Elevating the vibrant twist in Szechwan, Cantonese cuisine in Chennai

CHENNAI: A backdrop that is inspired by modern Chinese elements, Sian at Vivanta Chennai, IT Expressway is one of the classic oriental restaurants in Chennai. In his first visit to the city, executive chef Saratchandra Banerji recently joined the restaurant and has introduced new delicacies to the menu.

“We have retained a few all-time favourites and I have introduced many new elements to the menu. Complementing the tangy and spiciness of the Szechwan and Cantonese cuisines, I have given more emphasis on seafood like lobster, scampi, octopus and other kinds of fishes,” says the chef with more than two decades of experience. Apart from the seafood dishes, there are a variety of dimsums and mushrooms. The chef added that imported ingredients are used to bring the authentic flavours.

“Cantonese and Szechwan are two different regions in China. The former is spicy and tangy and the latter is light food with mild flavours,” Saratchandra explains. Chennai has always admired the sweet, sour, spicy and sizzling notes of Chinese cuisine. “The cuisine is flourishing in major metros including Chennai because quick preparation comes across as an advantage. Youngsters mostly prefer fast food like fried rice and noodles as it can be easily relished. That is also a reason for the consistency of Chinese cuisine’s influence here,” shares the chef.

The spicy lemon coriander chicken soup was refreshing and was a proper appetiser. All the dimsums we tried here, including chicken ching kao, water chestnut lime leaf and pak choi corn garlic which is basically spinach and corn dimsum are a must-try. The accompaniments, scallion, peanut and tomato and chilli dips went well with the dimsums, and the scallion stood out.

Scampi belongs to the prawn family. The crispy salt and pepper tenderly cooked scampi with the chilli dip was flavourful. The Sichuan-tossed crispy tofu was mind-blowing with super soft textured tofu. The squishy tofu’s texture was similar to that of milk pudding.

In the main course, the lobster cooked in chilli oyster sauce had buttery meat pieces with an appetizingly balanced sauce. The vegetables and shitake mushroom in the light sauce were a good pair with udon noodles. The fried garlic that was mixed in the fried rice, dominated the taste providing a delicious flavour to it.

Everything ends well with sweets. We got to relish a few unique desserts. The first one was dragan roll, which is ice cream inside a cake roll with chocolate sauce topping. The difference in texture breaks the monotonous taste. The crispy date pancake was good, while the fried ice cream was a clear winner. Mandarin orange creme brulee had the zesty orange flavour topped with fresh strawberries.