Asian diner The Flaming Bowl is a heaven for vegetarian gastronomes in Kolkata

Kolkata finally gets an Asian diner dedicated to vegetarians, and we just can’t seem to stay calm about it!
Thai Tender Coconut
Thai Tender Coconut

WHILE THE THOUGHT of a new casual diner serving Pan Asian food brought delight to the gastronomes in us, the fact that this is a vegetarian restaurant did raise some apprehensions, until we dined at The Flaming Bowl. And, from the exhaustive menu at their 60-seater in Bhawanipore, we ended up sampling not one or two but a total of 13 items! We were thoroughly impressed with the fare, which also includes Jain recipes. Owner Arjun Bakliwal says, “There was  big gap in the market for vegetarians, and especially vegetarian families, who have reservations when eating out. We have designed and curated this speciality restaurant that caters to connoisseurs of vegetarian cuisine.”

Options galore

We give you a low-down of the must-haves from this two-month-old eatery. We soon find that it was a great decision to start our meal with a bowl of warm and slurpy Burmese Khao Suey, served with six accompaniments on a hexagonal dish, as the weather stayed cold and damp outside. We added some crunch to our soup with pounded nuts, and also gave it a kick of caramelised onion. The creamy soup was followed by a simple recipe of Tender Garlic Pak Choi salad tossedin garlic and olive oil. From the hors d’oeuvres, we took a bite of Schezwan Corn Curd, a deep-fried delicacy tossed in sweet and spicy sauce. The selection of sushi is satisfactory too, and among the five varieties, we relished the Spinach Curls Maki with sweet soy sauce. The dehydrated spinach and vinegared rice rolled in seaweed should not be underestimated, as it is as tasteful as its non-vegetarian counterparts. There is bao as well on the menu, and the pillow - soft steamed buns with a flavourful mushroom filling are recommended.

We moved on to the dim sums and sampled the piping hot corn and cheese variant with chilli coriander sauce, which added a strong herby touch to the Cantonese delicacy. We also sampled the Exotic Cream Cheese dim sum and still can’t get over the heavenly Philadelphia cream cheese that filled our mouth when we popped the delicacy, served in the form of mini carrots.

From the desserts section, we relished the Thai Tender Coconut, a delicious coconut pudding, creamy with balanced sweetness, and served with ice- cream. Presented in a half-cut tender coconut shell, it score both on taste and presentation. To put a cherry ontop of it all, we ended our meal with warm Chocolate Cigar Rolls.

Meal for two: `800 +taxes.

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