Basically this post covers two visits that I had to the restaurant at Hotel Ginger, one of which happened about 2 weeks ago and the other happened last week… This place is the one I visit quite often compared to other places… I go there at-least once a week or two… The reason simply is that just like I mentioned in my previous posts regarding the place, this place serves what I observe to be the healthiest food among all the restaurants in Trivandrum, so much so that it feels and tastes practically home-cooked, even though it clearly is not… Also, the spice levels are at the optimum level for me and there is absolutely zero grease content in the food… This is the place that perfectly passes my sticky fingers test for fat content and I am yet to find somebody else who passes the same with a similar level of perfection at its budget level… Also, everything is cooked fresh, which adds to the value… Hence, altogether this is currently my goto place whenever I feel like eating out or we need to get food for home… The place is less that 2km away from my home as well 🙂
So, altogether across the two visits I had two kinds of soups, a fried rice and two indo-chinese seafood dishes about which is given below:
Recently they had a change in kitchen staff including the chef and so, many of the food is different from what used to be previously in the place… However, the taste is a lot better while maintaining the healthiness of it all… I personally am really hoping that this chef never leaves the place 🙂
So, the two soups shown above are – Chicken Clear Soup and Cream of Chicken Soup… The chicken clear soup made by the new chef doesn’t quite look as clear as the one that used to be previously, but tastes better than previous one with a more flavourful chicken broth and more chicken and vegetable content which adds on to the taste… There is an amazing aroma of celery thats irresistible 🙂
The Cream of Chicken Soup on the other hand is a new addition to the menu as earlier, even the option never existed.. Its basically shredded chicken cooked in a creamy broth and served, which is awesome to have as you get a bit of sweetness thanks to the cream content… However, unlike the clear soup, as can be seen, there aren’t any vegetables in the cream soup… It only has chopped green onions whose flavour can be detected in the soup… Both soups were having chicken shreds that were perfectly cooked and they were seasoned adequately with salt and pepper…
During both visits, I had their Chicken Fried Rice… Unlike their soups, the fried is exactly the same as was before… This is the quintessential plain fried rice with shredded chicken in it and vegetables as can be seen in the pic above… The rice is lowly spiced with a very slight component each of pepper, ginger and garlic along with may be a few drops of soy sauce… Everything about this hakka fried rice is perfect ie, from th perfectly cooked chicken shreds to perfectly cooked rice and crispy vegetables in it… The taste is such that it can be a perfect accompaniment to different kinds of side dishes, that are not only Chinese but is perfectly compatible with Indian dishes as well…
Finally, about the seafood side-dishes that I had with the fried rice in the two visits… The first one with raw bell peppers around it is their Chilly Fish… I ordered the dry version and thats how it got served… It consists of cubes of the Indian Cobia fish that are coated in corn flous and fried and then cooked with an incredibly flavourful green chilly sauce along with onions, spring onions, bell pepper with a lot of garlic and some ginger as well.. The fish was cooked perfectly with a crispy outer layer along with vegetables staying crispy and the whole dish is garnished by topping it with some freshly sliced spring onions and the sliced green bell peppers as shown in the pic.. The chilly sauce didn’t pack any heat, but gave a strong flavour of green chillies without the heat, which to me was a pleasant experience to have that…
The second one is from my last visit to the place… As I set to order my usual stuff, the waiter informed me that they have prawns on that day and he told me a list of a few dishes made from sea foods… So, tried their Dragon Prawns, which is what is shown in the 3rd pic above… As can be guessed from the name, this one is a little bit on the spicy side because of the Szechwan style by which this dish was made… Its a spicy and sweet dish consisting of prawns cooked in soy, hot garlic and szechwan sauce with along with some onions, green chillies, ginger, a lot of garlic, bell peppers and some szechwan chillies, topped with some cashew nuts as can be seen from the pic…
Both the side-dishes worked incredibly well with the fried rice and is must try… Personally I still don’t know why the place is not packed with customers even during peak hours… I mean surely this a place for the health conscious techies to hangout and have a decent meal… Check it out if you haven’t so already… 🙂
