Banh Mi and Wok

Well my friends may Ban’Me and Walk away from me in envy, for writing about

Banh Mi and Wok but I am super excited that Bangalore has yet another lovely

Pan Asian baby in its midst (and if you notice, my puns get super lame when

I get super excited 😛 )

BMW (hey that is a cool abbreviation) is the latest little one to take birth

in what is rapidly becoming Banh’galore, what with its multitude of Asian

eateries.

Of course no one is complaining, least of all me 😀 and especially since

this one is a breath of fresh air with its QSR (quick service restaurant)

format which brings to us the concept of Pan Asian fast food.

Banh Mi is a Vietnamese sandwich made by filling a French baguette with meat or

vegetables and Wok of course is a bowl shaped frying pan used in Asian cooking and the name of the place symbolizes a quick meal that is also filling.

Brilliant and colorful with its blues, yellows and greens, it also appeals

with its charming wooden benches, a large wood and ceiling frame from which

bright fascinating lamp shades are suspended. At the far end is a soothing

wall of green, bearing a vertical garden and the name of the place.

Barely a few days old, this brain child of Arup Kakati and his partner, is

already creating a buzz in the locality with its interesting fare and

reasonable pricing. Having soaked in the food and restaurant business for 18

years, Arup certainly knows his stuff and the passion for commitment and

desire to be true to what he serves, is what drives him to use only

authentic ingredients, thus giving us the real deal where flavors are

concerned.

I was happy to accept his invitation to his endearing little place, where we

got to taste a few of his signature items.

Good friend that he was (which means he knew about my prawn madness), he made sure that we began with the Tempura style prawns with chilli peppers and the Tempura fried prawn Bao with its batter fried prawns, pickled radish, toasted sesame and chilli honey. Well I was pretty much in prawn paradise and would have been content with just this.

But of course the Wok tossed crispy shredded cumin lamb had its own plans

and it landed at my table, giving me the come hither.

This was truly addictive and would be something that one would want to munch

on, on a rainy evening as an alternative to pakodas 😀

The sloppy Viet Banh Mi with lamb and red curry paste was also done well though the baguette was more Indian than French 😀

From the ‘stir fries and curries’ we had the Nasi Lemak, the coconut

flavored rice with crispy chicken wings and prawn crackers and we also

sampled from the Saigon, with the chicken stir fried with chilli bean

sauce and served with noodles.

Vietnamese Iced Coffee, Bubble Tea and Mango bubble smoothie kept the food

company, served in the cutest of bottles (that we stole of course but sssh

let no one know that).

Batter fried robusta banana with vanilla ice cream (reminiscent of the

Kerala Pazham pori made with the Kerala Nendra banana :-D) was one of the melt in the mouth desserts and the other was of course the ubiquitous yet deeply loved Tab Tim Krub, the water chestnut rubies in coconut milk, that I always make place for even if unable

to breathe !!! And when it is served in a cute little glass jar that you can slyly

slip into your bag, then there is even more reason to rejoice 😀