Royal China India, situated at Turner Road in the Mumbai suburb of Bandra west has been acclaimed to be one of the better Chinese restaurants in the city, so I decided to finally patronize the place again due to a previous unpleasant experience. The restaurant itself is very tastefully done, formal dining place settings on the tables, wooden partitions that are aesthetically designed with oriental nuances, defused lighting and a gentle murmur of the dinner crowd. The restaurant was quite filled up yet we managed to get a table without a reservation which was a pleasant surprise, much to our delight.


 

The waiting staff was more than courteous and quickly ushered us to a choice of tables on the mezzanine near the bar. The restaurant has three levels, the main floor, the sub floor; ideal for larger groups and the mezzanine. The ambient temperature was perfect and there was a subtle yet appetizing aroma in the air, not overpowering but enticing; we were confident this was going to be a good dining experience. The four menu’s were placed in front of each of use; one for Dim sum's, another for the mains, the bar menu and an iPad?! So after a long gander, irony, at the large menu, we came to the realization there weren’t too many good vegetarian options for the two out of the three of us. Mind you at first glance there seemed to be a lot of choices which immediately turned to disappointment; let me explain why!

The appetizers had 8-10 choices of which most were deep fried. And the fish, meat and poultry options seemed rather tiresome with unnecessary large amounts of generic starters one would find in most restaurants. Conceptually they are combining traditional and contemporary elements of Cantonese cuisine; I beg to differ! On toast, burnt garlic, salt and pepper and lettuce wraps seemed to dominate the theme of the appetizers.

Anyway we decided to order the ‘Silken Tofu with burnt Garlic’ and as expected it was quite bland, mind you, I have lived in Singapore and unlike my previous self, I am not looking for everything with chilli, if I may say so myself; I do have a discerning pallet and appreciate subtle tastes as much as the large blend of spice typically used in our Indian cuisine, but the lack of seasoning is inexcusable. However the quality of Tofu was very good, so it made up for the lack of taste. So with out too much fuss we poured ourselves a glass of a beautiful medium bodied dry white wine; 2011 Viognier. It may not have been the best pairing with the food, nonetheless it was very tasty. 
 
  


We also ordered the ‘Vegetarian Dumpling’, the ‘Prawn Dumpling’ and much to my delight ‘Vegetarian Cheung Fun’. I can find no reason to critique these dishes as the chef has mastered the dumpling dough, the filling and the cook time. Its simply fantastic; this would hold a candle to any of the best restaurants in Asia, personally I would go back to this restaurant just for the dumplings, it may burn a hole in my pocket, costing in excess of Rs. 400 (including taxes) for three dumplings, this is not a cheap place. While we enjoyed the appetizers, wine and conversation, we graciously asked the waiter to leave us alone as we wanted to indulge in a long dinner experience, and they obliged, much to our delight! Because the last time we were here it seemed like an “Udipi” experience, where we we rushed, orders were served even before we finished our first course and the bill was presented to us without asking for it. But kudos to the management for keeping the waiting staff in check and improving our service experience.

This has to be one of the simplest pasta recipes, all you need is store bought ingredients out of a jar or a packet and voila dinner is ready in a jiffy. Kids love this too and you can encourage them to make it with you, just make sure they’re safe. You can substitute the chicken with shrimp, fish, lobster, calamari or mussels too and use any short pasta. I sincerely hope you try this at home, enjoy! Image courtesy Getty Image