its emphasis on Pn-Aian cuisine and quick service, The Tasty Tangles readies to seduce the city's tribe of the executive gourmet into its swanky interiors
Restaurant chains are arguably one of life's most tangible paradoxes: come to us for a familiar (insert appropriate superlative) dining experience anywhere in the world or be reminded that you may just be an arbitrary code in the Matrix.
Potato Satay with Spicy Peanut Sauce Pics/ Santosh Nagwekar
It's about standardising, duplicating, and eventually hawking the 'familiar'. Not that that's necessarily a 'bad' thing, as long as the chairs aren't plastic, and the food isn't served wrapped in butter paper, but then again everyone has their weaknesses. Speaking of which, faux wood floors, floor-to-ceiling glass doors might be ours.
We were easily seduced by the posh interiors of this Pan-Asian restaurant that has its roots in The Noodle House, Dubai's chain of casual dining restaurants. The view of the street below, accentuated possibly only on a drizzly weekday night -- like the one we stopped by -- is free chicken soup for every harrowed soul.
Tick tock
The menu or 'Order Pad' (What! No shiny menu?) is concise (or limited, if you insist), so you will be spared the presumed hassle of having to pore over a tome of choices. You're not going to find the "Chinese" version of Mili Jhuli Subzi or that of dubious origin: the "Manchurian" in all its avatars, here, so you might as well get a head start practicing on those chopsticks.
To describe the Potato Satay (Rs 170) as a grilled tikki served on a skewer would just be rude, but can we say the dish was more than that, thanks largely due to the full-bodied flavour of the peanut sauce it was accompanied with.
The Wok Fried Noodles and Rice section comprise one-course meals, and while veggies can always opt to have their non-veg dishes "made vegetarian", if you're militant about your culinary preferences, the Vegetarian Pad Thai with Tofu and Peanuts is your safest and only choice in this section. The flat-noodle dish with tofu strips and broccoli has a deep flavour, enhanced only with the aroma of sesame oil and the crunch of the peanuts. Veggie delight!
That's sweet?
The Mango Pudding (Rs 139), which tastes a lot like mango souffl ufffd, is for the most part unexceptional, except for the vanilla ice cream that it is served with. But the dessert that might soon prove a popular choice here (only because there are so few options, and because it has chocolate) is the Sumatra Chocolate and Coconut Pot (Rs 139), which was delicious, but a little stodgy and not as light-as-air as we might have liked.
The Tasty Tangles, which we fear might soon be referred to as TTT, seems well on its way to imprinting itself on the city's food memory.
AtThe Tasty Tangles, Pinnacle House, Level 1, PD Hinduja Marg, 15th Road, Khar(W).
Call 67094444
The Tasty Tangles didn't know we were there.u00a0The Guide nonymously and pays for meals.
