A seafood fare that delights, only in bits

FOOD REVIEW

The ‘mission impossible’ this time  was  in discovering good seafood in a City that is notorious for water scarcity.

Having been pestered long by thoughts of juicy prawns, crunchy crab and tender fish in the company of equally delicious vegetarian dishes, Metrolife headed for Blue Water Grille in Rajouri Garden’s BK Dutt Market.

The owners boast of supplying seafood to a lot of restaurants in the City but mind you, Metrolife would judge it only on the basis of how well they cook and present the fare!
The overused menu hints at two things – either the restaurant is quite popular or not much thought or effort has gone into detailing. Nevertheless, Singapore Chilli Crab becomes our first choice along with Spicy Orange Fish. Though both are water creatures, they taste glaringly different post-preparation. The fresh pink crab is capable of stealing a gourmand’s heart with its simple preparation in chilli sauce after a quick saute with pepper and onion. Cooked to perfection, the tender crabmeat was easily accessible since its outer layer could be effortlessly removed allowing the foodie to savour its succulent goodness.

Ironically, the Spicy Orange Fish marinated in orange and lemon juice is too sweet to be called ‘spicy’. The pan-fried bassa fish is a big disappointment and prompting on to indulge in one-too-many draughts of Russian Surprise - a mocktail prepared by adding salt to guava juice.

Done with the fish, it is time for prawns - a chilli garlic sauce preparation in the Japanese tepanyaki cooking style. Tasting like regular fried prawns, the dish Prawn with Chilli Garlic Sauce has a similar preparation for vegetarians called Schezwan Paneer.

Appearance-wise, it is the Grilled Shawarma Platter that is capable of making mouth water. A bite of the tender chicken pieces and you would not waste time in stuffing it in the pita bread and polis it off immediately. All three flavours – mint, spicy red and hung curd, of the chicken are good but mint tops the list in this poultry dish. In the vegetarian segment, the Cheese Steak are a let down because they drip in oil and are over-grilled texture lending it a burnt taste.

A similar observation (oodles of oil) is noticeable in the pasta Fussili Alio Olio Peppronchini enough to stop one from ordering anymore Italian dishes. The Indian cuisine delights with the Vegetarian Platter making for a vibrant sight. Comprising dry potato halves, seekh kebab, stuffed gooey mushrooms and soft paneer tikka, the platter is worth a try.

A few more dishes in the oriental section such as Hunan Chilly Chicken make one realise that though most non-vegetarian dishes taste good, they end up  being categorised as ‘North Indian’ even though they are listed as Oriental, Poultry, Tepanyaki, etc.

We end the meal with some dry steamed rice and a galangal-rich Thai Vegetable Curry (Green) since the arrival of the dessert Date Pancake with
Ice Cream was too much to wait for!