Noodle Bar, Phoenix mall Chennai Part of Phoenix Food Trail

On an earlier occasion a bunch of food bloggers including me had been part of this event (Phoenix Food Trail) to showcase restaurants in Phoenix marketcity, Chennai in association with Chennai Food Guide. This is the third restaurant I got an opportunity to visit and it happened on an evening where traffic almost came to a standstill along the roads leading to Velachery courtesy the damaged roads from the floods. Anyway since everyone was late, we headed towards the restaurant quickly and found some seats already occupied by 7:15 pm on a weekday! Granted it was approaching new years eve but still it seemed to be a good sign. Noodle bar has a lovely interior with high ceilings and reminds you of the orient with the red colors in the theme. One can see the chefs working in the kitchen through the glass partitioning and that gives the place a contemporary look.

Introductions were quickly made with the manager of the outlet, Mr. Abhishek and the chef Mr. Pasang who would be presenting the dishes to us. We were eager to taste some Chinese food that most of us are used to, Indianized Chinese food that is! But the management had a surprise for us when they mentioned they don't do Indo Chinese all that much but instead offer authentic versions of dishes from Japanese, Chinese, Thai and Singaporean cuisines among others. Well, by now I was a little hungry and eager to try the chef's take on the dishes.

The Food

Once we finally got seated after everyone arrived, a cup of warm lemongrass tea was placed for us and that got our bellies ready for more serious eats

Soup

Next up was the soup, the vegetarians had Emperor Noodle soup and me being non-veg got to try the Tom Kha soup. This is a soup of Thai origins made with fish, prawns and other seafood stewed in a coconut base. It looked familiar to a dish that's famous in Kerala and imagine my surprise when it tasted quite similar too. The dish referred to is Moilee that is eaten with sides of bread or rice pancakes.

                         Tom Kha Soup



In fact, the chef knew about Moilee and acknowledged the connection when I mentioned it to him later. However, this one also had a strong twist or lemongrass and basil and a spicy kick which made it quite refreshing and definitely a nice change from the usual. There were good chunks of prawns in it too. The vegetarian Emperor Noodle soup looked well presented and had a fried noodles as an accompaniment. Did not taste it though.

                                                                                                        Emperor Noodle soup










                                                                                               

Starters

Mandarin Skewered Chicken

This being a Chinese version of the classic skewered chicken dishes we get in many restos here, the taste was a little different from the typical sweet, sticky sauce. It was sweet but there were other flavors in it too that were new to us. The presentation was commendable it came in a cute charcoal filled tabletop grill and the smoke emanating lent the chicken that extra smokey flavor. But the chicken itself was only warm and could be served hotter. And after a while the smoke rising got a bit irritating as well.








Thai BBQ Grilled Chicken



This dish was well made and more suited to the Indian palate. Slightly sweet as most Thai dishes are and well grilled tender medium sized pieces of chicken were what this dish offered and delivered. By now, we could see many tables being occupied and even some Chinese people were present. So evidently the place draws in a crowd due to their menu being less Indianized.

Spinach Coriander Dimsum


Got to try one of these veggie dimsums before they ran out and the three sauces/chutneys accompanying made this dish quite good. The dish itself was subtle.

Main Course

                                                                  Honey Soya Lamb

A dish from China: was pleased that the lamb was very tender and that made the mix of honey and soya go really well with the meat. This mild flavored side could accompany any of the popular rice or noodle variants on the menu.

                                                                            Hokomein Noodle

Best part about the dish is that it's mildly flavored and light thin noodles so would compliment well with any kind of gravy. The noodles was tossed with thin slices of veggies and egg. 

                         Jilin Chicken





Another mild flavored dish this time with chunks of chicken added, this dish had a tomatoish base. A good bet for those who are tired of overly spicy fare.










                                                                                                          Burnt Chilli Noodle




It looked dark and spicy and there was a huge, intimidating chilly placed on it. The noodles itself was medium spicy however but the sauces gave it a smoky taste from the soy etc. Again, this was a twist from the usual Indo-Chinese fare. Maybe we were supposed to add the chilly to the dish somehow to give it the spicy kick.









           Black Pepper Cottage Cheese





Made an exception to taste this vegetarian dish and was glad I did. Large chunks of paneer in a dark peppery gravy was good especially with the perfect paneer, which was fresh and soft. The manager told me they bring the paneer from Bombay! Goes well with the burnt garlic coriander rice.







               

                                                                                           Burnt Garlic Coriander Rice (lower right)






This one was the crowd favorite and everyone appreciated the bits of garlic lending a nice flavor to the coriander garnished fried rice.

Dessert

Finally we were served the dessert - Orange Darsan. I liked the crispy honey flavored noodles with orange ice cream but it was too much tanginess in a dessert I felt. They could add a whole lot more items to the dessert menu surely as it is lacking variety right now.


                       Orange Darsan

                                                                                                Chef Pasang posing with the dessert

Finally, noticed the "Toss it up" menu after the meal was done and it looked promising as well. They offer any combination of sauces, meat/veg, type of noodle and style of preparation on this ticksheet and they will prepare it as per your request. Seemed pretty good to me, should check it out sometime.