No fusion, no drama, and no 100th take on Pad Thai. It’s the bright and balanced flavours, fresh ingredients, and authentic dishes that do the talking and leave you speechless at 'Erawaan', the Thai cuisine restaurant at The Claridges New Delhi, which has launched a special menu available till March 14.
“While our regular menu has several dishes that are already popular such as Tom Yum, Tom Kha, red curry, and Pad Thai, we have gone beyond these with our special menu,” says chef Tarathip Nooriengsai, the master chef at Erawaan. “We have Ua Plaa in which fish is marinated with a herb, which is then wrapped in a banana leaf and baked. It’s not very well known, and I would say it is a hyperlocal dish. Then we have the Hung Lay curry, which you find at the border with Myanmar. While people know about Khao Suey, not many know about Hung Lay,” the chef adds.
Nooriengsai talks frugally, “I’m not good with English, you see,” she says with a bright smile, but the dishes whipped up by her hit you with a bang, so on-point that you would want to shut up, sit back and enjoy.
I start with a simple soup – the Street Style Mixed Noodle Soup Bowl – which is herbaceous, and comforting. I follow it with a nice spread of Khao Niew Ping – a spicy raw papaya salad served with chicken and sticky rice. Interesting, balanced, and impactful.
The special menu is complemented well by the selection of Thai-inspired cocktails. While there are interesting combinations to select from – the Thai Galangal Mule, which is vodka, galangal, honey, and mint, topped with ginger beer; the bold Raw Mango Picante consisting of raw mango-infused tequila and jalapeno; and Lyco Highball, a concoction of lychee juice, coconut water, and white rum – I went for the simple Thai Fashioned, which is spirit forward and herbaceous.
The chef then recommends Pad See Eww -- wide flat rice noodles stir-fried with dark soy and garlic, while she also serves Mee Grob, which has vermicelli, crisped and flavoured with tamarind, bean sprouts, and brown onion. These were perfectly topped off by a bowl of simple red curry and sticky rice. And the cheesecake Bai Toey strawberry basil sorbet makes for the perfect end to the meal.
While every dish stands out, it’s the perfect balance of the five tastes -- sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and spicy, which Thai cuisine is known for – that enhances the experience. Nothing tastes heavy on the palette or the stomach, and while a food coma is assured if you too go for the spread I went for, Erawaan’s special menu offers a dining experience that is hard to miss.
