Lotus – The Park, Nungambakkam, Chennai

Birthdays are special, and when it is wifey’s, it is all the more special!  Decided to celebrate it a day in advance as it would be impossible to take time off on Monday, with kids’ exams in progress.  Cuisine preference was ‘pan-Asian’ or ‘Chinese’, so quickly explored some pan-Asian restaurants in Star hotels to see if they had some good offers on Swiggy Dineout.  Quite a few options were available – Pan Asian in ITC Grand Chola, China XO at The Leela Palace, Stix at Hyatt Regency, Lotus at The Park, Mr. Ong at Park Hyatt, Chap Chay at The Raintree, and a few more.  Been to Chap Chay and Mr. Ong, only Lotus at The Park had a 25% off on Swiggy Dineout.  Some small saving on the overall bill amount definitely helps in places like these.

I’ve been to The Leather Bar a few times, and perhaps once to Aqua.  Lotus was a first for me. The decor was sophisticated but calming, majorly Blue and Beige interiors, clearly setting the mood for luxury dining.  We couldn’t wait.  Menu was very elaborate, and we quickly glanced through and ordered.  The complimentary crisps that came disappeared in no time.

Chicken Malaysian Mee Laksa, one by two.  Very flavorsome, the rich creamy curry soup made with coconut milk, spices, and galangal. The noodles and chicken in the soup were very tasty, loved it.

Veg California Maki with avocado, baby corn and spicy aioli.  Very intricately made rolls, tasted awesome with the ginger shavings and wasabi-mixed Soya sauce.  Kids liked it so much that we repeated this one.

Fried Lotus stem with bell peppers and roasted chilli paste was wonderful, crispy and right balance of hot and sweet, very tasty!

Next to come was the beautiful Dimsums – Roasted Pepper Chicken and Chestnut.  When ordering dimsums in an a la carte restaurant, it is never enough! 🙂  Five cute dimsums with three different sauces disappeared sooner than we thought they would.

Meanwhile, we ordered three spirit-free beverages – Watermelon Breeze, Cane Mojito and Pina Colada.  All of them were nice, my favorite was Cane Mojito. 

Hakka Chilli Chicken sounded exciting, checked with them if they can replace the chili with Sichuan Chilli Pepper Corns so I could show wifey and kids the numbing taste it has, we did get it customized.  It was very tasty, but not enough to get that numbing taste.  That did not take away anything from the dish, one of the finest Chilli Chicken I have had in recent times. Brilliant! 

The repeated Veg California Maki came next!  Same routine, done and dusted! 🙂

After an elaborate round of starters, we decided to get to the main course now!

Grilled Chicken Gochujang Ramen was good, not my personal favorite though. Daughter loved it. It had Somyun noodles, pok choy, sprouts, spring onions, egg and Nori sheet.  The Chicken was fresh and that was a great plus for me unlike many places where that is a complaint. 

Nasi Goreng came with Indonesian Fried Rice topped with a runny fried egg, Chicken Satay, Prawn Crackers, and Peanut Sauce.  Looked like the fried rice had prawns stir fried into the rice, so didn’t eat.  Son loved it.  The Satay with peanut sauce was brilliant.

Indonesian noodle and Gyoza Bowl had noodles tossed in soto broth – coconut milk, crispy chilli, peanuts and crispy onions.  Fantastic, loved this one.  The gyoza was good, the veggies alongside tasted awesome too. When there is coconut milk, it can seldom go wrong! 🙂

Thai Green Curry with Chicken and a portion of Jasmine Rice; the best comforting food you can find in an Asian restaurant.  The flavors were spot on though It was slightly more runny than the ones I have had in other places.  Another thing I love was missing, the turkey berries! Always loved it in this gravy.  At the risk of sounding repetitive, I have to say, chicken was super fresh and loved the pieces in this gravy too.  The portion of Jasmine rice was generous, I loved this totally! 

What’s a meal without a dessert! 
We decided to order two desserts and share – Water Chestnut rubies in Pandan-flavored Coconut Milk & Black Sticky Rice with Lychee.  The former is a favorite for all of us, the thick coconut milk and the crunchy rubies were to die for!  Beautiful!   Black Sticky rice was a steaming hot dessert, loved it as much. Lychee didn’t help much, but we loved the rice anyways. 

Finally, a perfect end to the meal, a birthday cake cutting and wifey couldn’t be happier!  Loved it totally!  I had informed in advance that it was wifey’s birthday and they assured to make it special with a small cake, couldn’t be happier! A wonderful chocolate cake to end the meal! 

A fantastic lunch lunch overall, and if I have to be very picky, the portion sizes aren’t very generous, so you have to be prepared to order more if you are a good eater, and our main course was a bit delayed, but since we were chatting up in a good mood, didn’t mind it much.  There was a large group dining at the same time, looks like the kitchen was busy with their orders.  Service was courteous and Ms. Lydia was very polite during the entire time we were there.  Perhaps they were a bit understaffed, it was difficult to get their attention a few times.  The Chef came over to our table to check if we had a good experience, and we thanked him for the wonderful food! 

Overall, amazing food and a wonderful experience!  The total bill was 13.8K and we paid 10.2K after the 25% discount on Swiggy Dineout!  Certainly one of the places I would recommend and love to go back at the next opportunity!