Not often are you wowed by view, decor, food and service of a restaurant, all at once. OKO at Lalit has cracked the code. Perched on the 28th floor of The Lalit, the 94 cover restaurant offers stunning 360 degree views of Delhi. If its a clear day, you can easily identify Jama Masjid, Red fort, India gate and loads of other important landmarks across Delhi from the huge windows around the place.
The decor of is classy yet not overwhelming. A lot of care has been taken to ensure standard colours and theme across all the 5 OKO restaurants in India. The pan Asian restaurant offers delicacies from Japan, China, Thailand, Vietnam and Korea but on this visit I tried the exclusive Songkran (Thai New Year) menu curated by Chef Suriya.
We started with Tofu satay served with peanut sauce and Kai Makharm which essentially is grilled chicken topped with tamarind sauce. I am not generally a big tofu fan but absolutely loved the chicken which was really nicely done and the tangy tamarind sauce ensured an explosion of refreshing flavours with every bite. The crispy lotus stem with roasted chilli paste was brilliant as well. All these starters were complimented by two exceptional salads.
The Yam Mamoung which is the raw mango salad with lemon chilli sauce and the Yam sam O, the pomelo salad which was my favourite bit of the afternoon. This was followed by a very hearty and soulful bowl of Khowsuey. While a lot of you might associate the noodle curry soup with Burma but its equally popular in Thailand and Laos. “The Burmese Khowsuey is thicker but the Thai version is slightly more runny and slightly more robust because of the use of Thai herbs and spices,” says chef Suriya.
For the mains we tried the Phad Thai, some stir fried prawns with curry powder, the Kai phad khing which is chicken with ginger, mushroom, baby corn and onion along with some jasmine rice. I just loved the diverse flavours and textures. Some very strong and aromatic herbs and spices are used in these preparations but we need to take our hats off to chef for the balance in every dish.
We ended the meal with an almost perfect dessert of sweet sticky rice with mango and at the same time I made silent promises to myself to revisit OKO soon and try the other Asian delicacies on offer. Overall, a fantastic dining experience. The efficiency and service orientation of the team would gladden your heart, leave you spell bound and keep you coming back for more.
Where: OKO, The Lalit, Barakhamba road
Lunch: 12.30 pm to 3 pm Dinner: 7 pm to 11.45 pm