Location: Kolkata
Author: My Husband
I asked some of my India-based colleagues if they ate Chinese food, and the response was an overwhelming “Yes!” One of them volunteered that many Indians love Chinese food, but he goes on to explain that Chinese food in India is different (i.e. much spicier) than that available elsewhere. This really piqued my curiosity, so one evening, I suggested to D and M that we have dinner at Chinoiserie, the Taj’s Chinese restaurant.
The entrance is a bit nondescript for a fine-dining restaurant…
But the table setting and stemware certainly didn’t look out of place.
The head chef – originally from Hunan – at Chinoiserie actually came by the table to take our order personally. Frankly, I think he was just happy to have the opportunity to meet some people with whom he could converse in Mandarin.
Before our main dishes arrived, we were given some pickled veggies to whet our appetities.
Before long, our mains arrived. Like Sonargaon, the waiters divvied up the food between the three of us. However, the portions at Chinoiserie were more generous and as a result, there was enough food remaining for seconds and thirds.
Stir-fried veg. with mushrooms. Tasted like regular stir-fried veggies to me.
Lemon chicken. This was a deep-fried chicken cutlet dressed with a sweet/tart lemon sauce, very much like what Hon’s serves. I remember thinking that the Hon’s version actually tasted better.
Stir-fried Spicy Lamb. This was probably the best dish of the evening; the meat was tender and the spiciness added an extra kick to it. As you can see, it doesn’t look appreciably different than any stir-fried meat dishes in North America…
I think the chef tried to make the dishes a little more “Chinese” for us, so we didn’t get to experience the Chinese-Indian fusion flavours described by our colleagues. Since the food wasn’t much different than that available back home, we only visited Chinoiserie once.
