gauravjain

Chinese has been King cuisine in this town ever since i can recall. Most meals when going out were a toss up either between Indian or Chinese. Once in a while you would sneak into New Yorkers but not that often.

China Garden was THE place to go for a bite. Everyone came by even the dreaded suburbanites. There were a couple of other places around like the old Chung-Fa at Breach Candy, Chinese Room at Kemp’s Corner, Lings Pavilion in Colaba, Chinese Palace at Tardeo, Oriental Blossom (a lot later) All Stir Fry, Five Spice and of course the once in a while treat at Golden Dragon. Everywhere you went Chinese ruled - always.

Initially European cuisine wasn’t the most popular for regulars or occasional meals out.It wasn’t even very well known in fact European usually meant pizza or pasta (that too at the Gujju-American version dished out at New Yorkers etc)

It was not until the advent of Indigo that the city really took to eating out in a restaurant which was not only NOT Indian or Chinese but would have actually fit very nicely in Manhattan. I remember an extravagant meal sometime in late 1999 on a break from college in NY. It cost three of us 1500 bucks (huge deal then) but the meal was great as was the ambiance. I thought it fit in perfectly with most of the places i had been visiting while living away.It was so completely different in every way from anything available to you that it just had to succeed.

Due to Indigo becoming such an haute location there was a distinct paradigm shift in the way the cuisine was perceived in the city.

Chinese was not abandoned but it took a distinct backseat and the change in direction was evident in the opening of numerous European - semi European themed restaurants around then. The very successful if very filmy Olive in Bandra, Belissima and Salt Water Grill both at Chowpatty, Monza at Phoenix, the very Mediterranean Cafe Basilico, Cellini at the Grand Hyatt, Vetro at the Oberoi and one of my favorites Moshe.

However it seems over the last year that the tide has turned again and it is now European that is in the backseat with Asia taking over. A lot of new Oriental restaurants opened doors China White nee Royal China, Vong Wong, China House, the new-old China Garden or CG83, China Gate, Flamboyante. In addition to this other Asian cuisines snuck into the door with Sala Thai, Tamnak Thai, Lemon Grass, the pan Asian East and of course Sushi became cool Tetsuma, Wasabi and the dreadful Japengo.

The restaurants have become classier, the cuisine more complex and experimental. The people who visit them have become braver in their choices (chalk it down to more travel and international experience). Overall the new innings of Chinese / Oriental restaurants seem to be a better experience then the older guard.

Where do we go from here? I dont know. I reckon a few more Pan Asian restaurants would not hurt us at all but it would be fantastic to see at least one proper Tex-mex joint in the near future.

Edit : All the crap in this article is purely opinion based on my experience. I am not spouting any polity or pretending to know whats going on, so don’t bite my head off.