Ishanya Mall Yerwada is abuzz with restaurants these days and Mandarin & Mircchi is one of them.

Why Indian and Asian together, you ask?

“An Indian and an Asian restaurant were both in the pipeline for us and then we decided to combine both the cuisines into one restaurant. The thought was to offer the finest dishes of two of the most popular cuisines (Asian and Indian) in the same restaurant, from specially differentiated kitchens,” says Rachel Goenka, Founder, Mandarin & Mircchi.

I personally found the concept excellent, not just because they serve Indian as well as Asian (which frankly a number of places do), but because they have truly done justice to both cuisines. With 2 different menus for Mandarin (Asian) and Mircchi (Indian), you’d have plenty of choice in each.

The ambience reflects both regions with a huge peacock on 1 wall and a dragon on the other. It’s a great casual place for a meal.

Since I was nursing a bad throat, my usual cocktails were replaced with a glass of Hot Toddy. And how well made it was! With a super kick from whole spices, I thoroughly enjoyed this potent concoction.

We started off with the Crispy Rumali which as the name suggests was a crisped rumali roti topped with tomatoes, onions, chat masala and cheese. An extremely simple, yet appetising dish. Surprisingly, even after 30 minutes of sitting, it still managed to remain crisp.

If a place offers dimsums, I have to order them. I’m a crazy dimsum fan, you see. I had 2 variants here – the Vegetable & Chive mushroom and the Three style Mushroom. The mushroom ones had a tender, flavourful filling with that toasty mushroom flavour. Actually mushroom is such a magic ingredient, you’d rarely go wrong with it.

The vegetable and chive dimsums had a bite to them because of the presence of carrot & water chestnut. I personally prefer my dumplings to be melt-in-the-mouth rather than ones with a crunchy interior.

The Lemon Coriander Soup was perfectly made – the perfect lemony concoction with julienne of tofu. The fried garlic bits added beautifully to the flavour as well as provided some crunch.

Their popular Carrot and turnip cakes didn’t appeal to me much because of the oil factor. Others at the table enjoyed it though, so that’s more of a personal preference. Though I must add, finding turnip dishes in our city is extremely rare and this was a rather interesting take on it.

The Vegetable Cheung Fun with sweet corn, broccoli & water-chestnut was something that I’d never tried before. It’s basically a rice noodle roll that has it’s roots in southern China. M & M does a really good version of Cheung Fun having a silken outer covering and a perfectly spiced corn and broccoli filling. I’d like to point out that it was too salty -I don’t know whether that was just a one-off incident.

The Mushroom Pot made with glass noodles and 3 variants of mushroom makes for a full meal by itself. It had predictable, yet enjoyable flavours.

We chose the rest of the main course from the Mircchi menu. The Paneer Lababdar and the Dal Makhni both turned out to be excellent choices. The Paneer Lababdar was rich with just the right amount of spice, that didn’t overpower the dish. This gravy would definitely appeal to every Indian palate, age no bar. The Dal Makhani had a distinct smoked flavour that I just couldn’t get enough of!

And now onto my favourite pat of the meal – them desserts 🙂

The Gulab Jamun & Saffron baked yogurt was delicious and will definitely be a hit with all Mishti Doi fans. Each bite was rich and the combination of baked yogurt with gulab jamun worked brilliantly.

The Rabdi Mousse with saffron sauce was missable though. The flavours were extremely subtle and the sweetness level was way below the bare minimum to be able to qualify for a dessert. For those who are cutting back on sugar, this might be a good option.

And the saved their best for the end. I can vouch for the fact that Mandarin & Mircchi serves the the bestest damn Sizzling Brownie in the city. The brownie is so gooey that your spoon just slips right through it. Each bite was a thorough pleasure and I shall be going back here whenever I’m in the mood for a heavenly chocolate dessert. If not for a meal, you must go here just to try this heavenly brownie.

All in all, I had a great meal with the most memorable dishes being the the Dal Makhani, the hot toddy and of course, the brownie.

The Indian as well as Asian dishes were pretty well made, but if I had to choose, I’d  prefer the Indian selection here over the Asian. The prices are on point and they have an ongoing deal for set meals at 399/- per person which seems like a steal.

Happy Eating!
To see more drool-worthy food pictures, follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/thevegetarianfoodiee/
To read more food reviews, catch me on Zomato at https://www.zomato.com/thevegetarianfoodieruchi
*If you like what you just read, do drop in a comment and make my day!
*Disclaimer – This meal was hosted by the restaurant.