When city-based food enthusiasts D Velmurugan and Sreshan S Nair along with two other friends, decided to step into the food business, they were only confused about one thing — Chinese or Malabari? Clearly, we know which direction they went. But upon taking a space at OMR Food Street in Ambattur to open the Return of the Dragon, little did they know that the 15-seater would draw customers from as far as Nungambakkam and Alwarpet, who drive down just to eat out here.
“Five-star quality food at a two-star price — that was our sole motto when we opened the restaurant. We don’t want to offer our customers what everyone else serves. We want our food to stand out and for that, we get our vegetables and meat as fresh as possible, import ingredients from China and use noodles made in-house,” Sreshan tells me, as I marvel the 3D painting of Bruce Lee on the wall of the four-month-old restaurant.
While the menu consists predominantly of Chinese, it does offer Thai curries as well as Vietnamese rice. “We believe we can serve the best quality Chinese and still offer it for a reasonable price,” shares Sreshan. For starters, we are served a clear Oriental Soup. With soaked shitake mushrooms, baby corn and bits of chicken in it, the thin soup’s sesame and coriander flavoured broth can light up your mood. A bamboo steamer with hot Chicken momos arrives next. With hints of sesame and fish oil, the dumplings are soft and flavoursome. We are then served the Luvlee Chicken, an in-house specialty— fried pieces of chicken with a (secret) marinade that ’s mildly spiced and tangy.
Moving on to the mains, we are served the Chilli Garlic Noodles. The noodles are rather spicy with fried garlic dotted with cut green chilli, this one is not for the sensitive palate. We also try the Vietnamese Vegetable Fried Rice, a generous portion of star anise-flavoured rice with Kung Pao Chicken. The succulent pieces of chicken in a rich and spicy gravy — make for an appealing combination. The desserts on offer are predictable oriental signatures — the fried ice cream and the Daarsan. The latter hits the spot with crunchy, caramelised fried noodles served with ice cream and topped with honey.
Average price for two: `350.
fathima@newindianexpress.com| @fathiimaashraf