Soulful Indian eats at Mandarin Oriental

I have always grown up in the belief that I had an old soul. I cannot accept that this life was my only life, simply because there are just too many other cultures that seem so close and familiar to me. Where the interest and affinity stems from a much deeper source than just intellectual and socio-cultural curiosity. I have always been fascinated by South Asia, and most especially India. Jhumpa Lahiri, Arundhati Roy, Aravind Adiga, Anita Desai, Salman Rushdie, Amitav Gosh — they all sit on my bookshelf like close friends, sharing stories of their aunties, beti’s, chai-wallas, red earth dusty countryside, colorful saris, displaced households, multi-armed deities, forbidden loves, marigold eaters, diasporic identity crisis… Our high school theater production was the Mahabharata. Many of my closest friends are from the local Filipino-Indian communities, many of my foreign friends during my numerous school exchange programs or summer studies were also Indian. I felt so familiar with the culture I had to see it for myself. When I graduated high school, during my gap year, I signed up for a volunteer program working with exiled Buddhist monks at the foot of the Himalayas. I was all set and ready to go, but was stopped by my mother, and perhaps rightly so, as it probably wasn’t a good idea for a bright-eyed young 18-year-old girl to gallivant around alone with no real itinerary. Ticket refunded, I have always looked for other ways to visit, but as life would have it, all my succeeding plans to visit this nation I feel so close to have been thwarted in some way or another.

Perhaps it isn’t quite yet my destiny to go. That somehow the universe is waiting for that right moment; that the meeting of my past and present life will be so intense that my soul must be absolutely ready for it. In the meantime, my love for all things Indian — or, to be politically correct, South Asian – has grown and been fully reflected in what primarily encompasses my life right now — food.

Every Filipino child grows up knowing only one curry. That bland, grainy, bright yellow-green chicken curry served in most households with a multitude of little bowls of condiments such as bacon, egg, fried banana, raisins and potatoes desperately trying to inject some semblance of flavor. Often served with some chutney out of a bottle or “homemade” by some other nondescript home kitchen business, and, of course, not one green leaf in sight.

Back in the day, Kashmir was probably the only place one could get a decent curry. Throughout my travels, dining in friend’s homes and learning from some great cooks, a good curry is something of a revelation. There is not one curry but many curries. Each person, region or cuisine has their own combination of spices, freshly prepared masalas, tandoori rubs … the food is as colorful as their temples and fabrics. An array of bright green fresh coriander sauces, rich amber tamarind chutneys, fiery charcoal-red chicken, citrine yellow-colored dahl, forest-green palak-paneer, fuchsia beetroot curries, sunset saffron rice … the layering of flavors is also as intense. A combination of ingredients, welded together using back-breaking, time-consuming techniques that go against traditional haute cuisine teachings. Char the onions. Fry the spices. Cook till the oils separate. Cooking with spices is a true art form. One cannot simply throw things together in a pot. There is a movement, a grace, a love that is poured to bring out a harmonious dance of aromas and flavors.

Despite being on a diet, I can never turn down a good Indian meal, and found myself last Thursday indulging in some amazing dishes at the Mandarin Oriental prepared by their new Indian sous chef Laxminarayan Ray. Just for fun I had chosen the vegetarian menu, but my seatmate, their new director of food and beverage, Peter Pysk, kindly shared some juicy morsels of meat off his plate. It was a true feast, not only in taste but in quantity. It was almost as if each one of us was presented with a mini-buffet of splendorous flavor. Crispy fried papadums (which I am a diehard fan of); hot, flaky samosas with that gorgeous, spicy, tangy green sauce; a really comforting vegetable kathi roll that would make a perfect, satisfying, on-the-go lunch; a rich yogurt soup with fluffy roti. Smoky delights from their tandoor oven – my personal favorite was the paneer tikka … a fragrant vegetable biryani whose cardamom scent was so intoxicating … pehswari naan with coconut and nuts … a really soft, falling-languidly-off-the-bone lamb shank rogan josh … and my simple personal favorite of the evening was the dal makhani — black lentils simmered overnight cooked with butter and cream; rich, spicy and tender like a young girl waiting anxiously yet with gentle patience for her lover to return.

One of the evening’s distinguished guests, Indian Ambassador Shri Amit Dasgupta, was encouraging chef Laxmi to prepare dishes from his region of Orissa in the East Coast by the Bay of Bengal. “What people here perceive as ‘Indian food’ is actually dishes from the North,” He explains ardently. “Indians don’t talk about ‘Indian food’; we see food from their different regions.”  

With some friendly goading from Pysk and Mandarin Oriental’s director of communications, the charming Charisse Chuidian, the ambassador himself may have unintentionally volunteered to help develop the menu, featuring more regional dishes. Either way, it is a great time to visit the Mandarin Oriental. While most local hotels feature the standard intercontinental pan-Asian fare, not one has truly taken an active approach to Indian cuisine. Executive chef Rene Ottlik further explains, “We see the growing number of Indian food lovers in the Philippines and note that travelers from India are an emerging market. This is an exciting time for chef Lamxi to be here.” Rest assured we are just as excited. There’s dal, and then there’s dal. And even just for those darn lentils, I’ll definitely be back, with every bite bringing me just a little closer to my past life.

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The Indian a la carte menu is available daily at Paseo Uno and for houseguests’ in-room dining. Selected dishes will also be featured in the restaurant’s daily lunch and dinner buffets. For more information, contact Mandarin Oriental, Manila at 750-8888.