Walking into the
Coriander Leaf restaurant, we were greeted by the very bubbly and affable
restaurant manager, Ms Bernice Wilson, who showed us around the 'New Asian Food
Hub'. In fact, throughout the evening, we noticed Bernice and owner Ms Samia
Ahad mingling around with the diners casually and with great ease, adding their
personal touches to the great Pan-Asian cuisine.
You will not be able to miss this glass-walled restaurant as you go up the
escalator
to the second
storey of the Gallery Evason Hotel (featured in the October 2001 issue of the
Law Gazette). The designers call their décor 'Asian-Industrial'. Industrial in
the stainless steel profiling and smooth cement floor and Asian in the softer,
dark-toned teak furniture with tatami seat coverings and rattan peak-a-boo
screens and light shades. There is a choice of booth seats, free-standing table
seats or seats at the counter where you can watch the chefs prepare your food in
an open kitchen.
There is
also a cooking studio in-house which contains a large teak dining table
available for booking for small private functions. The restaurant conducts
cooking classes in this studio and invites all to have fun in preparing Asian
food. I must say that this is a highly novel concept worth exploring for anyone
who wishes to have a change from the usual evening dinners with friends.
This unpretentious restaurant invites you to come as you are to have a taste
of their
new Asian
cuisine which marries traditional Asian recipes to new techniques of cooking,
which is then presented in western style so that Asian food comes alive to the
taste buds.
In keeping with the true tradition of the bar, we requested for the wine list to pick out something to kick-start the meal. We were presented with a list of about 20 wines to choose from and were impressed with the variety of wines it offered. From the old world Italian and French to the new world Chilean and Californian wines, we selected a German sounding Sparr (Gerwurztraminer) Reserve from France. This fresh, fruity wine carried the flavour of honey and lychees and went very well with the spicy food that we was served.
The first platter to arrive was the Mezze, which is the usual Lebanese starter. The Mezze consisted of hummus, baba ghanoush, tabouleh, falalel, baked spinach triangles and chicken wings with a garlic dip. Ordinary sounding and looking as it may seem, the freshness of the ingredients used, which can be tasted in the first three items, made the Mezze stand out from those served at other restaurants. The whole Mezze was served with naan baked in-house, rather than the usual pita, and came with a very refreshing coriander-pesto yoghurt dip.
The two items that were an instant hit were the baked spinach triangles and the chicken with garlic dip. No, they are not spinach samosas, the triangles are a combination of gently seasoned and blanched spinach wrapped in a light filo pastry which melts in the mouth. We would caution vampires to beware of the garlic dip that comes with the chicken. Thankfully, all of us enjoy garlic and felt that the dip went very well with the chicken.
We were recommended the Crab Cakes with home-made tomato chutney and the Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls with a peanut dip for the appetizer.
The crab cakes were soft in the inside and crunchy on the outside. The filling was a soft and flavoursome combination of freshly shredded crab meat and vegetables and coriander with crunchy, diced yellow and red capsicums. This Thai-inspired cake came sitting on a bed of delicious Asian style tomato chutney.
The Vietnamese rolls were the freshest of carrots and radishes wrapped in rice paper sheets with whole coriander leaves showing in between their translucence. This was the perfect way to taste the excellent Indian peanut sauce that it came with. The sauce was mildly spiced with mustard seeds and, of course, coriander.
For beef eaters, we suggest the Barbecued Beef Kebab as a main course. This is the first time we have seen strips of topside served as beef kebab rather than the chewy cheap kebab cubes that are served in certain corners of London. The beef that arrived was tender, fresh and juicy partly because of the choice of cut, but largely due to the chef not over-cooking the strips. This dish came with one of the lightest butter naans in town which was well-cooked in the tandoor but not charred.
Another recommendation is the Sesame Crusted Lamb Chops with hoisin sauce. The lamb was pink but not bloody and melted in the mouth. We expected the hoisin to overpower the flavour of the lamb but were surprised that the lamb complemented it very well. It was not too sweet or savoury, but just nice.
Finally, even if your belly is close to bursting, you must finish the meal with a taste of the chocolate cake which came with the Death by Chocolate combination. We thought that the liquid chocolate soup that came in the shot glass took the cake until we cut into the chocolate cake and found warm Belgian Valrhona chocolate oozing from it. If there is truly death by chocolate, the Coriander Leaf's chocolate cake is worth dying for.
All in all, this restaurant is for family and friends. There is definitely something for everyone to enjoy no matter what their taste in Asian food is. The friendly atmosphere envisioned and created by the managers makes one feel welcome and at home here.
By the way, did we mention the chocolate cake?
Colin Kang
Ganesh & Colin