By- Deepa Srivastava Kumar
A Foodies Delight:
Tamra , originally 19 Oriental Avenue, means Copper in Sanskrit, is also an Arab city in the North dstrict of Israel. However, here we are talking about the newest offering from Shangri-la hotel, the new coffee shop restaurant Tamra, is a foodie’s paradise; which has lots on offer to soothe your palette.
Conceptualized by the renowned Dubai based Stickman Design, the restaurant is a visual depiction of culinary delights from around the world, with quirky and strong design elements.
Embellished with copper utensils, the all day dining restaurant has a seating capacity of 189 guests and 200 dishes, it serves an extremely refined offering starting from authentic South East Asian cuisine, Japanese, Indian and European from its five interactive cooking theatres and five resident chefs – Chefs Jungha Choi (Japanese), David Leung (Chinese), Nattasak (Thai) Martin Bracker (European) and Ravi Kumar (Indian), all serving their own distinctive gastronomy. The restaurant also houses Asian, Indian and regional, Japanese and Teppanyaki, ghar ka khana, gelatos and a Dessert Bar.
Faced with a glut of choice, I started with soup and melt in mouth dimsums. Moving on to Caesar salad, with crisp romaine, with charred asparagus, corn niblets and assorted toppings, a choice of olive, walnut and avocado oil dressings, topped with toasted flax and sunflower seeds, with Parmesan flakes adding flavour.
They have a selection of vegetarian and non-vegetarian options at every buffet. A New Zealand lamb chop and tenderloin teppanyaki with sautéed veggies is a must have, I was told by my companion. The Asian live kitchen has a mix of Thai, Chinese, and Malaysian curries and barbecues and the Massman Curry (Malaysian).
Talking about Indian food, held its own flavor with the tangy Aambedi Fish Tikka deserves a special mention. But considering they have other interesting dishes, the Indian counter is supposedly the last on everybody’s agenda, just in case you want to gorge on ghar ka khana, featuring a selection of vegetables served in a mild curry of your choice, chana dal with lauki (mom’s favourite), fried bhindi and phulkas. Knowing that there is no space left to try the desert, nevertheless a must try is Tamra Chocolate or gelatos.
Tamra is a place for a long leisurely Sunday brunch, which starts with the Japanese counter, move on to Continental, and end with the Thai or Indian.
