JW Marriott in Aerocity, New Delhi, is hosting a ten day long Bangkok Street Food Festival bringing culinary delights from the streets of Bangkok to Delhi. This festival will be hosted in K3, their all day dining restaurant, both for lunch and dinner, from 28th April to 7th May 2016. This will be part of their regular buffet already showcasing Tuscan, Cantonese and North Indian cuisine as buffet choices along with a huge selection of desserts.
Chef Kung, their Thai guest chef, has been especially flown in for this festival from Courtyard by Marriott, Mumbai. She promises to give you a traditional, culinary treat as enjoyed by the local Thai people.
One thing I have always appreciated is that whenever a food festival is organized in J W Marriott, they try and give you a feel of the festival. There was a big cutout right at the entrance with the Chef’s picture announcing the festival and a whole separate counter for the Thai cuisine where the Chef (with her team) is dishing out her delicacies.
I started with the Krathang Thong – deep-fried crispy cup cakes filled with finely chopped vegetables and seafood. The stuffing was well seasoned with a sweet after taste.
Thord-Mum Pla – coin sized deep-fried fish cakes were nice and soft. The accompanying sweet, tangy and spicy freshly made sauces added all the possible ying and yang to them.
Tom-Yum Goong – a spicy prawn soup where you could get the fresh flavors of galangal, lemon grass and chili. When added in the right quantities, lemon grass sure can be refreshing as it was in this soup.
Som Tam – I just love raw papaya salad. This one was made with grated papaya, tomatoes, red eye chili and peanuts perfectly balancing the sweet, tangy and spicy elements.
Yam Thalay – the spicy mixed seafood salad with prawns, mint, fish, onion and tomato was both tangy and spicy adding heat to the otherwise bland seafood.
Pla Neung Manao –I would have preferred the steamed fish chili lemon to be served as fillets rather than serving the whole fish. Not only was the piece I got under cooked near the bone but also difficult to eat. A shame if you ask me because the tangy and spicy sauce was bang on.
Geang Kiee Wan Kai – chicken in green curry was well balanced with a thick green curry. The green curry was much less spicy though from what I have eaten on the streets of Bangkok. Also, the consistency of the gravy in Bangkok is very watery as compared to the thick gravies we are served in Thai cuisine in India.
Panang-Tow-Hoo – I had Tofu in red curry just because I wanted to taste the red curry. It was again well made with fried tofu pieces.
Thab Thim Grob – the water chestnut with coconut milk is one of my favorite desserts and what was served here was excellent ! The red, water chestnut pearls are cooked with tapioca and dipped in rose syrup to get its red color and then served in a sweet pool of coconut milk. I am embarrassed to mention how many glasses of this heavenly dessert I had.
The only dish I missed with all my heart was my favorite Pad Thai noodles. These are found in every nook and corner of Bangkok and tops any list of street foods from there. Wonder why they were not added in the menu.
This was an invited review and even though the waiters were very courteous, the cocktails were taking forever to come even after repeated reminders. I would also recommend one not to opt for cocktails as they were missing the main essence of balance – they were way too strong and even after diluting them with juice they couldn’t be fixed. Also, even though all of the food reviewers were seated right next to the Thai counter, the food service was slow.
RATINGS (OUT OF 5):
FOOD: 4.5 | AMBIENCE: 3.5 | SERVICE: 2. 5 | OVERALL: 3.5
LUNCH BUFFET (RS. 2200 ++) | DINNER BUFFET (RS. 2650 ++) | CREDIT CARD: YES | TIMINGS: 12.30 pm to 3pm (lunch), 7.30 pm to 11pm (dinner) |WHEEL CHAIR ACCESSIBLE: YES.
ADDRESS: JW Marriott Hotel, Asset Area 4 , Hospitality District, Delhi Aerocity, NewDelhi . 110037 | TELEPHONE : For Reservations +91 11 4521 2120
Disclaimer: This review was done on an invitation from the restaurant. Due judgment and care has been applied by the author to remain objective and unbiased in the review, but readers need to consider this review keeping this fact in mind.
