With the New Year right around the corner, Nasi and Mee, which specialises in Pan-Asian cuisine, has launched eight new dishes in celebration of the Lucky 8te Festival in the city. As soon as the invitation came through, we headed to the diner on OMR and found out that the new menu is not an ordinary one.
Before we began our tasting, chef Sadesh Babu, who briefed us about the menu, said he spent two months in Bengaluru under a Japanese chef to perfect the cooking techniques, as he intends to add the dishes launched for the festival to the diner's regular menu once the festival ends.
Taking in that information along with a Milo-based drink, we began tasting, and the first dish we tried was the Spicy Korean-style Chicken Ramen. The dish looked appetising, and as its name would suggest, it is purely for spice lovers. The chicken broth was rich and was infused with gochujang paste. The noodles, on the other hand, were done to perfection, and the other ingredients, such as the grilled chicken, bok choy, ramen egg, and nori sheet, blended well. In addition, the chilli oil added some smoky heat to the dish.
Next up was the N&M Shoyu Ramen with BBQ Chicken. It too had a rich chicken broth, but here soy sauce was used instead of the spicy paste. The other ingredients were the same as the ramen we tried before, barring one difference: it had grilled BBQ chicken, which made such a difference! Since being spicy was not at the core of the dish, the chicken stood out, and we simply wanted more of it.
However, Yaki Udon beat it hands down. The izakaya-style stir-fry udon noodles, which were tossed in yakitori sauce with mushrooms, Thai chilli, bok choy, garlic, and minced chicken, are a match made in heaven. Of course, one could also swap the chicken for mixed vegetables, but the dish was pure ace with the meat in it. Be it the glaze the oil brings out, the brown colour of the dish with some green ingredients popping out, or the taste, it was simply wonderful.
If we had to nitpick, we would say that the noodles were kind of smaller and unlike the traditional udon noodles. That is all one can find to complain about the dish, which was followed by a plate of Crispy N&M Tempura. Although there was the Jumbo Prawns option, we went for the mixed vegetable version and found them to be quite tasty, especially when eaten with the dips they are served with.
Nasi and Mee has also come up with some new cocktails like Li-Chi-Pu (with white rum, lychee, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, lemon juice, and sugar syrup) and Mule it! (Vodka, ginger, mint, lemon, palm jaggery, and ginger ale), among others that are refreshing as well.
INR 1,500 for two persons. Lunch and dinner. At Holiday Inn, OMR.