Earlier this week, we expanded our list of restaurants conquered, by adding The Tao Terraces in the 1 MG mall to our list. We arrived at around 2 in the afternoon and quickly ordered three appetizers. The first was the Ginger chicken which was really good and had the nice distinct taste of ginger coming out. The second appetizer was vegetarian and was a plate of Warm mixed vegetable Maki rolls cooked with seven spice peppers. This dish was truly unique in taste and was one of my favourites despite having ordered a spread dominated by non veg. The warm rolls were wrapped in a layer of rice, giving it a very sushi-like finish and they tasted really good. The vegetables inside were nice and crispy.
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| Warm vegetable Maki Rolls |
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| Ginger Chicken |
The clear winner (by miles) among the appetizers was the Grilled fish with lemon grass, sun dried tomato in basil sweet chilly. This is definitely something I recommend to anyone who comes here. The fish was cooked to perfection. The accompanying lemon grass and basil sweet chilly gave it a nice tangy-sweet taste that made everyone at the table go ‘wow’ with their mouths full. The plate was quickly polished clean with everyone going for seconds within a few minutes
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| Grilled Fish with lemon grass, sun dried tomato in basil sweet chilly |
For the main course, we ordered a simple chicken fried rice to help us relish the gravies we would order. The rice was well cooked and served the purpose. We also ordered a plate of vegetarian Pad Thai Noodles. These were flat noodles with vegetables and garnished with peanuts giving the dish a traditional Thai cuisine taste. I really enjoyed this dish as it would have tasted great even by itself.
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| Vegetarian Pad Thai Noodles |
As far as the accompanying dishes go, for the vegetarians we ordered a plate of Broccoli, baby corn, asparagus and water chestnut in a yellow bean sauce. This dish was nice and crunchy with all the vegetables and had a Thai yellow curry type taste to it. It went very well with the fried rice.
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| Broccoli, baby corn, asparagus, water chestnut in a yellow bean sauce |
For the non vegetarians, we ordered a plate of sliced chicken with bamboo shoot and black mushroom. I really relished the taste of this dish because I really enjoy the pepper-ish taste to it. The chicken was tender and had soaked in the right amount of sauce on the outside while maintaining the rawness of chicken on the inside. The bamboo shoots gave a nice flavour to the dish. Overall, I really enjoyed how the gravies really complimented the rice and noodles.
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| Chicken with bamboo shoot and black mushroom |
Ideally, we would have gone to dessert but here’s where the lunch got a little sour for me. The time was 3:20 in the afternoon and without inquiring whether we wanted any dessert, the waiter came and silently placed the bill on our table. I had to call him back to tell him that we would like to order dessert as well. We had seen the menu earlier and had planned out what each person would order to ensure we cover the entire spread between the five of us.
The waiter went into the kitchen and came back to tell us that only ice cream was available. One does not expect this sort of service from a restaurant of this nature. To me and others present, it came across as though they wanted to get rid of us as it was late into the afternoon and could not be bothered with dessert. If the kitchen were closing, I would have expected to be informed and asked before-hand what dessert we would like so that they could keep it ready. This is the expectation even if I went to the idly-wada eatery at the end of my street. Needless to say, we left in search of satisfying our dessert cravings elsewhere.
While the Tao Terraces served very good food, my lasting impression would be with regard to what happened during dessert. I did not enjoy the bill being put on my table when I did not ask for it, and I did not enjoy being told that only Ice Cream was available. The official timings of the restaurant are from 12 noon to 11 PM, so I don’t understand why we were being made to feel like we had to leave. As far as service goes, it’s almost like watching a striker take the ball all the way from the mid-field going past defenders in the most beautiful fashion, only to come in front of the goal and shoot the ball high. (Yes, football fever is here).
Excluding that extremely annoying bit of service in the end, I really enjoyed the food at Tao Terraces. The ambiance and music were nice and laid back. The Grilled fish with lemon grass, sun dried tomato in basil sweet chilly was undoubtedly the highlight of the meal. The Tao Terraces is an expensive joint and a meal for two would cost approximately Rs.2000. But I do recommend trying it at least once for a special occasion like an anniversary or a birthday.
PS: Ask them if dessert would be served, just in case.
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