Urvika Kanoi and I have always had really nice conversations. For starters, we both have obsessed over certain places, certain people, and certain kind of food. So, when a special anniversary menu is presented to me, featuring dishes like Beef Gyoza and things to drink that included words like leche de tigre, I am more than intrigued.
It is in this spirit I watch the crocodile get drunk on Jägermeister. The drink is not just pretty, its a lovely hit of citrus and smoke, coming mostly from the lit chillum. Its a drink made for a lazy afternoons like this, when you put on your comfortable shoes and try not to sit with your feet up on one of the cushioned seats of this eatery.
The Arancini is this table’s first pick in the selection of starters. Its creamy and sprinkled with a touch of herbs to make me feel more virtuous about eating them, but what brings this dish together is the tangy dip that’s rather fun to mop up.
The other vegetarian favorite for me is the chilli taco, a whole stuffed chilli, stuffed with cream cheese, and served with a dollop of pico de gallo and cream on top. Squeeze some lime on top and fold it well so that you don’t end up with cream on your new dress.
This incident may or may not have resemblance with what would have, should have, could have been very possible by a girl who wasn’t paying attention.
The lamb pita pockets are stuffed with ridiculously moist lamb shreds, and finished with some salad and pomegranate pearls which adds an element of crunchy sweetness.
The Bodega Pickleback is a shot of taquila with a shot of leche de tigre. For the uninitiated, leche de tigre, i.e., Tiger’s Milk, is what you get left with after making a ceviche, and here its adapted to suit everyone (therefore, no fish was harmed in the making of this drink). Its a drink meant for wild nights, random dancing, and inappropriate decisions.
Now, whenever someone uses Korean and Gyoza in the same line, my first reaction is scepticism, because confusing between Japan and Korea isn’t going to make me happy. That said, the beef stuffing is juicy, for the lack of a better word, and the bottoms of these pot stickers slightly more charred than I like, but combine with the sweet chilli and chopped chives, and there’s something there.
The piece de resistance is the melt-in-the-mouth pork and a sweet mango salsa served in fluffy buns. The meat has a lovely smokey char to it, with a bit of crunch from the lettuce.
Compared to the starters, the main, Thai Basil Chicken, was a relatively tamer dish which, for me, lacked the chilli kick that I am used to from the dish in general. The runny egg is fun to mix with the rice, but the combination is still decidedly anglicised, for the lack of a better word.
The anniversary menu is going to be on all this month, so you have a few days remaining to sample this fare, and the dishes are part of the a-la-carte menu. I’ll leave you with another shot of the Crocomiester here.
