Known for serving mouth-watering pan-Asian cuisine, Mamagoto in Nungambakkam is back with a new menu. However, this time around, they’re spreading nostalgia with the menu called Old School, inspired by Indo-Chinese dishes. With the likes of Mussoorie Mall Road Spring Rolls, Jeng’s Chicken, Chicken in Oyster Sauce and even the 1990 Buttery Black Pepper Sauce Tofu appearing on the extensive three-course menu, it is a complete feast, if you love Chinese food.
Excited to find some of the familiar dishes with a twist, we start with the classic Won Ton Clear Soup. The delicious, butterfly-shaped chicken wontons, dunked in a spicy broth, get us off to a great start on this ideal Chinese sojourn. The Bombay Club Toast has a unique take on the classic, toasted with sesame: it has a mix of prawns and vegetables with a refreshing crunch, making it quite a delight. If you’re not too keen on the sandwich, the Mussoorie Mall Road Spring Rolls are a good alternative, as the pan-fried rolls are a mix of fresh vegetables and chicken, giving it a crunchy taste with shredded chicken, which we enjoy as we wait for our next dish. Popularly called the Original Salt and Pepper Chicken, we are served the corn and tofu version, though it is also available with prawns. The fresh corn is accompanied with finely diced tofu, which is tossed with red bell peppers and spring onions, to make for a mildly spicy treat.
It is quite impossible to talk about Indo-Chinese food and not have Tangra-style food on the menu. Paying tribute to the Kolkata region, Mamagoto serves the Tangra Street Crispy Mushrooms. The mushrooms are fried crisply and tossed with a spicy chilli sauce, and garnished with spring onions and peanuts, giving it
a mildly nutty flavour. For the main course, they retain the favourite of Hong Kong Veggies — quite simply, tossed mushrooms stir-fried with oyster sauce, giving it a spicy and sour taste, which appeals to our palate immediately. We couldn’t help but end our meal with a classic Chicken American Chopsuey, served with generous amounts of chicken, and topped with fried noodles; the sauce-inspired dish makes us reminisce the good old cheap Indo-Chinese specials.
Meal for two is Rs 1,000 plus taxes.