The Sensational New Menu at Honk, Pullman New Delhi Aerocity

Honk at the Pullman New Delhi Aerocity, has been a well-known Oriental restaurant in Delhi NCR since the time it opened. There have been no two ways about the fact that the food is great here, and I have heard from multiple people that the food here can give a run for its money to so many of the places we rave about for their Oriental fare in Delhi. They have recently come out with a new menu and I tried a couple of dishes from that.

I chose the Celebration Menu as per the chef’s recommendation. A set menu which consisted of soup, salad, dimsums, sushi, main course, accompaniments and desserts. So it was a full-fledged course wise meal and I didn’t have to rack my brains to decide what to order and what to spare. The menu has pre-decided choices for both vegetarians and nom vegetarians, and there’s nothing you have to do once you place your order. Just relax and wait for the food service to begin.

First up was an amuse bouche which was watermelon with chipotle dressing. Bursting with flavours, set the tone right for the meal ahead. A Som Tum Salad which was a raw papaya salad, rightfully denoted a red chilly next to it, and was exceptionally good. I particularly loved it even more because even if the salad was spicy, they still didn’t lose out on balancing the flavours. Sweet, sour, spicy, everything was spot on! The peanuts was a lovely crunch to the salad. But it is indeed spicy, so ask for a less spicier version if you have an aversion to it.

The sushi here is phenomenal! You might see yourself longing for more after quickly finishing the two pieces that come, but the meal ahead tells you why the portion is just right. Spicy Salmon Roll with tempura and asparagus, made so well. Loved the freshness and the spicy mayo!

You cannot come to Honk and not try the dimsums. Non vegetarians get the Prawn Har Gao Dumplings (2 pieces). Being huge dimsum fans, we ordered for the dimsum basket that has 10 pieces of dimsums in it. Ordered for 5 veg and 5 non veg apart from what the set menu offered us. Each dimsum was too distinct in its flavours. Made with perfect finesse, such mind-blowing stuffing, my favourite was the Duck and sour cherry dumpling, but every dimsum I tried was superlative! The accompanying dimsum sauces are chilli, blackbean and soy, and they’re perfect to go with the dimsums. My favourite was the blackbean.

Once you’re done with the salad, dimsums and sushi, a very light soup awaits you. Good to wash down the strong flavours from before and get you ready for main course. The soup is very comforting. After a delightful few dishes that are strong on the palate, the soup comes as a sweet welcome. Don’t undermine the flavours of it, look at the way the menu has been curated and appreciate the fine nuances the chefs know about our palate. Loved how they kept the soup light yet flavourful, and didn’t fill us up by giving a thick-textured heavy soup. Asian green vegetables, lemongrass, celery. I’d say even if you’re not opting for this menu and go for ala carte, you should definitely go ahead with this soup.

Because non vegetarians have an advantage of trying the vegetarian food as well, the main course that was ordered between my mother and I was shared amongst us (only for me though). Cultivated mushrooms, garlic chives, oyster sauce, chilli was what we ordered in vegetarian, and Thai Basil Singapore Chilli Shrimps were ordered in non-vegetarian. Now, I hate mushrooms. Like really. But given that I’m a blogger, I have to try everything that comes my way. And my mother on the other hand loves mushrooms, so there was no way we weren’t choosing this for main course. But one look at the mushrooms and I was sold. And one bite of it and I was thoroughly impressed! A gorgeous sauce with a balance of chilli and oyster, just as the menu read, but way way better than I could have ever imagined. A curry to die for! Blended the flavours in so well. Relished this with some outstanding Stir fry vegetable noodles which didn’t need any curry to be enjoyed. They were amazing just by themselves too.

 

The Thai Basil Singapore Chilli Shrimps came with a steamed bread- something like a mantao, and the shrimps were as delightful as I was expecting them to be. Fried juicy shrimps in a coating of chilli sauce balanced with slight sweetness, and a thick mix of onions, bell peppers, with lovely flavours of garlic. Went so well with the steamed bread. Once again, I could have both the prawns and the bread just by themselves too. The prawns had a slight crispiness on them from the stir frying, which was really good because they weren’t very crispy, and they weren’t even dry because of excessive cooking. Too good.

The chef also got us a portion of Nanjing Style Duck and a small portion of Red Thai Curry. This place sure as hell knows how to get their food spot on. Mind-blowing duck, cooked absolutely perfectly! A thin crisp coating, the meat inside so soft that you could try pulling it apart with a broken plastic spoon and even that would do the trick. Came with a sweet thick sauce on top and the complete package was beautiful to say the least! No surprises about the Red Thai Curry too. You can blindly go with this option for main course and you’ll see yourself beaming from ear to ear.

Dessert is Caramel Chocolate and Peanut Parfait in the Celebration Menu, but we also tried the Jasmine Crème Brulee, Ginger Medallion, Honey Streusel. The Caramel Chocolate is a sphere of chocolate with Peanut Parfait inside it. Hot chocolate poured on top to break open the ball, and the thin crisp caramelised layer underneath also breaks into pieces. Lovely to dig into and end your meal with. Didn’t like the Jasmine Crème Brulee as much even though it was prepared perfectly- all the technical points like the texture, the caramelisation, the taste of the streusel (which is the crumbled cake mix on top) so good. The only issue was that the taste and aroma of jasmine was too much. Couldn’t have more than 2-3 bites. So I’d say stick with the Caramel Chocolate.

All in all, the new menu at Honk is simply phenomenal. If you’re a fan of Oriental food, you must must try this menu and you must in general try Honk. Even if you’re not a ‘fan’ of Oriental food, you must still go try the place. Both my mother and I are die-hard fans of Oriental food and we didn’t find even one flaw in anything we ate (except for a slight issue with the jasmine dessert), but our entire meal was so so good that we can’t wait to be back. I’ve been raving about their food to everyone I’m eating, and they honestly deserve this praise.

Address: Asset 2, Hospitality District, Aerocity, New Delhi
Contact: 011 46080808
Timings: 7PM to 11:30PM

Disclaimer: The review was done on an invitation from the restaurant. All views expressed are unbiased in nature but readers are advised to exercise their own discretion.

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