Shatranj Napoli, which used to appease the Italian food cravings of gourmets, has turned into a restaurant with a new name – 12 Union Park by Shatranj!
Not only its name but changes in décor and cuisine are also in order. The interiors are done up in muted shades with dim lighting and arches dotted the space. We visited the place on a Sunday and found it to be occupied mostly by young diners.
The new menu includes Asian and predominantly sushi, sashimi and dimsums. They serve some interesting soup selections like Kai Thong with glass noodles, Japanese miso shiru with silken tofu and wakame seaweed or the Burmese supeu served with fried garlic and lime. The visual treat of Som Tam salad presented a bowlful of peppers, raw papaya, mango and cherry tomato.
Sticking to traditional appetizers, our order of veg crystal dimsum made us happy with crunchy vegetable juliennes encased in a translucent wrap. We liked the way the Wild Potato dish was covered in a generous amount of chilli mustard sauce and found Salt & Pepper cottage cheese to be soft and zesty. Accompanying the starters was our drink Ginger Pineapple Fizz – a gingery sweet concoction melding with pineapple juice.
We settled for Hakka noodles and Fried Rice with side-dishes of sautéed Asian greens and Chilli Mustard cottage cheese. We loved the noodles for its fine and thin texture – it was not your usual thick strands of Hakka noodles. The side dishes went well with both noodles and rice. The affable and informative restaurant-in-charge Mekhail’s suggestions helped us choose the right dishes.
Dessert time is my favourite and I grabbed the colourful Tab Tim Grob which had Thai style water chestnut in flavours of strawberry and khus (hence the colours of pink and green) on a bed of crushed ice, with coconut cream being poured over it. Every bite was crunchy with the sweetness oozing out. Another divine dessert was Chocolatine with ice cream and salted caramel praline.
12 Union Park by Shatranj has rediscovered old dishes and, at the same time, kept pace with innovations in the non-vegetarian section. Check it out!
