The China House by Q’BA, Connaught Place, New Delhi - An Oriental Affair

 Asian seems to be the hottest thing these days. Be it Modi or the restaurateurs in Sadi Dilli, everyone is looking towards the East. And in the past few months, there has been a barrage of Asian restaurants in Delhi and especially in CP, donning the cliché ‘China’ in their name. Though, these restaurants call themselves Chinese, they generally tilt towards the other South East Asian countries and try to make it an Oriental affair.
Over the years, Chinese food has evolved into ‘Chinjabi’ or ‘Chindian’ form to suit the Indian palate. And is widely appreciated, be it at a roadside cart or a restaurant in a star hotel. So, last week, when we got an invite to a blogger’s table at The China House, we were slightly skeptical. The China House is from the house of WG Hospitality which also owns the famed Q’BA restaurant. The China House is situated at the outer circle in Connaught Place. The big wooden door at the entrance is reminiscent of the colonial era. The traditional oil-paper parasols on the high ceiling which were spinning around, beaten metal orchids, rustic white walls were giving a visual of the old oriental dining place. The only missing piece in this drama was the staff uniform, which could have also been done in a traditional way. The restaurant has two decks, the main deck has a bar and a dining area and the mezzanine deck is used for private parties.The menu is a mix of flavors from the Far East. Chef Anil, who has earlier worked with Q’BA, Bercos, The Monk, etc. has put up hit dishes from Malaysian, Thai, Singaporean apart from Chinese cuisines and given them twist in his own style. For the night, we had a set menu which began with two types of Dimsums – Broccoli & Sesame Crystal Vegetables Dumplingsand Seven Spiced Chicken Dumplings. The shell of both the dimsums were thin, were well filled and steamed. For starters, we had Thai Crispy Vegetables, which were dipped in sesame batter and deep fried. They use Aromat Powder to make it crisp. Next was a Chicken Manchow Soup. It was a thick soup with nice consistency, but was too tangy for my liking. For main course we had Sliced Chicken & Cashew Nuts and Fried Fish with Spring Onions & Chilli Oyster Sauce along with Fried Rice. I liked the chicken and cashew nut combination. It was lending a nuttiness and creamy flavor to the dish. The fish was slightly spicy and was cooked well. The fish used in the dish was Basa but there is an option of choosing your fish from Basa and Sole.
The desserts were Figs & Dates Pancake, Crème Caramel, Death By Chocolate. The desserts weren’t made in-house, but sourced from the parent outlet Q’BA. Among all three, I loved the Figs & Date Pancake. The pancakes were hot & crisp like a wafer with a date filling in between and were served with ice cream.Overall, the food was good in taste but was heavy unlike in Oriental cuisine. The prices of the dishes are competitive with an average of 300 per dish. Since its at K Block in outer circle where there aren’t many restaurants or brand, it will be less crowded and one can have a quiet meal. Also, there are options of Rice Bowls (The Monk famed, since the chef has worked there) which will be quite a hit during office lunch hours. It’s a good place, serves decent food, but there isn’t anything exceptional about it. There are 12 Pan Asian outlets in CP barring various multi-cuisine ones and it will be jostling with them for customer’s wallet-share and mind-share.
Picture Courtesy  - The China House
The China House by Q'BA
Connaught Place
Phone: 011 43560008
Address: K 12, Outer Circle, Connaught Place, New Delhi
Meal for two - 1200(Approx)