during one of the chennai trips, i asked for fine dining suggestions from foodie friends and pan asian at itc grand chola was the recommendation from someone, i always trust for good food. without any second thoughts i made a reservation as i heard from many that the place gets full on weekends. before i come to the experience in the restaurant it will be unfair not to mention the jaw dropping palatial grandeur of itc grand chola! this isn’t one of those fancy run of the mill posh hotels; it is truly grand in many ways! the elaborate wood work, the marble all around, the high ceilings, the grand staircase, the chandaliers; we were kind of lost while walking from the main entrance to the restaurant!
the pan asian restaurant has a display of some fine wine collection at the entrance. once you enter the main dining area with the open kitchen, the decor, the dining plates, the red water glasses, the cutlery everything had “asian” written all over it. the staff members are courteous and always there to help when you need without being intruding. the service was simply impeccable. the menu is big and diners will be spoilt for choices from all over asia. we were lucky to meet the chef and discuss his culinary journey and experience in the various itc restaurants like edo, pan asian etc .
coming to the food, we started with the one litre mojito which initially was a bit difficult to handle because of it’s size but we got used to it after sometime. the drink was refreshing and kept us occupied while we waited for the starters. the wait was not too long though. sooner than we expected the salmon & spicy tuna sushi plates made it’s appearance on our table. the fish was fresh and the sushi was simply yum! the chef mentioned that most of the sushi ingredients are imported from japan. the sushi was followed by steamed chicken buns and chef recommended chicken jaio. the bun was sticky & sweet from outside with the chicken being spiced enough to balance it out. the chicken dumplings looked like a piece of art and exquisite. the kid got a specially made chicken noodles with toned down spices as per his liking. for the mains i ordered the braised pork belly while wifey decided to skip and jump to the desserts. that slowly cooked pork with the buttery belly fat and soft meat was like a piece of heaven on my plate. that beautifully cooked pork belly is not going to fade away from my memory soon! though i would have liked a little less of broccolis but no complaints when you have such a wonderfully crafted piece of meat. it was accompanied with some steamed buns that paired well with the broth that came with the pork. the dessert that wifey got was beautifully plated with plum ice-cream, fried chocolate dumplings made of mochi and white chocolate droplets with colorful fruity powders. we followed it up with mango pudding which felt a bit ordinary compared to it’s superstar siblings that preceded. the bill came to about 7k for the 2.5 of us. it’s definitely not light on the pocket but the lux experience is well worth the money.
along with the impeccable service and the brilliant ambiance, pan asian is spot on in dishing out some authentic oriental fare. one of the finest restaurants in one of the finest luxury hotels, pan asian is an experience all by itself.