Sunday afternoon on June 1^st turned out to be a blast. The only way to sum it up is ‘a good time was had by all’! I was invited to a food tasting at the newly opened Asian Express in Mariplex Mall, Kalyani Nagar. I have always personally referred to this building as ‘Gold Adlabs’. I have reviewed many restaurants on this blog but they were always based on personal visits. This is the first time I had the honor of being invited by the owners, and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience.

Vijay Kamath has been in the food business for a long time. He operates The Bowl House chain of restaurants in Mumbai. The Asian Express is a spin off for the QSR or ‘quick service’ segment and offers a Pan Asian menu.

When it comes to food, Puneites have been spoiled for choice since the opening of malls like InOrbit, Phoenix, Amanora etc. I suppose Asian Express is similar to Crazy Noodles in the Amanora mall, except it has a larger menu with a lot more variety.

Asian Express appears light and airy, and is roomy for a small space. One of the pluses in my book is that it was well lit and had functioning air conditioning, a big relief! (Yes, almost every place in Pune is supposed to be AC, but most times you have to ask for it to be turned on.)

The glass windows afforded a view of the street outside and opened up the space, making it seem larger than it is. Overall, it is a pleasant place to hang out with friends or kill time before your movie starts.

The Menu at Asian Express

The menu is Pan Asian, meaning it has selected dishes from different countries in South Asia. So you will find Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Indonesian, Burmese, Mongolian etc. dishes on the menu, although it does seem to be heavy on Thai dishes.

The soup menu offers Manchow and Sweet Corn soup and also the Thai Tom Yum and Tom Kha. Raw papaya salad is a popular tangy Thai salad with a spicy kick, and so is the Indonesian Gado Gado. Appetizers fall into the deep fried and grilled categories, and there is something for everyone here, with chili fries, spring rolls, satays, momos and dumplings. In the entrée section, they have rice and noodle bowls, a great one dish meal when you are in a hurry. Thai red curry and Thai green curry feature along with the Malaysian Penang curry, Kimchi fried rice, Dan Dan noodles, Japanese Udon Noodles and also Hakka noodles.

Burmese Khao Suey is one of their popular dishes, along with a Burmese Biryani that does not come in a veggie version.

The dessert menu offers chocolate spring rolls and Thai coconut patties, and the drinks menu offers a house lemonade along with canned soda.

What about us vegetarians?? I think the menu does have a variety of vegetarian items, although I would love to see more! There is no Tofu on the menu which is an aberration for any Asian restaurant. This means that none of the vegetarian dishes have a protein component, and the veggie servings aren’t large enough to get you protein.

I find it funny (not!) that the whole town is flooded with MAYO, even on vegetarian dishes, but no one seems to use Tofu which is a healthy soya product high in protein, and bland enough to be a perfect sponge for any sauces or flavors you throw at it.

 

Tasting Food at Asian Express

As it turned out, I was the only vegetarian at the tasting, and this must have caused a scramble in the kitchen to produce something especially for me.

I was glad to know that they do not use fish sauce, shrimp powder or shrimp paste in their vegetarian curries. I was assured of this by the owners who got what I was talking about. Generally, the wait staff or any staff has no idea what this means.

The first dish I was presented with was Paneer Satay – not a great beginning. As you can see from the picture, this looks quite like a Paneer Tikka. The taste and presentation were nothing like a satay, and the peanut sauce provided was not like your typical satay sauce. But I will say it was much better than the one I had at Malaka Spice once. In my experience, a satay sauce should be thick, creamy, sweet with a slight kick of chili, slightly salty and should coat the spoon.

The Japanese Potato Cakes had a crisp breading of Panko breadcrumbs, but were served squirted with mayo on top. They brought out a fresh batch minus mayo, but the wasabi was missing making this just a regular potato croquette.

Veg Spring Rolls were probably my favorite appetizer, crispy and crunchy and filled with veggies. The Spring Roll is a recipe that has degraded over the last decade. A spring roll or egg roll filling is generally simply seasoned with salt and pepper, and the veggies are the star. At least that’s how even Indo Chinese spring rolls used to be when I was younger. The spring roll at Asian Express took me back and it hit the spot. Wasn’t too taken with the dipping sauce though! A sweet chili sauce would’ve been much better with this one.

The Burmese Khao Suey came already assembled, topped with crunchy fried garlic and onion. It was heavy on the noodles and low on veggies and broth. If I had to make it, I would use loads of vegetables, lots of broth and maybe less noodles. It is after all a noodle bowl and hence supposed to be slurpy. The dish was quite spicy and had a distinct coconut milk base, with strong lemongrass and garlic flavors. Crushed peanuts provided a nice crunch.

The Indonesian Gado Gado Salad with its peanut dressing was sweet at first bite but very hot at the second and third. The vegetables were colorless and indistinguishable. I think this salad has a lot of potential, and I would love to see this served on a bed of lettuce with vegetables retaining their vibrant color.

Malaysian Penang Curry was not what I expected, but it tasted good. The Penang Curry is very similar to the Thai Red Curry, but what sets it apart are peanuts and kaffir lime leaves. It can be as spicy as you make it, but the lime leaves really add the punch, in my opinion.

 

Dessert arrived in the form of mango spring rolls. These were tiny cigar shaped rolls with a mango and white chocolate filling and a creamy mango sauce for dipping. Considering all the spices I had consumed, this was a perfect sweet finish.

Things I would like to try are the stir frys with different sauce choices and the Yakitori and Kung Pao.

 

Summing Up

 

Asian Express might disappoint a discerning customer with high expectations but it is sure to be a hit with anyone who loves hot and spicy food and wants to experience new flavors. Fans of coconut milk based sauces will not be disappointed. It is still quite early in the game and the management has a can-do attitude which is very promising.

Be sure to check out Asian Express and embark on a culinary Asian adventure the next time you are in KP or Kalyani Nagar.

And Drumroll Please…

 

I enjoyed the whole afternoon at Asian Express and got to chat with so many like minded foodies. Thanks to Chandni Tolani of Boomerang Media for setting this up. I met Rupika who writes the DNA-Food column and also blogs at knowsgoodfood.tumblr.com (check it out to see what’s hot on the food scene in Pune). It was also great meeting Natasha and her husband; Natasha regularly reviews restaurants on Zomato, and with a background in food technology, she knows what she’s talking about.

A passion for good food united the group at our table and fueled the lively conversation. The friendly Amrapali and her staff kept our drinks replenished and plates full, and I walked out in the bright sunlight with a stuffed belly and a heavy heart.