17 Oct 2017  |   06:25am IST

It’s time to roll out the barrel!

Don Jevonn is Herald’s in-house food critic. He (or is it she?) will appear incognito, sample wares from off the menu and then leave, having paid the bill in full. For Don Jevonn is one of Goa’s quintessential characters and believes that in order to be objective, he must appear to be your average diner

Don Jevonn

Have you ever looked at a restaurant

and thought to yourself, “I really need to go there,” but find yourself putting it off? That tends to happen to me sometimes, and then, when I eventually wind up going there, I realise that I’ve regretted missing out on the place for that long. That is precisely the case of what happened with me and ‘The Oak Barrel’. For starters, what I truly love about it is that it looks nothing like what we’ve come to expect of oriental restaurants in India. There is no glaring red and black-coloured décor with Asian inspired motifs. Perhaps more importantly, there isn’t any annoying music being churned out on the guzheng (or Chinese zither) coming out of the PA. Instead, there’s a steady stream of retro, in what is designed to look like an English pub, albeit one which adopts a culinary style that’s thousands of miles away.

‘The Oak Barrel’ recently started focusing on also becoming a destination for sushi lovers to frequent, and in keeping with that, has decided to work with three kinds of sushi; maki, uramaki (which is an off-shoot of maki) and nigiri. Maki is a shortened term for the original ‘mayizusi’, the all-encompassing term for sushi rolls, which are broken up into four different styles: hosomaki, futomaki, temaki and uramaki. The latter has rice on the outside roll, and is sometimes referred to as the ‘inside-out roll’. It is often said that that this form has more global appeal because the seaweed is hidden on the inside of the roll, and sushi beginners are less intimidated to eat it. Nigiri is hand pressed, with pieces of fish, shrimp or other toppings like mushroom resting on top of a ball of rice. At times a band of roasted nori (seaweed) is used to bind the fish to the rice and to add visual appeal.

We decided to sample a cross section of this segment of the menu, and dived into the Chicken Tori Kachi Uramaki Roll, the Philadelphia Roll, the Cherry Blossom Roll, the Raw Salmon Uramaki Roll, the Tempura Vegetables Uramaki Roll, the California Crab Uramaki Roll and the Shitake Mushroom Nigiri. I think that the pick of the bunch on a personal level was definitely the Chicken Tori Kachi Uramaki Roll, which is stuffed with something reminiscent of chicken katsu and probably going to be a big hit with those still getting acquainted with sushi and may be apprehensive to try food out in a ‘rawer’ state; the Shitake Mushroom Nigiri, which is flavourful beyond belief and incredibly tender and dainty; and of course, the Philadelphia Roll, which you can never go wrong with, given that it’s the heavenly marriage of smoked salmon and cream cheese.

However, while the sushi is brand new to the menu, what the establishment has long since been renowned for is its dim sum. Prawn Har Ghao (also spelt Har Gow) is often referred to as a ‘shrimp bonnet’, owing to its pleated shape. The ideal har ghao should possess a translucent wrapping of dough, through which the chunks of shrimp, on the inside, can be seen. This dish is said to be the one that the skill of a dim sum chef is judged on, because of the complexity involved in getting things right, and at ‘The Oak Barrel’, the chef passes with flying colours. There is no flavouring added to these juicy little spheres ensconced in a crystal potato starch wrap, which is fabulous, as all that you are left with is a delicious, juicy little mouthful that’s quite honestly flavoured like, well…‘the ocean’.

A popular Cantonese dish across global menus is ‘Char Siu Pork’. In bygone eras, wild boar and other available meats were used to make char siu. However, in modern times, the meat is typically a shoulder cut of domestic pork, seasoned with a mixture of honey, five-spice powder, red fermented bean curd, dark soy sauce, hoisin sauce, red food colouring (not a traditional ingredient but very common in today’s preparations), and the optional use of sherry or rice wine. At ‘The Oak Barrel’, the popular char siu dish is the pork ribs. However, in keeping with the age old tradition of consuming a char siu dish with a starch component, such as the world-famous char siu bao, there is the option to partake of this dish in dim sumfashion, and I am ever so glad for it. The sticky goodness of the shredded bits of pork meshes wonderfully within the parcels that hold its plot together. The dough that makes up the outer coating isn’t chunky either, and gives way at a moment’s notice, the moment it hits your tongue, giving way to all the goodness it envelopes.

The last of the dim sum that I would like to highlight is the ‘Exotic Vegetable Dim Sum’. This one, above all else, is a photographer’s delight, largely because of its bottle-green coloured exterior, with a glossy sheen that looked like it had been lacquered. Just like its predecessors, these dumplings were firm to the touch, yet dissolved in one’s mouth, revealing a juicy filling of button mushrooms, broccoli and asparagus.

The one thing that I would like to point out to and speak about that didn’t make up part of the dim sum or sushi part of the menu was the laksa. It has long since been a favourite part of South-East Asian cuisine for me, and so, when I chance upon it on a menu, I feel the need to instinctively reach out to it and grab it with both hands. Here it is has an amalgamation of noodle, tofu, chicken and shrimp, which is then topped with boiled egg. This in turn, coupled with its flavours, made me see it more as a Burmese khow suey than a Peranakan laksa, but it was still a great dish that I’d gladly order all over again.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; I have a separate dessert stomach; and when you have ‘Dark Chocolate Spring Rolls’ for dessert, you definitely need one, if I’m being honest. These calorie bombs involve ganache-filled rice-paper rolls, which are then crisp-fried, before being drizzled in chocolate sauce, and served alongside a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Needless to say, the combination of the two textures of soft and crisp, as well as the two temperatures of piping hot and freezing cold, only add to the appeal of this dish.

‘The Oak Barrel’ is, in fact one of my preferred oriental restaurants now, because the food is great, and the setting is a refreshing change from the same old same old. So if you’re looking for that healthy mix of east meeting west, you’re in good hands here.