Mar 16th,2017
Go on a Ramen and Sushi trail with Shiro, one of my favorite places in Bangalore for Pan Asian food. Shiro means Castle and and true to its name, the ambience here is impressive and reminiscent of a large, stone walled one.
Knowing that that I have more than a soft corner for their food, I was invited to their ongoing Ramen and Sushi festival, where Chef Priyank has stayed with tradition while adding his own special touches alongside, to create a distinctive feel. Some of the innovations include, topping the Sweet potato tempura maki with sweet potato crisps and perching the prawn tempura atop the Rock shrimp tempura maki, instead of embedding it in the rice.
The choices were kept manageable by restricting the varieties to 5 of the Ramen, with flavors covering the major regions of the East and 5 of the sushi too.
It also helped in Maki’ng my job easier, since the Chef insisted that I try out everything on the menu 😀
Not that I needed cajoling of course but the Ramen portions are very generous and I could only sample a bit of each. It would make sense for larger groups to order different flavors and ‘divide and taste’.
The vegetarian Crispy sweet potato tempura maki and the Truffle flavored mushrooms and cream cheese maki were excellent and so were the non vegetarian Barbeque Scottish salmon sushi, the Seared tuna with Ponzu marinade and the all time favorite crispy Rock shrimp tempura.
The Ramens use only whole wheat noodles in the broth (a statement which sounds like I am describing the healthy food habits of my Tamilian neighbors 😀 )
The Spicy Shoyu mushroom ramen with its truffle flavored broth and button musrooms, Shitake, Shimeji and Enoki, imparted an Anokhi flavor indeed 😀
The Korean kimchi stung the tongue in the most delicious way with its spicy broth swimming with delectable slivers of pork belly.
The Malaysian region was covered by the Spicy chicken laksa ramen with tamarind and coconut broth and grilled chicken.
The tantalizing Miso tempura prawn with miso enhanced broth and a gigantic prawn tempura lying languorously across the bowl and also the Sriracha seafood samurai with prawns, fish balls and wakame (seaweed), were also my favorites and it made Mi’so misorable that I could not do justice to all of it, since I was so full.
Despite that, I was urged to have dessert and I chose the Chocolate Cherry Bomb, a little cocoa covered dome with sour cherries buried under a decadent chocolate mousse. The sweet mellowness of the chocolate, interspersed with the tartness of the fruit, was a quite a tease on the tongue.
The festival has been on from Feb 16th and will continue till mid April, both at lunch and dinner.
Prices per dish range from Rs 400 to Rs 600 and portions are more than satisfactory.
Mar 16th,2017
For more pictures see My Facebook – Shiro-Ramen and Sushi Trails
