Girls' Night Out

So last night, my girlfriends and I went out for dinner to 'China Gate'. I like the restaurant. 'They have a great menu that is priced quite reasonably. Their interiors are done tastefully and the lighting is muted. On the whole, the ambiance of the restaurant (minus the Chinese pop songs they have taken to playing ,off late) is quite relaxing. And since we were meeting up for dinner after very long, we had a LOT to talk about. We ended up having quite a pleasant evening, with great food and amazing conversation.

For starters, we kept it simple. Crisp Chicken with Groundnuts and lemon iced teas. The chicken was cooked well, crisp on the outside, succulent and juicy on the inside, the groundnuts were crunchy and the sauce was sweet and tangy. For the main course, we ordered the Balinese-style Pot Chicken. Cooked with mustard and lemongrass, it had a sweet-and-sourish brown gravy with vegetables like spring onions. It also had these tiny green Thai eggplants that are basically bitter when you chew on them. They are added more for the unique flavour they impart to the gravy. There were Eggplants (sigh, sigh, sigh!!) stuffed with Tofu in black bean sauce. Oooh, this was just pure heaven. I could actually dream about a dish like this. Anyone and everyone going to 'China Gate' (and this includes only fans of eggplants), must must must try this one. Definitely recommended. We also ordered the Thai Pot Rice with prawns. On the whole, this was just mediocre. The rice looked too red (maybe it was the lighting or maybe it was food colour), even though the flavour wasn't bad. 

The only dampener was the staff. The service at 'China Gate' is a tad too enthusiastic. Meaning: their staff are hoverers. They hover over your heads, basically peeking into your plates, waiting for when you put down your fork or spoon, in a bid to quickly sweep away the empty plate or to quickly ply you with more refills.  All of a sudden, an arm will shoot out across your face over to grab the empty plate next to you. Quite frightening at times. They do not even mind interrupting conversations. This gets a bit grating at times,  especially since you are there not for the sole purpose of eating.