Lunch @ Shizusan Shophouse & Bar.

Happy patrons all!!..With Praveen, Sarayu, Adnan and Imtiaz at Shizusan Shophouse & Bar.

With Chef Paul and the fabulous Deepti Dadlani at Shizusan Shophouse & Bar.

Another Mumbai girl…with so many family and friends in common… with Arshia Nathani Ladak at Shizusan Shophouse & Bar.

With Saritha Hegde and Jackie Pinto at Shizusan Shophouse & Bar.

The famous ‘One Night in Bangkok’!

Raw papaya salad with a crunch of crushed peanuts, beetle leaf wrapped stir fried beef, succulent prawns in soya sauce and chicken satay — at Shizusan Shophouse & Bar.

Shushi….fabulous sushi! — at Shizusan Shophouse & Bar.

The outstanding chicken and prawn bao! — at Shizusan Shophouse & Bar.

OMG! Creme Brulee, Match green tea tiramisu, tender coconut cheesecake…I died and went to heaven! — at Shizusan Shophouse & Bar.

We traveled over hill and dale (read Whitefield) to The Phoenix Mall, to have lunch at Shizusan Shophouse & Bar, only because we heard such fabulous feedback from everybody who ate there. The newest franchise to open its doors in ‘namma ooru’ I was looking forward to eating there.

We walked into an eclectic restaurant buzzing with patrons, and immediately the friendly and vibrant vibe stuck a chord.Happy patrons, is the key to the impending success of any new eatery,and there were plenty of them!

Plates of salmon sushi, crunchy raw papaya salad, braised chops, Udon noodles, Thai curry made from scratch, and scrumptious prawn and chicken bao’s and momos whizzed past us and the aromas certainly activated my salivary glands!

We settled down on a table with friends Sarayu Hegde and Praveen Chandra, and my munchkin Adnan Furniturewalla, and the fabulous cocktails kept arriving in droves. The aperitifs, were really mouth-wateringly good and the humble chicken satay with peanut sauce blew me away. It was soft and moist, and the beetle leaf wrapped beef was really very very nice! The prawn bao was the star, as was the Californian Maki sushi! There were many favourites on our table but I have to mention the excellent tuna sushi!

The mains didn’t disappoint either…we devoured the fabulous Thai curry with sticky rice and the stir fried Udon!

I am so impressed with the new lot of restaurants mushrooming in our city (I root for everything new!), and they make sure that the flavours and tastes are authentic, and the produce fresh and fabulous!

I had tete-a-tete with Chef Paul, the fabulous Deepti Dadlani,VP-Marketing of Bellona Hospitality Services, and the gregarious Arshia Ladak, Director of Palladium Constructions, I was struck with their versatility and passion that they share for this new enterprise…

You go ladies! You have your fingers on the pulse and you know your patrons, your food and it shows….

Water bottle in hand I am looking forward to making that trek to Shizusan Shophouse again…this time to sway to some jazz and retro music with a ‘One Night in Bangkok’ in my hand!!