Asian Street Food Fest ft. Chef Sun – #ChinaToBaanTao

Baan Tao recently hosted celebrated Chef Sun, originally from China but currently working at Hyatt Regency Chennai and decided to double up the fun of their hugely popular Asian Street Food Fest.

Promising some delectable fares, Hyatt invited #TheBTeam over for an exclusive evening of tête-à-tête with Chefs Sun and Sunil. [That’s “Sun(1+nil)” for all you Math geeks! :-P]

Drinks

We started off with some chillers to keep us company while the chefs were busy prepping our dishes.

Chef Sun doing what he does best!

The Lychee Watermelon [Rs. 250] was a nice combination of lychee, watermelon and lime juices and tasted as good as it looked.

Lychee Watermelon

The Lemon Ice Tea [Rs. 175] was a standard fare with decent taste but could have been chilled a little more.

Lemon Ice Tea

The Mint Basil Spritzer [Rs. 250] was rather delicious and perfectly cooled. A perfect way to start an authentic Chinese culinary journey.

Mint Basil Spritzer

Soups and Salads

Chicken Tom Khaa with Noodles [Rs. 500] – An absolute winner. Always has been so the expectations were rather high. And they did not disappoint. Brilliantly flavored stew with mushrooms, beans, carrots and other veggies. Opted for chicken as the protein and requested for additional noodles in it. Bang on flavors!! #YumYum #HighlyRecommended #SoupGasm #Slurrrp

Chicken Tom Khaa with Noodles

Malaji – This was a Sichuan Chicken Salad. More of chicken drumsticks laid on a bed of lettuce leaves with garnishments. The marination had seeped to the bones of the chicken which is something not very often encountered. So delicious, there was a calm around the table while everyone was chomping on the meat. #YumYum

Malaji

Starters

Double Cooked Pork in Dou Ban Jiang Sauce [Rs. 1250] had some nice flavors of the sauce, which is a spicy, salty paste made from fermented broad beans, soybeans, salt, rice, and various spices. The meat itself was very soft and tender.

Double Cooked Pork in Dou Ban Jiang Sauce

The Crispy Fried Lamb with Sichuan Pepper in Hoisin Sauce [Rs. 850] had a different scent to it. Didn’t like it much. Although the lamb strips were nice and crispy.

Crispy Fried Lamb with Sichuan Pepper in Hoisin Sauce

The Fried Lotus Stem Sweet and Spicy [Rs. 650] was one of the stars of the evening. Brilliantly crispy and perfectly spiced, this one is a surefire winner. #YumYum #HighlyRecommended

Fried Lotus Stem Sweet and Spicy

Chef’s Special

It was fun interacting with the Chefs who too seemed to enjoy all the adulation and attention. Chef Sun whipped up a couple of his signature dishes and let me tell ya, they were outstanding!!

Peking Duck with Pancake – Slices of duck with crispy skin were served along with some cucumber and spring onion slices and a honey garlic sauce. Chef Sunil even taught us the right way to enjoy the dish – apply honey garlic sauce to the pancake, add some cucumber and spring onion slices and roll with crispy duck. Ta-daaa!!

Peking Duck with Pancake

Exotic Black Fungus Mushrooms in Onion Juice – This was a beautiful looking plate with the black mushrooms and the white onions perfectly contrasting each other in color. And they were contrasted in texture as well; soft and succulent mushrooms with crunchy onions. Drizzled in onion juice, this was one delicious plate!! #YumYum

Exotic Black Fungus Mushrooms in Onion Juice

Dim sums

Dim sums being an integral part of the Asian Street Food Fest, there was no way we were gonna miss those.

Exotic Vegetable Dumpling and Zucchini, Green Beans, Broccoli Crystal were both enjoyable however preferred the crystal dim sum more, mainly due to its wafer thin coating. #YumYum #HighlyRecommended

Exotic Vegetable Dumpling and Zucchini, Green Beans, Broccoli Crystal

While I didn’t have the Red Onion, Pork Gou-Tie, the general consensus around the table was that it was the best dumpling of the night. Maybe, I should’ve tried it.

Red Onion, Pork Gou-Tie

Basil Chicken Crystal Dumpling was another beauty. Nicely wrapped, the meat was perfectly cooked and I could get the flavor of the basil as well in every bite. #YumYum

Basil Chicken Crystal Dumpling

Mains

By now, we were already so full that we had mixed feelings about the mains; to eat or not to eat. Never thought we could digest another morsel but simply couldn’t say no to the chefs’ amazing creations.

All the mains

The Wok tossed Bok Choy with Shitake Mushrooms in Oyster Sauce [Rs. 700] had good flavors of the sauce with the soft mushrooms. Goes well with rice or noodles. #YumYum

Wok tossed Bok Choy with Shitake Mushrooms in Oyster Sauce

Yang Zhou Fried Rice with Chicken, Shrimp, Pork and Ham [Rs. 750] was another well-made dish with small yet flavorsome chunks of the meats. Not too big to overpower the entire dish but enough to send flavor currents throughout every bite! #MeatOverload

Yang Zhou Fried Rice with Chicken, Shrimp, Pork and Ham

The Stir Fried Noodles with Seasonal Vegetables [Rs. 600] were the best of the mains. Amazing noodles tossed with some veggies, we devoured more than 2 portions of the same. #YumYum #HighlyRecommended

Stir Fried Noodles with Seasonal Vegetables

The Kung Pao Chicken with Ginger, Chinese Vinegar and Peanut [Rs. 800] was different from any other Kung Pao chicken I have had earlier. The addition of the peanuts elevated the dish to another level. Chef Sun admitted the peanuts are an authentic and integral part of the dish and adds to the strong flavors of the dish. #YumYum

Kung Pao Chicken with Ginger, Chinese Vinegar and Peanut

Dessert

And just as we were thinking that the long culinary journey had come to an end, out comes one of the most beautiful dessert I’ve seen in recent times.

The Green Tea Tofu Cheesecake with Mixed Berry Compote [Rs. 425] did not taste anything like tofu. Amazingly soft and delicious cheesecake just perfect flavor of green tea. And the mixed berry compote complemented the cheesecake flavors perfectly!! #YumYum #HighlyRecommended

Green Tea Tofu Cheesecake with Mixed Berry Compote

And no Chinese dinner is complete without the ubiquitous fortune cookie. And mine stated “Wealth awaits you very soon”. [Yippiee!!]

Fortune Cookie

The Asian Street Food Fest is organized Thursday evenings.

A big shout out to Ankoura for inviting and hosting us. And a special thanks to Chef Sun Wen and Chef Sunil Joshi for their amazing creations.

Baan Tao is located at Hyatt Pune, Kalyani Nagar.

Disclaimer: The invite was for a complimentary food tasting event.

This review is a narrative of my experience at the event. The views expressed in this review are solely mine and others are more than welcome to agree or disagree with the same. The review is in no way influenced either personally or commercially nor has it been lifted, copied or plagiarized from any source however I have done my due diligence on the event via publicly available information on the internet.

All rights reserved.