You cannot separate out a Bengali from his Kolkata style Chinese food! Kolkata street-style Hakka Noodles from small and medium vendors is probably the most-sold Chinese food item in the city. And yes, when it comes to Chinese, Kolkatans still think about Tangra. The city has now got several new-age Chinese joints, food chains, and restaurants but still Tangra continues to hold a special position in the heart of city dwellers. You may call it an old-school destination to savour Chinese, but Bengalis can never ignore their Chinatown when it comes to traditional Chinese or Indian-Chinese cuisine.
But as a matter of fact, it’s not convenient or feasible to travel to Chinatown every time you crave for some old school Chinese food. So, here is one solution which I discovered recently. There is a home delivery/ take-away joint called ‘Blu Orchid’ who serves authentic Tangra style food since they have got their entire kitchen staffs and chefs from Tangra! Blu Orchid is perfect for people staying within 3-4 kilometers radius of Ajaynagar at Santoshpur (which covers a large portion of south Kolkata including Jadavpur, Kasba, Kalikapur, Haltu, Patuli, Baishnabghata etc.). Or otherwise, you can opt for the take-away option if your residence/office is outside their delivery area.
All the popular dishes of Tangra are being delivered piping hot at reasonable prices, perfect for foodies who don’t have that much time to travel to Tangra and dine over there. The average cost of food is INR 500 for two and you can order online through platforms like Zomato / Swiggy or directly from Blu Orchid.
A few days ago, some of my friends decided to order from this joint since we were all craving for some good Chinese food for lunch! After we ordered, the food reached us on-time. It was still pretty warm and perfect to savor without any further heating. The packaging was nice and there were no spillage or anything of that sort. But yes, it was a pretty standard packaging with the brand name printed all over the boxes. I would suggest adding some customization since home-delivery / takeaway is their only focus area and there has to be something in the packaging that will make them stand out. And yes, they can add some chopsticks apart from plastic forks/spoons in that package.
Now coming to the food, we had few starters and then we moved on to the main course. In the starters, we had Crispy Fried Prawns, Chili Chicken Dry, and Kung Pao Fish! I absolutely loved the crispy fried prawns, it has a fried crumb covering with fresh jumbo prawns sitting inside. It tasted simple yet amazing with a dash of lemon. Subtle flavors of the prawns were not marred by any other strong flavor which was the biggest plus. Next in line was the Kung Pao Fish which truly impressed me. It was tossed with diced bell peppers, onions and some cashew nuts and overall had the right balance of spices, sweetness, and flavor. The fish was pretty fresh and tender, we loved it.
The Chili Chicken Dry looked pretty good with roughly diced green chilies adding a bit of character to the dish. It was not overtly spicy and was pretty nicely balanced and the chicken pieces were nice and tender.
Next, we moved on to the main course where we had Mixed Fried Rice and Mixed Chili Garlic Mei foon. Hunan Chicken and Lemon Chicken were ordered as the side dishes. The mixed fried rice was really amazing and pretty impressive whereas the Mei foon had rooms for improvement. The fried rice was loaded with a generous amount of shrimps, chicken bits, fried egg and chopped veggies. The overall flavor was subtle and went pretty well with the sides.
The mixed mei foon was nice but the rice noodles were broken down into very small pieces giving it a texture of basmati rice maybe, which is not very desirable. Also, special care needs to be taken to check if the noodles are not sticking together. But otherwise, the flavor was pretty good and it went well with the Hunan Chicken.
The lemon chicken had enough gravy and it tasted nice & sweet with a mild tang to it, the chicken pieces were soft and well marinated. Though I liked the Hunan Chicken a bit more for its awesome flavor and tad spicy gravy that went very well with the subtle flavored mixed fried rice and Mei foon. The meal was pretty fulfilling and satisfying in the end.
Overall, this joint has got an immense potential and can serve lovely Chinese food prepared by the chefs from Tangra. The pocket pinch is very reasonable and that is also a big plus point for sure. If they can maintain the quality then they are sure to stay and flourish! So I urge you to go ahead and place an order with them, I am sure you will end up with a pleasant experience!
Cheers!
foodiedada 