Spice-craving taste buds will sing and dance at The Orient, a new Thai eatery in Koramangala
Spice-craving taste buds will sing and dance at The Orient, a new Thai eatery in Koramangalau00a0
Driving past the bustling 80 feet main road in Koramangala, you might just skip this new restaurant that reads The Orient, Chinese and Thai Cuisine. But if you have an inkling for anything Singaporean or Thai, then you might like to pay a visit.
The OrientFood: goodService: ho-humAmbience: averageThe restaurant might seem extremely quiet, (probably because it's just opened), in fact so much so that it might drive you to the point of insanity, considering the amount of cacophony we're so used to in our cosmopolitan lifestyles. So you either take in your group of restless friends and bring in your own party or get into one of those meditative moods and take in the bona fide red lanterns, customary Chinese dragons and other such oriental trappings that have been done to death in hordes of such eateries.
The menu is quite exhaustive and has a good selection of Chinese and Thai dishes, though most of the tongue ticklers will involve a lot of tongue work, so we recommend you skip their Thai names, not fretting over renewing your previous Thai dining memories and stick to their English translations. Your tongue might need some legwork, tasting them anyway. But the price point is the high point we discovered, as soon as we had a look at their menu. Thai food at an average price of Rs 150 for most of the dishes in today's times is definitely something that might drive many to keep visiting.
We began our meal with the Khao Pod Tod Prik Pon (Rs 108), which was a very basic dish of baby corn tossed with crushed dry red chilly and freshly ground peppercorns. The baby corn was a tad too dry and the chillies a bit overpowering, but the dish did tickle our taste buds well enough, that they were already burning for more.
The Kaeng Ped Gai (Rs 93), a Thai red curry with chicken and bamboo shoots had a strong lemon grass flavour and teamed well when forked with some steamed rice called Khao Suay (Rs 69). We also tried the Kaeng Ped Doklampri (Rs 127), the vegetarian version of the Thai red curry, which had an overdose of cauliflowers, but the taste remained piquant. The Kaeng Keow Wahn Hed (Rs 138), a Thai green curry with mushrooms and pea aubergines was what won us over.
You can also try the Khao Pahd Bai Grapou Je (Rs 93), which is nothing but fried rice with veggies, freckled with chilly and hot basil leaves with the Buddha's Delight (Rs 104), which was just that, a delight with a good helping of wholsesome veggies, tofu and cashewnuts. Most of the Thai dishes are cooked the authentic way swaddled in coconut milk, lemon grass and bamboo shoots, but the most overpowering one you just cannot miss is the red chilly which can add spark to your dinner date. To mellow down your taste buds, do end your meal on a sweet note with the Tub Tim Grob (Rs 77), a dessert made of water chestnut rubies in chilled coconut milk.
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At: The Orient, 107/2, 80 Feet Road, 4th Block KoramangalaCall: 9531 61747, 88803 82426, 98450 34857Meal for two: Rs 500
