I haven't been to THE PARK, in ages. To Lotus Thai, well, at least not in the last 3-4 years. Lotus Thai was the go-to place for premium Thai, but once they shut for about 10 months before relaunching last year, it has skipped my radar. Until tonight when the seafood festival really caught our attention. My cousin, a theeni pandaram from birth (read, well meaning version of foodie in Tamil) wanted to see (or taste) an entire menu of seafood in Thai cuisine. While that is not uncommon, it is uncommon in Chennai. So, off we went.
Started off with some nice crackers (basically appalams), but non veg ones. The prawn crackers were cracking! The garlic crackers were cracking too. We regretted filling our tummies as there were lots to try. Three stunning dishes stood out! Like really shining. While waiting for them, we did gulp down some drinks. A green tea mojito was fabulous, with just a hint of aftertaste of green tea and the Rose Lemonade was a nice and refreshing.
I'm not even going to attempt to name the dishes in German (or Thai or Chinese). The super jumbo prawns. I've shot from two angles, but both don't tell you how big these were. Steamed to perfection with just the hint of Asian flavours. One each and we were revelling. Next came the awesome soft shell crabs. With Malabar peppercorns used for Thai flavours, these crabs were fried to perfection. And then the lobster!!! Priced at a measly Rs. 1650 for a 900g lobster for the festival (normally these would cost you about Rs. 3k), and marinated with garlic and green peppercorns, the lobster was yummy. I wasn't a big fan of the thai green curry (wasn't very green) with the jasmine rice.
We had a small dessert platter with the usual water chestnut with coconut milk and a beautiful black sesame ice cream which helped wash down the Arabian ocean we had just swallowed!
Beyond the Seafood festival, I'm thinking why and how I missed Lotus Thai for so long. The restaurant has been renovated last year and it has moved away from the gold and orange shades to a beautiful and elegant blue gold theme and looks a lot more modern now. Menu has changed and I'm looking forward to going back and trying more stuff from there!
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