Meat Lover’s Deight at Buddha Bites

It is a Chinese restaurant chain that has proliferated at a scorching pace over the last two years. I had read a lot about this popular chain, so I accepted the invite of a blogger meet over its winter menu ‘Meat Lover's Delight’. 

I walked into its Harish Mukherjee Road outlet two days before Christmas. This was their third among the current count of eight outlets. Cover-wise, it’s medium-size and the décor is like most Chinese restaurants in south Kolkata but the difference is that it is themed on Lord Buddha – There is a beautiful mural and colourful pieces of cloth hanging from the wall showing his teachings. I could not relate it to the food but.

Before my blogger friends Indrajit, Debjani and Devlina arrived, I was talking to Kanishka Majumdar, whose wife is a owner of the chain. He has worked in star hotels and was instrumental in setting up the chain. It was set up with the aim to serve home style Chinese that suits the palate of the city. The major shift that they are making is to shift from Chinese cuisine to pan-Asian cuisine by introducing Japanese, Indonesian and Thai dishes. The Meat Lover’s Deight menu had a mix of Chinese, Japanese and Thai. I met the chef Prem Lama who is from Kathmandu and has worked in Ban Thai (The Oberoi Grand) among other places. He was excited about the shift in cuisine as he was finding little challenge in serving the same pattern of orders for Chinese food. It was interesting to note that all the sauces they use are made in-house.

I liked the tangy mocktail – Orange Lemonade – served to me as a welcome drink.

We started with Teriyaki Negi Chicken. A Japanese style preparation, it was dry and spicy and tasted good, though felt like a typical starter in a Chinese restaurant.

The Gai Sai Takrai Chicken was crispy chicken tossed with lemon grass and sweet chilli sauce. I found it too chewy to appreciate the flavours.

The Tausi Duck Pancake Roll, a Chinese dish, was dry and almost bland as it was served, i.e. without any accompanying sauce. But Indrajit pointed it out and requested a sauce. It tasted good with tamarind sauce.

Phad Khe Mao Tela which is Thai mixed seafood in chilli oyster sauce was tangy and spicy (with fish, prawn and squid). It was pleasing to have seafood with a new flavour. It would be better if it was a tad less salty. It paired well with The Japanese Burnt Garlic Fried Rice where the burnt garlic brought in a flavour different from the basic fried rice.

The Slice Roast Pork in Bamboo Shoot and Pakchoy with Lamb 8 to 8 Sauce both had a subtle taste with similar gravy. Either will go well with hot steamed rice as a simple meal. One may order either.

Overall, it was a decent oriental food experience. The starters cost Rs 250-375 and main course preparations are in a range between Rs 350 and 550. The staples (rice and noodles) are Rs 180 each.

The Meat Lover’s Delight menu stays till 10^th January but its signature dishes will be retained in the new menu to be brought out in the same month. All the dishes mentioned above are among the signature dishes.

#OrientalCuisine #ChineseCuisine #ThaiCuisine #JapaneseCuisine #MeatLovers

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