World Streat Food
Ok ....So i receive a video on one of the messenger apps about a Japanese food festival - showing wonderful visuals of Japanese food.. tempting enough for the most ardent food haters to atleast consider going to the place once. For me especially having stayed in Tokyo for a good 6 months and having experimented with a lot of Japanese food, this was certainly a not to be missed event. So basically roped in the family and made plans to visit on a rainy Sunday afternoon. The video mentioned the place in Nariman point and the dates for the festival - but nothing much on the venue/hotel. So i assumed this was a festival with multiple stalls and you getting your food made fresh in front of your eyes.
The first thing we noticed on entering the place is that it was a regular restaurant called "World Streat Food" with regular menus. Imagine our surprise when there was barely any mention of the Japanese cuisine. The Japanese foods were sandwiched along with American, Mexican, Indian, Chinese and thai foods. On inquiring about the Japanese food festival, we were thankfully presented with a specially printed menu cards with Japanese food- of-course we felt a bit sheepish on discovering that the menu was made by selecting the Japanese items from the regular menu and collating them together. No additions, no promotional offers - rather it turned out to be a promotional gimmick which we fell for. We had driven from Thane and had no intention of going some place else so we ordered our food.
The Drinks :
We were given a choice of a regular beer and 3 craft brews from white owl brewery and the restaurant was kind enough to offer us tasters - about 30 ml shots - enough for you to get a sense of how the beer tastes. Each of the white owl beers had enough distinct tastes. The Ace was Apple Cider infused beer with light flavour and quite sharp sour apple notes. The Diablo was a heavier , darker and a typical "Stout" beer with a lot of body. However we chose the Spark - a Belgian wheat beer with a lovely light body and honey color. The beauty of this beer was that it had deep embedded notes of orange citrus in it. A bit muddy to the eyes, the beer nevertheless was quite satisfying to the palette - making it one of my current favorites.
The Food :
For the kids we ordered the Mac and Cheese with buffalo chicken. The dish hit the right notes with a nice creamy and cheesy flavor to the macaroni. The boneless buffalo chicken was well made - full of bold and regular flavor with just the right blend of crunchiness and tenderness. The rather largish dish was very much polished off by my kids - who are usually fairly light eaters.
For the adults it was all japanese food. I had a bowl of chicken Ramen. The dish was few notes too underwhelming to the palette. While Japanese food is known to be quite bland as compared to Indian tastes, it is not bereft of taste with heavy emphasis on sour and umami. To be fair the waiter warned that it might be too bland. However despite the expectation setting, it turned out to be a little more than a bowl of boiled water, noodles, veggies and chicken. Off all the dishes this was by far the least ranked in my opinion. The Yaki soba - or pan fried Soba noodles was quite good with a healthy mix of soba noodles, sprouts, veggies and chicken and rather tasty as well. The tempura were fairly bland until paired with the sweet spicy sauce and soya sauce. However the prawns and chicken were well cooked. This was not the tempura one is used to in Japan.... where the tempura leaves you with a sense of lightness and the emphasis is less on oil and more on the meat and batter. This was a little more towards the Indian bhajjiya side and that was a bit of a let down.
The Good :
The Improvements :
All in all it was a good experience. Would i visit again - definitely yes .. especially to sample the various cuisines on offer.
The first thing we noticed on entering the place is that it was a regular restaurant called "World Streat Food" with regular menus. Imagine our surprise when there was barely any mention of the Japanese cuisine. The Japanese foods were sandwiched along with American, Mexican, Indian, Chinese and thai foods. On inquiring about the Japanese food festival, we were thankfully presented with a specially printed menu cards with Japanese food- of-course we felt a bit sheepish on discovering that the menu was made by selecting the Japanese items from the regular menu and collating them together. No additions, no promotional offers - rather it turned out to be a promotional gimmick which we fell for. We had driven from Thane and had no intention of going some place else so we ordered our food.
The Drinks :
We were given a choice of a regular beer and 3 craft brews from white owl brewery and the restaurant was kind enough to offer us tasters - about 30 ml shots - enough for you to get a sense of how the beer tastes. Each of the white owl beers had enough distinct tastes. The Ace was Apple Cider infused beer with light flavour and quite sharp sour apple notes. The Diablo was a heavier , darker and a typical "Stout" beer with a lot of body. However we chose the Spark - a Belgian wheat beer with a lovely light body and honey color. The beauty of this beer was that it had deep embedded notes of orange citrus in it. A bit muddy to the eyes, the beer nevertheless was quite satisfying to the palette - making it one of my current favorites.
The Food :
For the kids we ordered the Mac and Cheese with buffalo chicken. The dish hit the right notes with a nice creamy and cheesy flavor to the macaroni. The boneless buffalo chicken was well made - full of bold and regular flavor with just the right blend of crunchiness and tenderness. The rather largish dish was very much polished off by my kids - who are usually fairly light eaters.
For the adults it was all japanese food. I had a bowl of chicken Ramen. The dish was few notes too underwhelming to the palette. While Japanese food is known to be quite bland as compared to Indian tastes, it is not bereft of taste with heavy emphasis on sour and umami. To be fair the waiter warned that it might be too bland. However despite the expectation setting, it turned out to be a little more than a bowl of boiled water, noodles, veggies and chicken. Off all the dishes this was by far the least ranked in my opinion. The Yaki soba - or pan fried Soba noodles was quite good with a healthy mix of soba noodles, sprouts, veggies and chicken and rather tasty as well. The tempura were fairly bland until paired with the sweet spicy sauce and soya sauce. However the prawns and chicken were well cooked. This was not the tempura one is used to in Japan.... where the tempura leaves you with a sense of lightness and the emphasis is less on oil and more on the meat and batter. This was a little more towards the Indian bhajjiya side and that was a bit of a let down.
The Good :
- Good beers - credit should be given to the management to have the foresight to keep craft beers . I think this will be a emerging trend soon.
- Good service :- Niether too slow, niether hurried. Good recommendations and tips. Liked the concept of giving tasters for beer atleast.
- Food - some of the food was outstanding. Mac and cheese with buffalo chicken was yummy, so was yaki Soba.
The Improvements :
- There was a fly buzzing around on the food all the time. While i will give the benefit of doubt due to monsoons, generally restaurants have upped the game in terms of hygiene and therefore this can be avoided.
- This being a Japanese food festival, it could have been better had they paired the local drinks - i.e. Japanese beers with the Japanese food. Also the menu could have done with a little more variety.
- The tempura was over priced - at 7-8 pieces of what was essentially deep fried chicken and prawns in a batter, one does tend to feel that he has not the best value for money - neither in terms of quality nor quantity.
All in all it was a good experience. Would i visit again - definitely yes .. especially to sample the various cuisines on offer.
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