A full circle

It’s funny how the weather plays on your palate. There’s an urge to dig into spicy fare and taking cue China Circle,the Chinese one-stop restaurant in Sector 26 has dished out a festival that brings in fire and the dragon! “In Chinese,the dragon signifies really spicy fare while the fire bit is actually rather mellow,” mentions owner Monica Gupta as she passes the festival menu. With Chef Madan being brought in from Mumbai,the festival offers best-sellers as well as new introductions. “Diners in Chandigarh are very open to new tastes provided they are authentic. Keeping that in mind the menu makes for both new dishes as well as popular ones,” pitches in Gupta. Leading the way are soups like ‘Eight Treasure’,a semi-thick soup with abundance of greens; ‘Pok Ho Choy Ching Thong’,a mint and ginger clear soup; ‘Kaai Yung Thong’,a lemon flavoured chicken and coriander soup to ‘Yong Yeuk Mien Thong’,a noodle soup with five spiced double cooked lamb and vegetables. “To add variety the Chef has included a Pan Asian menu,so you’ll find Thai fare as well,” Monica added. The starters are equally well divided with the likes of ‘Chaap Choy’ (stir fried exotic vegetables in malaka sauce and garlic),‘Chilled Tofu’ (chilled tofu served with pickled ginger and shitake sauce). In the non-vegetarian starters lineup,‘Kong Yee’,a wok-grilled pomfret with Chinese herbs with a sprinkling of crackling spinach comes highly recommended. The main course offers hand-picked dishes that bring in stir-fried veggies,lobster meat,prawns even quail put together in authentic concoctions. “We have also attempted to offer a range of noodles that isn’t always the case,” pointed out Gupta as we noticed Scallion and Mushroom noodles,‘Mongolian Mien’,‘Thee Pan Mein’ to list a few. Even the humble rice finds innovative versions on the ‘Fire Dragon’ menu. The Oriental odyssey continues with the desserts. Choose from ‘Tub Tim Grob’,water chesnut in chilled coconut milk topped with crushed ice,‘Sankaya’,custard made eggs,sugar and coconut to ‘Ice Kachang’,a Malaysian street style dessert made with a combination of fresh fruit,coconut milk,lychee pulp and shaven ice!