Meal on a Stick - Satay Festival at Lotus, The Park, Nungambakkam, Chennai

What: Meal on a Stick at Lotus (Thai)

Where: The Park, Nungambakkam High Road, Nungambakkam, Chennai

When: 24^th August - 4^th September, 2016

The beautiful skewers with well seasoned and grilled meat isn't just handy to eat but also tastes delicious. The succulent piece of meat and intricate flavours paired with sauce delights a meat lover. And at Lotus they have teamed up different meat with some interesting flavours from Southeast Asian countries to present 'meal on a stick' for their diners. Though Satay always interests non-vegetarians, they have managed to design a few for vegetarians too. Making a choice wouldn't be very easy with 7 non-vegetarian and 4 vegetarian drool-worthy satays.

Garlic & Prawn crisps with sauces

We were served a platter of all non-vegetarian and vegetarian satays (i.e. one stick of all satays). Otherwise you can choose from an exclusive satay A La Carte menu and individual portion will have 6 sticks of the satay accompanied with three different sauces. It include two types of peanut sauce and tamarind sauce; the sauces are a perfect match for the meat and the tamarind sauce was my favourite.

Sauces for Satay

Let's get to meal on the stick; the non-vegetarian satay platter looked sumptuous with chicken, lamb, beef, lobster, scallop and prawn. There were two different styles of chicken satay. First was the Indonesian Chicken Satay (Satay ayum), juicy piece of chicken that holds the mild flavour of lemongrass, candlenut (Indonesian nut looks similar to hazelnut) and coconut milk. Though flavours were good, a few more minutes on the griller would have made the chicken perfect for me. The crispiness from grilled edges of the 'Kushiyaki' Chicken Style (Yaki tori) took an upper hand. This Japanese style satay enriches your palate with essence of spring onion and garlic; my favourite pick.

Non-vegetarian Satay Platter

Malaysian Lamb Satay (Satay kambing), the succulent piece of lamb pleases your senses with zest of peppercorns and ginger-garlic. The soft, juicy and buttery Vietnamese lobster Satay (Tom hum sate') was a notch less on spice and depth of flavours for my liking. Whereas the perfectly grilled Laos prawn satay (Kung satay) with intense flavour from lemongrass and coconut milk was delicious.

As I don't eat beef and scallop, I didn't taste the Brunei Tenderloin satay (Dagging sate') and Taiwanese Scallop satay (Shanbei sate'); but I got a thumps-up for both the satays from my partner. 

Finally it's time for some vegetarian satay. Phuket Vegetable satay (Satay phak), a colourful array of crunchy vegetables skewed together with herbs is refreshing and I enjoyed pairing this one with meat skewers.  

The texture and taste of tofu is something I never enjoy but to my surprise the marinate used for the Thai Issan tofu satay (Satay tao hoo) proved to be a delight. The grilled edges of the tofu and the flavour mix of garlic, coriander and tamarind made me enjoy the tofu for very first time. Broccoli was the show-stopper, soft yet crunchy they were packed with flavours. A must try is the Park style Broccoli satay (Satay broccoli). More like a soya meat cutlet that is skewed in sugarcane stick, the Vietnamese soya meat on sugarcane sticks (Dau nanh thit sate') is seasoned well but less on spice so it would have been tough to complete the satay without the sauces. And don't forget to eat the (sugarcane) stick.

Vegetarian Satay Platter

Some really juicy and tasty meal on a stick. Though that was a lot of sticks it's only appetisers, so ordered a few drinks, main course and dessert.

Cocoginger, a medley of coconut water, lemongrass, galangal and lime tasted refreshing. And then Appletini, the blend of fresh apple and mint along with touch of lime and gin was delicioso.

Appletini, Cocoginger

Thai curries always bursts in your mouth with flavours. The creaminess of coconut milk and spicy flavour from the curry using homemade curry paste hypnotises you when paired with jasmine rice. Their Homemade Spicy Green Curry with Coconut Milk is divinely delicious.

Signed off the meal with homemade oriental gelato, Black Sesame Praline and Lemongrass. The slight hint of chocolate flavour with crunchy black sesame was my favourite scoop of gelato. But the intense of lemongrass flavour is refreshing and perfect in the lemongrass gelato. And don't forget to grab the delicious Thai chocolate before walking out.

Lemongrass

Black Sesame

Breaking Down Points

Location & Parking: Near Gemini flyover the glittering Park hotel welcomes you with huge parking space.

Ambience: Positive. Loved the subtle lighting, elegant furniture and pleasant music.

Food Variety: It's satay, so an upper hand for non-vegetarians.

Taste: Positive. Yummy food that made the tummy happy. I loved the food.

Quality & Quantity: Positive. Quality wise, good choice of meat and veggies, bold flavour and neat presentation. With 6 sticks of satay in a plate, the quantity is good for sharing.

Service: Positive. Courteous and prompt.

Price: NA. Satays price range from Rs.425 - 995 INR (plus tax) approx. In general, a meal for two would cost Rs.3500-4000 INR (plus taxes) approx.

Chocolatesssss!!

So my Verdict!

Lotus at The Park is taking their diners on a Southeast Asian journey through their satays. Indulge yourself with Asian flavours and juicy meat via their "Meal on a Stick" festival that is till 4 September 2016.

For Reservations 044 42676000

P.S. On-the-house bloggers meet for tasting session at Lotus, The Park for their Meal on a Stick (Satay festival). Remember, no two person's palate can be same. And this post is only for the Satay festvival happening at Lotus.