Kylin Experience at Holiday Inn Mayur Vihar is holding a Thai Street Food Festival only during dinner hours that’s on till the 6th of this month, called Thai Khun. Kylin is well known for its Oriental fare across all its outlets in Delhi, but I never knew they had an outlet at Holiday Inn too, until I went for this festival.
The concept of this festival a Holiday Inn is recreating a Thai street food market, with hawkers and shops selling Thai dishes, where everything is prepared in front of you and the stalls lit up with different lights, the ambience that of a typical street in Thailand celebrating food. The promotion is an experiential meal for the guests. To make the experience even more real for you, the restaurant gives you fake Baht currency in exchange for money, and you go to these stalls yourself, see the price of different dishes, and buy what you want with that fake currency. The most interesting and unique part about the promotion- instantly takes the creativity to a whole new level. To give you a feel of actually eating at a street food shop, the food is served in disposable cutlery that has a wooden look to it.
The menu covers a plethora of dishes, all of which are made at these stalls. Momos, chargrilled dishes, a Teppanyaki counter, salads, soups, fresh cut fruits, meal in a bowls, main dishes, and so on.
Went to the Salad counter first that was doing 4 kinds of salads. Tried the Pomelo Salad and Raw Papaya Salad, both priced at 100 and 50 Baht each. Small portions that gear you up for the meal ahead, very good balance of flavours in both but my pick was the raw Papaya. Spicy and delicious! The same counter also does a Thai paan which is a burst of chilli and spices. Only the brave heart are advised to go for this one. Damn spicy!
You must must try the Tom Kha Soup! Only for 150 Baht for the chicken version and 100 for veg. A beautiful soup with a striking yummy flavor of coconut- comfort filled in a bowl.
The dimsums are of course something people wouldn’t want to miss out on. Surpisingly, I preferred the veg ones to the chicken ones. The dimsums have a very thin coating on them, and are chargrilled on the coal then. Have an excellent charred flavor and an equally good margination on them. The veg dimsums have a mix of vegetables, but what makes it even better is the addition of water chestnut in it that makes the dimsums so gooey and good!The char-grilled section on a whole shouldn’t be missed. The prawns here were another dreamy dish that I would strongly recommend. A light dressing of chilli, lemon juice and spices, and perfectly frilled prawns, so juicy it’s unreal.
The Teppanyaki counter is doing a fair range of starters, and one of the hit dishes on this counter is the Pandan leaf Chicken, which is chicken wrapped in pandan leaves. A comparatively lighter margination of the chicken when you’re having it right after dishes like momos, but you can’t compare the flavor profile of the two. Comes with a chilly sauce on the side and the combination tastes really good.While you’re at it, and if starters are the way to go for you, you should first and foremost order the steamed fish wrapped in banana leaf. Falls in the top 3 dishes of the night for me. Soft, juicy and melt-in-the-mouth like it’s only imagined. I guarantee you’ll want another piece of it. There are a lot of options for the vegetarians in this festival but I tilted more towards the non vegetarian fare because of obvious reasons. I however tried the Soyabean in Thai spices to have a taste of the veg food too, and it was as good as the non veg dishes. Flavours infused in abundance and the soyabean chaap literally melting in the mouth. How do they make soyabean taste so soft is beyond me.I tried three dishes in the main, all meal in a bowls- Lamb Massaman Curry, Green Thai Curry and Chicken Krapow, and in all three the flavours were very weak. The lamb was thoroughly undercooked. So much so that I tried 3 different pieces and had to chew and spit them out. The curry however was good. So I’d say go for the chicken version in this. The Green Thai Curry was very bland, though the texture, the veggies and the chicken were all cooked well. Chicken Krapow too had the same issue for me- too bland.
I’d say the appetizers were a clear hit for me. Everything I tried from the soups, salads and appetizers was outstanding in taste, but the mains were the low point of the meal. Had fresh fruits and Water Chestnut with Coconut Milk for dessert, and the water chestnut was pure bliss! Served chilled, it’s the perfect end to your meal. Give the fruits a skip and try this instead.
The most advantageous thing about this festival is the pricing. The dishes are priced very moderately! The festival is a superb way to expose Delhiites to the culture of Thai Street Food by giving them the entire experiential with all senses included. The setup, the colours, the lighting, the fake currency, the hawkers- it all sets the mood for the meal you’re going to have. And to add on to it, the food does complete justice to the look and feel by complementing it with taste. There are 5-6 cocktails specially curated for this festival that go well with the food, so do give those a try too!
Address: Holiday Inn, 13A, District Centre, Mayur Vihar Phase 1, New Delhi
Contact: 8860634441, 01149499096
Timings: 7PM to 11:30PMDisclaimer: The review was done on an invitation from the restaurant. All views expressed are unbiased in nature but readers are advised to exercise their own discretion.Connect with me on:Twitter: @sahibagursahaneInstagram: @thetastingfork
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