Restaurant review: Mekong at Marigold Hyderabad

Mekong restaurant at Marigold by Greenpark, Begumpet has certainly become a “Go-to” place for Pan Asian cuisine. Mekong has been on my wish list ever since my foodie friends have been raving about it, I couldn’t wait but to experience this gourmet oriental cuisine and therefore finally made it to try their Asian Sunday Brunch.

Mekong derives its name from the 7th longest river in Asia that runs through China’s Yunnan province to Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. True to its name the diversity in the spread runs through the Yunnan’s love for rice along the Vietnam’s noodle soup to the Cambodian crispy fry and the simple yet hard to beat Thai food.

As you enter into Marigold, you are welcomed by simple yet elegant interiors, along the path to the left is a wooden door that opens up a different realm altogether. The grandeur of the restaurant is simply exquisite with shades of dark brown and bright blue. With a live Kitchen right at the center, it’s a delight to watch the chefs in action.

I began my gourmet experience with small portion of jasmine tea, which was perfectly rejuvenating to start with. The first course was a selection of four different sushi. A Sushi is Japanese food that consists of cooked venegard rice and other ingredients like seafood, vegetables and topical fruits as well.

The first of the lot was Crispy Vegetable Tempura (fried roll)Uramaki served with shredded ginger, wasabi and soy sauce. As the name describes, the crispy vegetable tempura inside out rolls with pepper and a coating of sesame seeds was perfectly done. The Shiitake and sweet Daikon Maki was a little subtle in its flavor, but still made up for the distinct experience.Next on the list was Crab and Iceberg Uramaki and sakimaki, the mami rolls are the most well-known types of sushi. It has seaweed (nori) on the outside, rice on the inside and one ingredient in the middle. While the Crab and Iceberg Uramaki was decent enough, the star among all of them was the Saki Maki. Loved it!!

The next course was a wide selection of Starters and Live Grills. Began with Black Pepper tofu in Singaporean style. As the name says, most of the flavor comes from the black pepper. Half inch cubes of tofu was perfectly stir fired, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Loved it. The Crispy Vegetable with chilli plum sauce was one of its kind, the main ingredient being the plum sauce which is light brown sweet and sour condiment. The star among them all was the Penang Garlic Fish which was simply outstanding. Fried Chicken in herbal salt was decent enough for my liking but nothing extraordinary.

From the live grills, I loved the chicken satay or skewered chicken which was soft, fiery and delicious. The assorted mushrooms in teriyaki sauce could have been better, in fact I dint feel the flavor of teriyaki it was just like a touch and go. Being a Pan Asian brunch, how could Dimsums be left out? The Tibetan Chicken dimsums and Mix veg dumplings was decent enough with considerate amount of fillings inside. I would’ve loved it even more, had the sauce served along was a little fierier.

The good old Hot & Sour Vegetable Soup couldn’t go wrong and it was as authentic as it could get, while the Yam Tofu salad had considerable amount of Lettuce, mushrooms, broccoli and tofu. The Yam taohu as its called was refreshing with bright flavors of herbs, citrus, and chilli peppers, perfectly balanced with sweet and salt. Loved it !!

For the mains I initially opted for Vegetable Hakka noodles with Bamboshot& Chestnut with shitake mushroom in kungpao style. The sauce which is commonly used in this preparation is usually made from spicy peppers, peanuts and sometimes a mix of vegetables. This combination was not too appealing for the fact that the sauce was a little pungent while the hakka noodles was totally dry and not very flavorful. My idea of Lamb Rendang is that it’s quite spicy, however this one was very subtle but with strong fennel flavor to it, Though I dint really enjoy it the other friends on the table thoroughly liked it. My favorite among the main course was the Jasmine Sticky Rice along with Thai Chicken Yellow curry. The aromatic flavor of Jasmine Sticky Rice with Thai yellow curry that was perfectly made with coconut milk and thai herbs was outstanding. Loved it.

Among the deserts was AbongBalik served with jaggery ice cream. This is definitely one of a kind of desert that I’ve had, loaded with dry fruits. It was crispy and went well with jaggery ice cream. ThapThimKrawp was another delight which made me go bonkers over it. It’s basically a pomegranate seeds blanched in sugar syrup which gives you rubies like formation and then combined to coconut ice syrup. This one is a must try for anyone visiting Mekong.

On the whole, Mekong definitely takes you on a journey to the lands not just touched by river Mekong but also far off countries such as Japan. Be prepared to savor the culinary delights it offers which truly makes it a much sought after places that a lot of people rave about.

Review By Vishal Fernande