Ano-Tai
Jaypee Vasant Continental, Vasant Vihar.
New Delhi-110057
Meal for two: Rs 2,500 + taxes
Located in one of the plushest locations of Delhi, Ano-Tai is a fine dining restaurant at Jaypee Vasant Continental, Vasant Vihar, for authentic Chinese delicacies and some great seafood. To be true to its vision of serving authentic Chinese flavours, the restaurant has expat Chef Jin Li Ma from Beijing who specialises in Cantonese cuisine.
“Chef Ma is personally involved in the meals and specialises in the Cantonese style of Chinese cooking which is not very famous in India unlike the Szechuan or Hunan style. It’s a very distinct cuisine in itself. Cantonese is fairly new to Delhi and to India,” Executive chef Avinash Jha told us during an interaction while having our meal.
The light-hearted and luxurious ambience is paired up with a well-stocked bar and comfortable seating with light music in the background. The premium menu has a healthy balance of delicious as well as filling food and offers extensive option in both veg and non-veg dishes. The open kitchen just adds to the experience. It’s a delight to watch how the skilful chefs cook the meal for the diners.
As far as the food is concerned it was lip-smacking. We started with a simmering bowl of hot and sour soup with vegetables that had all the spices just right and served with prawn nachos that were so crispy that they leave you wanting to pop one after the other. For starters we had a refreshing Cantonese style salad with black mushrooms, broccoli and baby corn and jumbo prawns Hong Kong style with buttermilk that was so juicy and delicious. Next on our platter was popchoy and mushrooms in soy sauce and Hunan sauce tossed vegetables. If you are watching out your carbs and are on a diet, the salads here are amazing.
Next was Cantonese style cooked golden fried chicken with chef’s special sauce that was mouth-watering. The chicken was tender and had delicious seasoning. Next came the Gong Bao chicken, one of Chef Ma’s specialties. It was infused with the flavour of ginger so you get a sweet lingering aroma. It was cooked Cantonese style which distinctively is on a sweeter side and is a mix of steaming, stewing and frying whereas Szechuan is just frying and stir frying with lot of spices.
Our food was complete with aromatic vegetable fried rice and flat noodles with vegetables however, if you want them really soft opt for the tenderloin flat noodles. The showstopper of our meal was the Beijing Duck, the signature dish which was well severed. The presentation made the delicacies irresistible and was a treat to the eyes.
For dessert you can have Chef Ma’s date pan cakes or mango pudding. You can further explore the dessert menu with many other innovative delicacies.