VIÉT : NOM Food Festival at Asian Harbor (TAJ Gateway) Taj Gateway brings us Vietnamese Food Festival (21- March to 31st March 2019) for all the Puneties at its restaurant Asian Harbor at Hinjewadi, Pune. The chef from Blue Ginger, Bangalore is coming to Pune especially for this festival. That is India's only exclusive Vietnamese Restaurant. So you can imagine the authenticity of the flavours of the Vietnamese cuisine that you are going to experience here in Pune. ✓Appetizers: • Vietnamese Raw Papaya Salad ₹500/- It was very cooling in nature, best to have it in this hot weather. It's very refreshing and crushed peanuts were adding crunch to the salad. • Rice Paper Summer Rolls ₹500/- These rolls are very mild in flavours and contain water chestnuts and veggies along with rice noodles. It tastes delicious with the dip that served with it. • Crispy Lotus Stem with Butter Garlic Sauce ₹500/- This is again one of my favourite recipe from this. It was crispy and with a perfectly balanced taste of the spices. Normally in Pune, we get to eat Honey Chilli fried Lotus Stem but this butter garlic sauce version was better too. • Grilled Tofu in Vietnamese style: It is very commonly found preparation in Vietnam. The tofu was grilled in mild flavour and served with lettuce and thin rice noodles and homemade masala and lemon. ✓Soup: •Spiced Lemongrass Soup ₹300/- It was a soup which made in spicy broth added with lots of vegetables in it. For my palate, it was very spicy. ✓Main Course: (₹250/- to 550/-) •Trio of Mushroom fresh Green Pepper Sauce This was the best dish I had, as I love mushrooms it has to be my favourite recipe. Chef made it with 3 types of mushrooms and in a very subtle and mild sauce. •Grilled Assorted Vegetables in Saigon Sauce This is also a very nice dish. The sauce was not very strong in taste that so that you can have the veggies without the rice or anything. •Vietnamese Yellow Cari - Silken Tofu This dish was tasting like our Indian daal rice, again mild in flavours and silken tofu was so delicious and melt in the mouth. •Rice Noodles with Vegetables Rice noodles were very flavorful having fresh and crispy veggies in it and topped with burnt onion chops. It was going well with the curries. ✓Desserts: ₹400/- •Che chuói: Banana with Sago Pearls and Sweetened Coconut Milk It was very light in taste dessert. It's made using a banana as the main ingredient and mildly flavoured sago pearls in rose water and added coconut milk. •Coconut Caramel Custard A regular caramel custard with added coconut flavour and served with fresh and exotic fruits and fresh Cream topped with fresh coconut swirls. ✓Drinks: •Vietnamese Coffee ₹450/- It was very dark and perfect when we ordered for the first time but it wasn't that good when we asked for the second time. It was more watery and mild in taste. •Asian Delight: ₹450/- It was a mocktail made with the base of Butter Scotch ice cream added with kiwi syrup and coconut milk and hit of pineapple juice. It was very creamy in nature but for me, it was very sweet in taste. ✓Apart from above-mentioned preparations, they have huge a la carte menu as well as TDH menu with 2 options which are as follows: *Option I Veg @ ₹900/- ++ NonVeg @ ₹1200/- ++ Option II Veg @ ₹1400/- ++ NonVeg @ ₹1800/- ++ It's a food fest that you can't miss if you love Vietnamese Cuisine or if you love to experiment with other cuisines. The food is fabulous and value for money.