Pan-Asian restaurant 21 Fahrenheit serves Oriental fare at prices that don't justify the quality
Pan-Asian restaurant 21 Fahrenheit serves Oriental fare at prices that don't justify the quality
There are certain restaurants where you get the feeling that you are paying a lot more for the real estate and the paint on the walls than the food. Often, the price is willingly paid since effort has been taken to create a unique ambience and character, and sometimes along with great food it's a pleasure to dine in a great looking place as well.
But when you encounter a place like the Pan-Asian restaurant attached to ice bar 21 Fahrenheit, you feel confounded for it's not quite clear what exactly you are paying for. It's definitely not the decor: the interiors of the U-shaped wood panelled and floored restaurant with plate glass windows and a Teppanyaki table in one corner, are simple and unremarkable. It's not the competent but cold service for which you are paying a mandatory 10% service charge over the 12.5% VAT. It's certainly not the quality of food or the portion sizes, both of which are unsatisfactory.
Unlike most pan Asian restaurants that restrict themselves to east and South East Asian fare, especially from the popular oriental Thai, Chinese and Japanese cuisines, here, Indian is also thrown in for good measure.
The expansive menu is filled with a fairly well known and standard repertoire of choices, so the non-veg Dim Sum Sampler (Rs 325) and a Tamago (egg omelet) Sushi (Rs 375) seemed to be a good place to start. It was surprising to learn that the five Dim Sums contained chicken, prawn and crab since apart from one that tasted somewhat fishy, you really couldn't tell one from the other. The Sushi, also consisting of five pieces, isn't too bad for the price, though they make the cardinal mistake of serving the Wasabi inside the bowl of soy sauce.
The two are always served separately and left to the guest to decide in what proportion they would like to mix them.
The disappointment continued with the vegetarian Tom Yum (Rs 150) which, instead of being sour and spicy, was plain salty. It seemed to have been made from a readymade paste since the usual condiments like galangal, kaffir lime leaves or lemon grass were missing.
The big shocker was the main course, which despite the price, was meant for a single person only. No doubt, the Thai Chicken in Green Curry (Rs 350) presented in a soup plate with a voluminous brim but tiny bowl accompanied by complimentary sticky rice with lovely flavours of basil, and a bitter bite from the Thai pea brinjals, was excellent. And the Chuan Nan Shui Zhu (Rs 350); Sichuan chicken with bell peppers served with a complimentary portion of fried rice, was pleasantly sour and spicy. But the quantity and quality didn't justify the prices.
The best thing on the menu is the Traditional Paan Dessert (Rs 150), a large sweet paan cut diagonally and served with paan ice cream. A little inconvenient, but quite delicious.
At the end of the meal you are left feeling not just hungry but unhappy at having paid far too much for only a partly good meal.
At: 28, Meera Apartments, Oshiwara Link Road, Oshiwara, Andheri (W). Call: 26310021
21 Fahrenheit didn't know we were there. The Guide reviews anonymously and pays for meals.
