Chinese food, after biryani, is probably the most loved cuisine in this part of the world. But what do we understand by Chinese food? Is it authentic food from different provinces of China? I personally doubt. So, when the Chinese community got settled in Kolkata, their cuisine was customized to match the local palate and new Indo-Chinese cuisine was formed. Lots of sauce is used, a wholesome portion size ensures greater acceptability and let’s forget authenticity, basically, we love our Indo-Chinese style. Wow China is the latest offering from the house of Wow momo brand offering a range of Indo-Chinese food and their flagship outlet is at Park street. Please check the location here. I was invited to check the food experience by the management and here’s my take on Wow china.
Location and ambiance
For any restaurant, if they can afford, getting a good location is winning half the battle. And Wow china bags it. The Wow China outlet is a spacious sit-down restaurant just beside the earlier Wow Momo outlet on Park Street. The interior is quite bright and it’s two-storied. On the first (or mezzanine floor), there is a PDA that also can be used for a small personal board room. Good music is there and there’s a positive vibe inside.
Menu items
The menu is quite elaborate, but with specific sections and a few interesting items at Wow china. There are basic items which everybody loves …
- soup
- starter
- spring rolls
- rice
- noodles
- Mains veg and non-veg
- Dessert
- Khow suey
They don’t serve pork or mutton, so ordering becomes easy- chicken or prawn for non-vegetarians. Khow Suey was highly recommended by the management and nowadays, I tend to respect people’s opinions. From starters, I found one interesting item- Chicken wrapped prawn- that was ordered and a portion of non-veg Poutine was ordered from the Starter section menu of wow China. I asked for a Kala Jamoon mocktail and it was served promptly. Let me confess, this place cares less about quote-unquote authentic food and specializes in food that we’ve grown up with. As I’ve said earlier, it’s Indo-Chinese a.k.an Indianized Chinese food joint. Portion sizes are huge and it suites the mass palate.
Mocktails
starters at wow China
For starters at wow china, Poutine was an interesting and new dish for me. It’s a dish from Canadian province of Quebec. Imagine loads of French Fries and cheese topped with brown gravy (Thanks to my last-minute online study skills). Shredded of chicken was there, for the non-veg version. It’s a bit messy but definitely tasty. One portion can easily work well for 3-4 persons.
The chicken wrapped prawns at wow china are what we dream of in an Indo-Chinese restaurant. 6-8 pcs of medium-sized prawns (20-25 pcs a kg sized) are wrapped in a thin layer of chicken. The whole thing is then tossed in a tomato heavy gravy (with a side of salad) and the result is brilliant. For my next visit, definitely, I am going to order this.
Khow suey at wow China
When the Khow suey reached my table, my first reaction was about its size. It’s a huge portion. For the new ones, Khow Suey is a Burmese origin DIY soup, where curried meat (cooked with coconut milk) is served with boiled cold noodle ( it came with a boiled egg here) and with lots of interesting condiments. Lightly roasted peanuts, sliced chilly, sliced and fried onion are few of them. A dash of lemon makes the whole thing more interesting. The dish traveled from Burma/ Myanmar to East India, when the migrants came to our country during the 2nd World War. Now probably the same dish was adopted by the Memon community in Pakistan and was adopted as Khausa- see the connection even in the naming.
But forget history, if you know your taste bud and like to mix things, this dish can be damn interesting. The gravy was pretty good- not the best for me, but it definitely is among the good ones that I’ve tasted in my life. Overall, a family of two can easily share one portion.
The dessert at wow china
Honestly, I am not a dessert person but the management was hell-bent of making me taste the cinnamon icecream. Yes, it’s definitely interesting in taste, the cinnamon flavor was spot on and inclusion of a sesame rimmed glass made it even more interesting. But, after a great meal, having something sweet in taste, is not really my preference. But if interesting ice cream is your thing, go for this one.
Overall, the meal at wow china was great. I’ve personally known Sagar Daryani and Binod- the founders of wow Momo. and I admire their passion as entrepreneurs which results in their numbers. I am under a strong belief that nothing can beat a good number and wow Momo proves it. If someone is looking for top Indo-Chinese food in Kolkata with a bright ambiance, Wow China is probably the place to be …
For reservations, please call 9654672053
Bon apetit !!!
I can be reached at indrajit.lahiri@ymail.com
2 comments
I’m not that much of an internet reader to be honest but your blogs really nice, keep it up! I’ll go ahead and bookmark your website to come back down the road.
Thanks