Eating out on birthdays is a tradition with us. Since we couldn’t follow it this time due to corona scare, we decided to order-in. After much deliberation, we opted for Chinese. Compared to our other favourite, South Indian cuisine, Chinese remains fresh and fuss-free for long. And, when it comes to Chinese, it has to be Berco’s for us. Why? Because I had my first encounter with Chinese food at Berco’s in Sector 12 (Noida), some 15 years back and though, over the years, I have had this cuisine from several others, nothing quite compares to Berco’s.
More often than not, our spread consists of a soup, dimsums, noodles with manchurian and a brownie, in that order. So it was this time too. We ordered Lemon and Coriander Soup, Crispy Honey Chilli Potato, Veg Pan-fried Dimsums and Chicken Dimsums, Vegetable Manchurian, Chilli Chicken Gravy with Hakka Noodles and Pad Thai Noodles and Hazelnut Brownies to round it off. The spread arrived at the designated time, around three quarters of an hour after our call, as promised.
Pretty punctual, I must say. The food was expected to be neatly packed with no leakages. Alas! That wasn’t the case. I noticed that two of the four small packs of sauces weren’t ‘locked’ properly, resulting in the smart white paper bag all the items were stacked in being stained. Though the delivery guy looked apologetic, he didn’t say it in as many words. That sure was a dampener. But the good thing was the soup packing was spill-free. Steaming hot, the tangy lemon soup filled with aroma of coriander offered a perfect start to our lunch.
The appetisers’ spread had the traditional Cantonese delicacy – dim sums. Both, the veg and nonveg varieties were succulent with the right amount of filling in each piece. But the major disappointment was the Honey Chilli Potato, a dish everyone at my home loves. While the portion size was perfect, the chef seemed to be running short on honey, bell peppers and onions. Plus, it also lacked the crispiness this dish usually has. So, these were just potato fries.
The other dishes stayed true to original flavours, be it the Vegetable Manchurian (soft balls in sweet n salty gravy) and the Hakka Noodles (rich with slices of vegetables) on the vegetarian front or the Chilli Chicken Gravy and Pad Thai Noodles that contained generous amounts of chicken. The sweet dish, Hazelnut Brownies – fluffy and with the right amount of chocolate and sugar – made a perfect ending to our lunch.