COOKING AND RECIPES: Food FOCUS

From ingredients to portion sizes and sauces, Tasty Tangles in Delhi is conscious of its international reputation. Even the crockery matches with the Noodle House chain of Dubai's Jumeirah group

DID someone say that there's a tightening of belts? Then why was The Pavilion at the ITC Maurya bustling like a railway station last week? And why was Pandara Market full on an unlikely day like Tuesday? There were queues of well-heeled (and proportioned) middle class Delhiwallas outside most of the Punjabi-style eateries and even the lone Chinese restaurant there, Ichiban, was full! In the past few days, visits to restaurants, have presented utterly contradictory pictures. Some were empty, others full, without any apparent logic. Coffeeshops in five star hotels were full, but other restaurants paradoxically sparse. The obvious conclusion is that rather than cutting back totally, people are becoming more judicious. For some it translates into The Oberoi's 360 degrees and for others it's Gulati's Veg at Pandara Market. Which is why I was puzzled about the lack of diners at Tasty Tangles in MGF Metropolitan Mall in Saket, even allowing that it was lunchtime on a weekday. If anything, the right hand column on the menusheet (yes, sheet — you tick of what you want and hand it to the server to cut out transmission losses!) should have have people thronging the neat, bench-seating eatery ever since it opened in February. The prices are truly in keeping with the times, even as the menu is brief yet varied. As the desi cousin of the Noodle House chain of Dubai's Jumeirah group (under its Taste Department), Tasty Tangles (owned here by Wadhawan Hospitality) is pretty conscious of its international reputation. As the manager told me, everything from the ingredients to portion sizes and even their sauces are as per the standards of their Dubai partner. Even the food comes in crockery that matches their international avatar! All too often, restaurants devote too much time to decor and too little to food, service and indeed, the kitchen. Not so Tasty Tangles, where the signature swinging front door (also there at its Bangalore outlet) and its state of the art kitchen are the only things that compete with the food for attention. No fancy lighting or furniture, no distracting fripperies; they could consider adding a potted palm or two around their glassed-in outer wall, though, to screen off the full view of the grim district courts complex across the road... The prices are definitely appetising: starters between Rs 119 and 179, soups from Rs 99-Rs 199 depending on portions and ingredients, main courses between Rs 239-Rs 399 with roast duck striking a lone high of Rs 549, noodle and rice offerings between Rs 99-Rs 289 and desserts between Rs 119-169. Interestingly, the portions of dim sum come in odd numbers (three or five) in keeping with Chinese norms! The dishes are mostly stir-fried, with the sauce gently clinging to the meats and veggies rather than smothering them curry-style, the rice is also properly sticky and in single-portion bowls. Among starters, popiah, the soft vegetable springroll and the laksa soup, were subtle and flavourful, but my favourite was the battered calamari with tom yam dipping sauce—light, yet crunchy. Moving on to the next course, lamb rendang is the closest any desi will get to a curry, and the chilli prawns are clearly fresh as they don't have that rubbery or pasty texture that I often taste in India. While their broccoli with veg oyster sauce is al dente in the new world cuisine style, the Indonesian bakmi goreng is excellent — thick rice noodles with chicken and shrimp. The roast duck, served with plum sauce and steamed pancakes, however, is the best valuefor-money deal in the whole city. The skin could be a little more crispy and the flesh more juicy, but overall it's a steal. No wonder it's the fastest selling item on the menu! If the heat makes you anorexic, start with one of their wide range of mocktails, feast on the roast duck, with an apres of their amazing mango pudding,which tastes much better than it looks. Because Tasty Tangles deserves a crowd.
reshmi .dasgupta @timesgroup .com