As far as the culinary side of things is
concerned, Panjim’s Vivanta by Taj has been relatively quiet over the years.
However, since 2016, Executive Chef Sahil Desai has gone all guns blazing, with
a fresh festival to showcase a different kind of cuisine, every month of the
year. This time around, bringing a little bit of the orient to Goa, hidden in
the pocket of his chef’s jacket, is Chinese Master Chef Yui Kwong To, better
known simply as Chef David. Having first joined Taj Hotels in 1987, the chef
from Hong Kong had a spell of eight years with the company, before opting to
move overseas, to Dubai, in 1995. He would return in the year 2000, joining the
popular Bandra-based Taj Land’s End in Mumbai. He has been there for the last
17 years, running the property’s popular Min Yang outlet, taking his tally of
Taj-related experience to 25 years in all.
Speaking on his stint in Goa, Chef David
says, “Even though I’ve spent 25 years in India, this is only my second visit
to Goa, the last one having been in 1993, when I was asked to craft a dinner
for the then Chinese Premier, Li Peng. I’m only here for eight days, to ensure
that I can pass on some of the culinary nous to the team at Vivanta by Taj.
“Much has changed since my last visit to
the state, but I enjoy the fact that the pollution is much less here.”
While the menu Min Yang at Land’s End is
one that boasts 200-plus items, all of Chef David’s key signature dishes from
the Mumbai menu have made their way to this one, and it is not without benefit
either. “We have ensured that many of the main ingredients that we need have
been shipped here, so that there is absolutely no variation in what is prepared
in Mumbai and Goa. The benefits are definitely there for all to see, especially
in terms of price differentials, with the exact same dish in Mumbai costing
more than double of its counterpart in Goa,” he says.
And his signature dishes are certainly
worth diving right into. The Prawn Tossed with Crunchy Garlic, Chilli and
Spring Onion is immensely popular back in Hong Kong, according to Chef David,
but he adds a touch of roasted garlic and chilli to quite literally bring a
tear to the eye of the Indian diner. The dishes popularity has extended itself
to India, where the chef says eight out of ten tables order it, when dining at
Min Yang. In similar vein, his Chilli Mountain Chicken is a dish that is quite
the visual, and gastronomic, treat. It involves a mountain of red chilli that
one has to dive into and dig through, in order to find the crisp nuggets of
chicken that are batter-fried and coated with a smattering of sesame seeds.
Other dishes that he believes are the ‘note-worthiest’ of a noteworthy menu,
include Sichuan Mala Ho Ho Soup, Diced Chicken with Dry Red Chilli and Sichuan
Pepper, Wok Fried Prawn with Chilli Mustard Sauce, Fried Rice with Ginger, a
Bouquet of Vegetables and Roasted Pine Nuts, and Pan Fried Noodle with Exotic
Vegetables in Soy Chilli Garlic Sauce.
One major challenge that many a chef
admits to having faced on the oriental front is keeping things authentic while
addressing the palate of the Indian target audience. Chef David says that
circumventing this is not as difficult as it is made out. “You just need to add
one extra ingredient to make things more appealing to local tastes,” he says,
citing the example of the ‘Prawn Tossed with Crunchy Garlic, Chilli and Spring
Onion’, with the addition of roasted garlic and chilli.
Speaking on how Goa has received his
menu, Chef David says, “We had great response on the weekend, and I hope that
it continues for the remaining days of the festival, as I think that this is a
good chance for Goa to sample yet another dimension of Chinese cuisine that they
may not yet have tried before.”
The good chef is
in town only till the end of the week, though his menu may linger on a little
while longer, and as such, if getting to know the real deal when it comes to
oriental cuisine is your thing, perhaps now isn’t such a bad time to drop by.
