I had heard that a new Indo-Chinese restaurant had opened up oppsite Abs tower in Vadodara, the Wok on Fire. The Wok on Fire is a popular restaurant in Surat and in Ahmedabad. Both of these cities have quite a premium range of customers, so I was a bit apprehensive that I would paying a lot more for the food than it would actually be worth if I visited the place. I skimmed through their menu before going on, found it to have a really good spread. A little pricey, I can’t deny that, but the taste in a way makes up for the price. It’s hard to find some great Thai curries, Oriental and Cantonese dishes in a city like Vadodara, but the Wok on Fire, is indeed on fire, and did not disappoint me much in that regard.

Here’s what I had ordered –

Thai Red Curry – Rs. 250

Fried Rice – Rs. 180

Green Gaomi Rice Bowl – Rs. 200

Pan Fried Noodles with Hunan Sauce – Rs. 260

The first time I had had the Thai Red Curry, it was at By the Mekong, the highest Asian cuisine restaurant, up on the 37th floor of The St. Regis in Lower Parel, Mumbai. And I had fallen in love with it then. That was the first time I had come face to face with Thai cuisine and it was a relationship that would last forever. The Thai Red Curry I had from Wok on Fire here in Vadodara was great too. I loved it. My mom and sister have never had Thai, in fact, they are generally skeptical about trying such new ‘fancy’ cuisines, but I make it a point to keep pushing them to try new stuff. Food is the ultimate cheerleader and it can’t cheer up anyone if done right. And both my mom and my sister loved the curry. Mom loved the delicate coconut flavor of the coconut milk used to make the curry. Mission accomplished. It had quite generous portions of broccoli, mushrooms, basil and the veggies, good blend. Loved it.

Since I had ordered Thai Red Curry as a gravy dish, I needed a rice dish to go with it. (What if the curry was taken with Parathas, LOL!) I initially thought I will order a steamed rice, then changed it to a Fried Rice. I wanted the flavors to be there, and the Fried Rice, in my opinion would complement the Curry very well. The fried rice was soft and good. It was very mildly spiced, so it went great witht he curry, as it did not have anything to overpower the flavors of the curry and serve as the perfect staple to accompany with the gravy dish.

Green Gaomi Rice Bowl. I have a thing for meals in a bowl I don’t know why, but it always catches my fancy. Always. Maybe, because as a kid, I would always put all the rice into my bowl of dal and add the vegetables to it, mix it up and eat it like that. I got my own share of things for that, but I continued doing that, school, home, anywhere; and I still do it whenever I can. So, every time I find a rice in a bowl on a restaurant menu, I mostly end up ordering. Game of the Subconscious, I guess! The restaurant’s menu describes the dish as, “Green garlic sauce based mushrooms & cottage cheese gravy, covered with American corn rice and topped with Spinach & Cottage cheese filled Crispy balls”. This is something my sister loved the most, especially the Spinach & Cottage Cheese Crispy balls on top of it. And we are both mushroom lovers, and spinach lovers (Thanks to Popeye the Sailor man!), so the entire dish was a great delight. I was actually ordering another Rice Bowl, but the guy at the counter suggested I should try this one out. I have no idea how they manager to get fresh green garlic in this heat and humidity but somehow they have, and that flavor in the bowl was superb. Like just superb!

Pan fried noodles with Hunan Sauce. Slightly crispy pan fried noodles, with dark hunan sauce. Good portions of veggies, and I definitely don’t mean just cabbage and onions here. I could find mushrooms and lot of other veggies in it too. My sister is a noodle lover. She can eat noodles any number of times for any number of days and at any time of the day. So, this one was ordered especially for her. And we all loved it. Good noodles. The first time I had had Pan fried noodles, it was at Silk Route, perhaps an erstwhile restaurant, in the famed Kala Ghoda Art Precinct of Colaba in South Mumbai. That restaurant I believe, is no longer in operation. But the ones I had there did not have the Hunan sauce, instead they were held moist with a light vegetable sauce, nd it did not have a soy base at all. The ones with the Hunan sauce here at Wok on Fire had this mildly sweet Hunan sauce, which added an entirely new dimension of flavors to the dish, making it delicious.

The accompanying Kimchi was good too.

Since the entire order was a takeaway, I can’t say anything much on the presentation aspect, which for me is one of the most important aspects of my experience at any restaurant. The service, might be a little slow, the restaurant was almost empty, but the food took considerably long to arrive. Plus, I had a bad coughing bout, but nobody bothered offering water, I had to request it each time. I always maintain that good service has to be invisible, so if this is the kind of service that given to dine-in customers as well, then it might need improvement. But I can confirm on that only if I dine in.

Packaging was amazing. They did charge a good Rs. 60 for four containers – two large and two small, for packing the food. But the containers were great. They survived the nasty, bumpy journey from Vadodara to Anand on my Maestro Edge, hanging out in the front with two other huge bags of stuff. Not one drop spilled out. And I couldn’t be happier. It’s always my biggest fear whenever I order a takeaway and I have to commute alone, no matter how much the distances. A lot of restaurants have greatly disappointed me in this regard but Wok on Fire definitely didn’t and I couldn’t be more pleased.

Bhavi’s Score Card –

 

Value for Money – 7

Taste – 9

Service – 6

Packaging – 9 (Flat bottomed containers that don’t topple and tumble might be better, just a suggestion, though nothing leaked even containers fell around in every possible direction)