Asean is on Castle Street. Its on the parallel road facing Olive Beach. Another landmark you could keep is the Show Off Boutique at the beginning of Castle street. Asean's claim to fame is its Thai, Malay and Indonesian cuisine. We decided to do a complete Thai meal on the day we visited the place with friends.
For the starters we went in for the Chicken Satay with peanut sauce, Chicken drumsticks with black bean sauce and vegetarian momos with red chilli sauce salad for our temporary vegetarian pal. We also wanted to indulge in some soup as well and so Chicken thick soup with noodles it was.
The Chicken Satay tasted great, but the peanut sauce was a disaster. It tasted like something that was picked right off an andhra leaf meal from a Nagarjuna. It was a total mismatch. The Chicken drumsticks were great and the black bean sauce was absolutely delicious. Just the right amount of salty-spiceness. It was good enough to ask for another bowl of it.
Am not one for vegetarian momos and maybe it is something to be relished by pure veggies since none of us thought much of it. The Chicken thick soup with noodles was just that... thick and full of noodles and chicken. Skip this soup if you are not that hungry.
For the main course the veggie friend opted for her favourite Thai red curry in veg and a steam rice. We went in for Thai roast garlic and basil noodles with chicken and Kara Kambing or Lamb Indonesian curry. The noodles were soft and moist with the garlic roasted to a crispy toast. The noodles can make for an meal by itself. The Kara Kambing was great, a coconut base with strips of boneless chicken. However, it was a wrong choice to go with the noodles and would have been better with the steam, which is eventually how we finished it.
It would have helped if the waiters around knew how to pair dishes or at least offered an opinion when customers seem to get it wrong. Finally for dessert we went in for the Rum and raisin mousse flan which was absolute heaven in our mouths. You could most definitely taste the rum and the mousse was a creamy delight. The flan was just the right toughness that allowed one to easily cut a slice without struggling too hard. These desserts are made by the owner's wife and son. However, we were among the last few to savour these delights. Management of the restaurant was changing at the time of this review (which has been some time now) and these desserts will no longer be available.
Service on the day we went, which was a Saturday was quite slow. However, when my husband had gone there earlier with colleagues, he assured me that they were in and out in under an hour. This entire meal cost us Rs 1100, which I thought was great. The portions are large, so take it easy when ordering.
For photos and a detailed review drop in at www.onruthprabhusplate.blogspot.com
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