Fine diner Pan Asian at ITC Sonar is all set to treat the gourmands of Kolkata with a scrumptious Chef's special sit-down dinner menu to celebrate Songkran, a festival from Thailand.
An important event on the Buddhist calendar, Songkran, a water festival, marks the beginning of the traditional Thai New Year. The name Songkran comes from a Sanskrit word meaning 'passing' or 'approaching', something similar to Indian Sankranti.
Starting off with a glass of refreshing litchi-gondhoraj mocktail and amuse bouche, the courteous staff made sure that our tummies are set for flavourful journey.
We had a delicious start to our meal with two salads- a super refreshing Som Tam Gai, a spicy and juicy raw papaya salad with crushed peanuts and grilled chicken and a grilled pork salad with onions, chillis and topped with crushed toasted rice. The blend of the flavourful grilled pork slices with the crunch from the rice topping had our hearts from the very first bite.
We next tasted a bowl of a classic Tom Yum Gai (a tangy, salty, and spicy Thai chicken soup), and paired with with Fish takrai, which is a crispy fried fish with Thai chilli paste and basil, and Thai fish cakes, served with a sweet chilli and lemon dip. While the Fish takrai was flavourful, the fish cakes had an interesting spongy texture and tasted fantastic when paired with the dip. We also took bites from the crispy and piping hot Prawn spring rolls dipped in a sweet chilli sauce.
For the mains, there were quite a few options to have with your Jasmine rice and Phad Kee Mao or Thai drunken noodles. We loved the crunch of Phad Phak Ruam Mitre (Stir fried vegetable in Thai Sauce), the flavours of Chicken Kra prow (Stir fried chicken with hot basil, chilli and garlic), and the timeless Kaeng Phet Gai (Homemade red Thai curry with kaffir lime leaves) that felt like a comforting, warm hug.
For us, the star of the show would be the Pla neung manao, a whole steamed beckti, very lightly flavoured with garlic, chilli, lemon and coriander. The fish was flaky and is a perfect choice for all those too who are aversive towards fish items.
We rounded off our meal with Ice cream kati sod, a homemade young coconut ice cream, served with coconut jelly, and it goes without saying that we wiped it off clean!
Where: Pan Asian, ITC Sonar
When: Till April 15, 7-11.45 onwards
Price for 1: Rs 2500+