o:h cha Review

Address: Unit 1, The New Mahalaxmi Silk Mills Premises, Mathurdas Mills Compound, Lower Parel, Mumbai

Telephone: 022 30151138

Cuisines: Thai

Overall Rating: 2.5/5

REVIEW:

I was pretty much aloof wrt Thai cuisine before visiting o:h cha and was really looking forward to it. We were a group of foodies who decided to meetup here. We made reservations via gourmetitup (now wowtables) for a 10-course set meal.

Reaching here was a tricky affair, situated in a small lane offside Senapati Bapat Marg. It is situated amongst quite a few famous restaurants and we had a tough time figuring where it was until we saw the little hoarding. Entering inside was a delight, the big cane baskets holding the lights caught our attention. The ambiance was beautiful, our table set, we were offered the gourmetitup menu for the 10 course meal.

We were all expecting a night full of feasting but sadly that wasn’t meant to be. The entire dinner affair was akin to a movie with an awesome trailer, which raises our expectations from the movie. However, after watching we realize that the best thing about the movie was its trailer! We almost had a similar experience.

We were served with our first meal of fried sweet and salty Crispy Wantons. They were served in jars. The sweet ones were way too sticky. The salty ones were pretty good. Overall a decent start for the night. We were looking forward for the upcoming meals.

The 2nd course was Shitake Mushroom Dumpling and Prawn Chive for vegetarians and non-vegetarians respectively. This was one of the high points of the dinner. Prawn Chive was basically steamed prawn dumpling along with garlic chive covered on the side and the bottom by a green translucent layer. The serving was ample and both the veg and the nonveg counterparts were delicious.

Moving forward, next was the turn of appetizers. Vegetarians had Fried Turnip Cakes and the non vegetarians had Kai Thwad Takrai. Kai Thwad Takrai was frid chicken served along with lemongrass and a variant of honey chilli sauce. The fried turnip cakes were awesome. Crispier on the outside and utterly soft on the inside. They were served with chilli garlic sauce. This was the climax of our entire experience and the upcoming courses just weren’t upto the mark.

Next was the turn of the soup. We ordered all variants of the soup offered in the menu. I tried the Tom Yum which is a spicy Thai soup. This was probably one of the worst soups ever. I did not have the heart to try the other variant hearing the experiences from my fellow mates.

Trying to quickly get over the poor soup, we ordered the next course of meals. Then was the time for spicy Glass Noodle Salad. This was certainly better than the soup. It had roasted peanuts which added a crunchy flavor to the salad. I’m personally not a great fan of salads (sigh!) so this course was mostly swept under the carpet for me.

The next in line was main course, rice and curry. I was served with Steamed Fish with Garlic Chilli Sauce, Jasmine Rice and Green Thai Curry. Fish was certainly soft but it was way too “lemony” to devour it entirely. The green curry and rice was decent. The portions were pretty huge, and I guess almost no one could finish up their share of rice/noodles.

Finally, it was time for the dessert. We were all hoping this will make up for the earlier average meal, but alas that wasn’t meant to happen. We ordered both of the options, Gooey Chocolate Cake and Tub Tim Krob – Water Chestnut dumpling in fresh coconut syrup. The cake was served cold (wait what?) and had a certain powdery taste to it which stopped us from taking any further bites (sigh!)

Disappointing albeit an unique experience. Might visit it again to give another chance and perhaps à la carte this time.

Final Verdict:

• Food: 2.5/5
• Service: 4/5
• Ambience: 4/5
• Value for Money: 2/5

Overall I would rate it 2.5/5.

Crossposted at eatreviewrepeat.wordpress.com