A different Chindian, part 2

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I was fortunate to have been invited to an enjoyable meal last year that was a collaboration between Yong Fu (甬府) and Leela. It was a true collaboration between the two kitchen teams, melding the flavors of the two (OK, the reality was more than two, as there's no singular "Indian" cuisine the way there's not just one "Chinese") cuisines. There were quite a few dishes which exceeded expectations, and two of those ended up on my annual list of "best dishes of the year".

So when B Bestie came with an invitation for "round 2" and promised all new dishes, I happily accepted and showed up at Leela tonight with high expectations. A friend had tasted the dishes last night at Yong Fu, but didn't give me much feedback afterwards other than saying he really liking the dumplings...

Khakra - interesting to see khakra here... as I've never seen them anywhere except when I was at Nine One with Samaira. Served with a smoked chili and garlic chutney.

Ning Bo razor clam with fish skin chaat (寧波蟶子炸魚皮chaat) - the razor clams were nice and springy, and otherwise there was not too much heat here.

Shepherd's purse and yellow croaker 'spring roll' samosa (薺菜黃魚「春卷」咖喱角) - not sure why I wrote "spring pocket" in my notes but... this was a samosa whose shell was made with the thin, crispy spring roll wrapper.

I didn't ask whether the coconut chutney was the same as the one from round 1, but I didn't think it was nearly as addictive tonight.

This was an improvement over last year's spring roll, since the croaker remained in solid form instead of being made into a paste, although the flavors still required coaxing to stand out thanks to the finely chopped shepherd's purse (薺菜). Funnily enough, all the flavors of the the filling easily got overwhelmed by the coconut chutney... I tried to pair this with a little dab of the chutney that came with the khakra, which turned out well.

But the main issue remained... the spring roll was as greasy as always, and with such a wet filling, plus the fact that a few of us took turns taking pictures and didn't eat them ASAP, meant the damn thing just got soggy. This has been the perennial problem with Yong Fu spring rolls since day one.

Gluten curry with hime-matsutake mushroom and black fungus (咖喱麵筋配姬松茸及雲耳) - braised wheat gluten (烤麩) is a dish I grew up with at home, and I'm always happy to eat it. This was... not my thing. I didn't understand why they added curry to it as the flavors weren't all that interesting to me. The heat build-up was gradual but other than that... meh.

Spanish mackerel with moilee sauce (鰆鯃配moilee咖喱醬) - James introduced the green stuff as "pickled cucumber", but anyone who has been to Yong Fu more than once in the last 2 years would know that these are the stems from kailan (芥蘭) that have been fermented in brine.

The Spanish mackerel was fine, if slightly more seasoned than some would prefer, and certainly a little more done than the typical Cantonese palate would have wanted. It also worked well with the moilee (মৌলি) sauce on the side.

Crispy Yong Fu golden chicken with Indian spices (甬府脆皮雞佐印度香料) - they've taken what is now a signature dish from Yong Fu and adapted it by replacing the spices used for the shredded meat.

Lacha naan (北印度烤餅) - the delicate, paper-thin pancakes have been replaced with laccha naan (लच्छा नान).

This was very, very tasty. So tasty that I made myself a second serving with another laccha naan. But I didn't think it was a significant step-up from the Yong Fu original, other than the use of laccha naan which could also be substituted with spring onion pancakes (蔥抓餅). Absolutely the best dish tonight.

Ornate spiny lobster with Indian aster (馬蘭花龍) - I love Indian aster (馬蘭頭) and was looking forward to seeing it paired with lobster.

Unfortunately they chose to take the Indian aster and made it into a sauce... and the distinctive flavors of the plant all but disappeared. The lobster came with plenty of bite and crunch, although the Cantonese palate may find it overcooked. This was a dish that we did not finish.

Beef tendon and cheek curry served with Ning Bo pork and shrimp dumpling (咖喱牛筋牛頰肉搭配寧波蝦仁豬肉餃) - this was a real head-scratcher for me. For the life of me I could not understand why the chefs chose to put a variation of Yong Fu's signature dumplings and want us to drench them in not just a beef curry sauce, but eat it with the chunks of tendon and cheek. Both are perfectly delicious on their own - in fact the beef cheek was very, very tender and I loved the flavors with a good amount of heat. I could have kinda understood if we were simply asked to dip the jiaozi in a little bit of curry sauce, but serving with a whole pot of chunky beef seemed like overkill.

The filling has been changed to include shrimp as well as Chinese mahogany (香椿), and they've also added some Indian spices in the mix.

Hand made dumplings with shepherd's purse and minced pork (手工薺菜水餃) - B Bestie made sure we also got a plate of the "regular" jiaozi...

I ended up pairing this with the Indian aster sauce, which was OK.

Stir fry garlic sprouts with Indian spices (印度香料炒寧波白蒜薹) - the white garlic scapes came from Xiangshan County (象山县) and were stir-fried with some lily bulbs and some onion spices.

Indian fried rice with mini oyster (迷你蠔仔印度炒飯) - the pulao came with tiny oysters which have been battered and deep-fried, diced bamboo shoots, diced kailan, what I thought were fava beans instead of the edamame mentioned... and of course deep-fried shallots. Pretty tasty.

Glutinous rice dumpling with sugared osmanthus in masala chai (桂花印度奶茶煮甬府寧波湯圓) - the one dish that was a repeat from last time because it was such a crowd-pleaser. I was happy to have the sweet sesame filling paired with the spiced masala chai again, although we only got ONE lousy dumpling this time and not two.

I thought a rosé Champagne worked well with most of the dishes tonight.

Drappier Rosé de Saignée - lots of juicy red fruits here, like strawberries and red currants.

Overall this was still a nice meal, and it's always good to see chefs with such different culinary backgrounds try to create something together. Unfortunately I didn't think any dish tonight achieved the heights we saw last time, where you truly felt that "one plus one was greater than two". Nevertheless, I am always grateful to the chefs for their efforts, and grateful that B Bestie continues to save me a seat at the table - even if I'm not always singing praises.