Exec. Chef Pavan Kumar Chennum invited a few of us from
Team #FoodProwl for a tasting of ‘The Dim Sum Luncheon’, at Koji-Conrad.
Every
Saturday afternoon, Koji has an unlimited dim sum luncheon available. On offer
are two types of menus; vegetarian and non-vegetarian. This was Koji, my
favourite restaurant in town hence, I skipped brekkie that day as I wanted to
do full justice to the food served. *greedy grin*
The first dish sent our way was the Chicken Wanton
Soup. This was a thin, clear soup served with a chicken wanton. While the soup was
very flavourful, the wanton in the soup disappointed. It was too doughy. We did
inform the chef and they promised to look into it.
Once we were done with the soup our dim sums were sent
to the table. The first was Chicken Bao. These babies were beautifully steamed and
the filling within was yum!
Prawn Dumplings, Scallop Shumai, Chicken Shanghai
and John Dory & XO Dumplings were then brought to the table.
The Chicken
Shanghai was pan fried and the texture of the dim sum casing was a tad crisp.
The difference in texture was a nice change for my palate.
Taste wise, I
couldn’t find fault with any of the dim sums. Also, there is no way I can point
to any one of them say, this one was the best. Each and every one was superb! I
expected no less, after all, this was Koji!
They also served us a Xiaolongbao. If you cannot
remember its name, simply call it a soup dumpling.
The Xiaolongbao is a dim sum
filled with soup (sometimes it is filled with soup and a bit of pork meat/crab meat/etc).
This one was filled with a delish chicken stock. There is a certain way to eat
them. Use chop sticks to pick up these delicate babies from the tip of the dim
sum to ensure you don’t break them. Dip the dim sum in light soy sauce (or the
extra soup, if served by the restaurant) and then place it in a Chinese soup
spoon. You can then bite off the top of the dim sum and slurp some of the soup.
When a wee bit of soup remains in the dim sum, eat the dim sum with the
remining soup. Never put the whole Xiaolongbao in your mouth. The soup inside
is, usually, hot and can burn your mouth. Also, never put a Xiaolongbao on a
plate and cut it with a fork or knife. That’ll be the death of this gorgeously
delicate and delicious dim sum.
We also tried a couple of vegetarian dim sums and
they, too, were beautifully done. Chef Tenzin is a dim sum chef par excellence.
Actually, I’d much rather call him an artist coz I’ve been following his work
for quite a while now and his dim sums, truly, are a work of art!
The last savoury dim sum, Cheung Fan, served to us happens
to be my all-time favourite! With all my heart I believe, no dim sum compares
to a well-made Cheung Fan and this one was supreme in quality. We tried the veg
and the non-veg versions. Both were excellent but, no prizes for guessing that
this carnivore preferred the non-veg one. 😉
We finished our meal with a sweet Custard bao served
with Mango sorbet. The piping hot bao with the sweet custard filling was
heavenly. I loved the Mango Sorbet as a stand-alone dessert but paired with the
Bao, they both kinda fell flat! They did not complement each other. Do not eat
them together. Eat each of them by themselves and I promise they will stand
tall and shine.
This unlimited Dim Sum meal is available at Koji,
every Saturday afternoon. The unlimited Dim Sum menu is priced at 1699 + taxes
for the vegetarian menu and 1799 + taxes for the non-vegetarian menu.
What a way to spend a Saturday afternoon! A
scrumptious dim sum lunch set in the elegantly outfitted Koji. Life doesn’t get
any better or any more luxurious than that!
While this Dim Sum Luncheon menu is curated for
Saturday afternoons, I have just received news that Koji is about to commence a
weekday luncheon; ‘The Koji 45er’; an express lunch for busy weekday afternoons.
More on that soon! 😉
Address: Koji - Conrad - Pune, Mangaldas Road, Pune.
Buzz: 020 020 71967158
Some more photographs...
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