Burmese food at Soy Soi till 2nd June...

I love experimenting with food and so when a friend pinged me asking if I would like to join her for the Burmese Food festival at Soy Soi, I said yes instantly. Chennai is quite familiar with this cuisine, google "burmese food" or "atho" and you will see a whole list pop up, but I was sure there was more to it than the few I have had in our city.. 

The man of the hour Nay Myo Htet is the most humble chefs I have met. He is not a Chef who has worked in luxury hotels or travelled the world, he is a home chef, his family runs an eatery in Yangon. Nay Myo Htet’s simple no frills approach was quite refreshing. When we enquired about Burmese food, he said it was quite close to India.. They used plenty of coriander, chillies, tamarind in their dishes. Chef Peter of Soy Soi was there explaining the dishes and talking to us about how this festival came about. He also sheepishly admitted that he is yet to visit Burma but had heard of the food and so decided to try something new at the restaurant.. 

The meal began with the Htamin Lone Gyaw [crispy rice cakes served with spicy tamarind sauce] followed by three different hand tossed salads [Lethok]- one was  Burmese raw mango, the other cucumber & greens [Penny wort], and  finally Burmese tea leaf salad. My favourite was the PennyWort salad [with its mix of textures and flavours-crispy crunchy]. 

Oh I should mention the soup- Roselle soup [made with Ghongura greens] and was simply delicious... Infact, so much so that my non veg counterparts happily dug into this bowl [their soup had fish paste which many were unaccustomed to and so did not enjoy much]. A starter that stood out was Samusa Thoke - do not miss this dish [ it was Burmese samusa salad with lentil & saw tooth coriander sauce, almost like our samosa channa, I would have been happy with a bowl of this... ]

For the mains, we got yet another delightful dish- Khayanthi Hnat [ Burmese aubergene curry with coriander leaves, curry powder & red chilli powder] served with rice. I am not a fan of this veggie, but I loved this dish- it was tangy, spicy, charred and such a treat. I want to recreate this at home..  The menu did leave room for dessert, we got to try Sanwin Makin, moist semolina cake served with  chocolate cream, caramelised oranges and Ginger- honey ice cream and Shwe Yin Aye- traditional dessert made with Sticky rice, shaved ice, sago, pandan noodles and sweet coconut milk. I loved the former dessert [we did suggest they reduce the size of the cake...]

The verdict- I loved the food we had...The flavour profile is quite similar to our food, tangy sour spicy and simple... This festival is on till the 2nd June at Soy Soi.... A meal for two would be around Rs1200-1500 [approx] 

Call +91 78248 68314 for reservations.. 

Address: 

Soy Soi 

2/10, Gandhi Mandapam Road, Kotturpuram, Chennai -600085

Disclaimer: The reviews posted on this blog are based on my personal experience. Also remember these were just my views!! Remember, no two palates are the same. Bon Appétit :-)

Soy Soi, Kotturpuram Chennai

"Pan Asian" - the two words that have me drooling and salivating!! Well, this time around I was off to check out the newly opened Asian street food restaurant Soy Soi in Kotturpuram with a friend of mine.. After establishing Double Roti in the city, the duo Japtej Ahluwalia and Nikesh Lamba have now moved on [with Vimal Kumar (Cloud Nine Hospitality) &Vikram Mohan (VM Hospitality) ] to Soy Soi and are all set to open doors to three more restaurants in the city [around this neighborhood], one of them right next door- Savy Rasa [which was just getting ready for the launch as I walked into Soy Soi]... 

A carefully curated menu put together by the team after a  3 week trip across South East Asia, mainly Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam (they will also be including dishes from Burma in the menu]...  

The first thing that you see is the huge red wall with the name Soy Soi on it.. You walk in, and it is quite dark with a lit stairway showing the way. Quite a mystery till you reach the landing and enter the restaurant. And then, the decor, the long wooden long community table of sorts, moving on to a bigger hall with a beautiful mural on the wall and hand crafted bamboo light fittings completes the look. Loved the place..  There are a few tables in the bigger hall and along the far end are booths of sorts for families or large groups of 5-6 people. 

The kitchen  is also divided into sections- beverages, momos & satay, and the main kitchen located near the entrance. 

We settled into a table for 4 and spent a few minutes taking it all in. Had a brief chat with Chef Peter Tseng [Have heard of him from his The Park days to Chap Chay and now this venture] and gave him free reign with respect to our food. Only thing we told him was we were both vegetarians.  The next two hours flew by with us sampling various dishes from across the menu - Soup, Salad, Dim Sum, Satay, Khao Suey and dessert which had a bit of theatrics to it.  Each dish was packed with flavour, different in terms of texture and spices.. by the end of the meal we were two happy souls... 

A meal for one works out to around Rs1000/- .. But it is totally worth it..As we walked out, we were amazed that the place was packed for a weekday afternoon and quite happy to see people trying new places.. 

Address: 

2/10, Gandhi Mandapam Rd, Chitra Nagar, Kotturpuram,

Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600085

Opp AMM School. 

Phone: 044 2447 2557

Disclaimer: The reviews posted on this blog are based on my personal experience. Also remember these were just my views!! Remember, no two palates are the same. Bon Appétit :-)