We’re told it’s a sight to behold when you see Veena Arora, chef de cuisine at The Spice Route restaurant, at The Imperial. She stands on a pedestal in the kitchen, with a speaker in one hand and an instruction sheet in the other. No matter how big or small the promotion is, whatever goes on the table, first passes her inspection. So, when she invited us to sample her new noodle menu, called Noodle Symphony, she kept excusing herself to make sure everything in the kitchen functioned flawlessly.
And it did, because the proof was in the pudding. Everything that came out was perfect. The kitchen is really where Chef Veena truly belongs. Even when she’s tending to guests outside, her senses are always alerting her to the calls of the kitchen. ‘‘I must run and see if everything’s in order,’’ she says, before sprinting to her little haven.
A few minutes later, out she comes with two of her trusted service members, instructing them on the placement of the dishes. ‘‘You must have the Crispy Por-Pia Skin Noodles immediately. They may get soggy if they’re kept out for too long,’’ she instructs us, almost like a mother figure. These wok-fried noodles with pokchoy and soya sauce are her signature from the menu, and quite honestly, also the best from the lot.
The other dishes in the short menu are Mee Goreng (Malaysian yellow noodles stir fried with prawns, chili paste, celery and baby spinach in light soya sauce), Kieow Tieow V-Seth (wok-fried rice noodles with yellow curry paste and chicken, flavoured with garden fresh sweet basil), Phad Khee Mao (wok-fried Thai rice noodles with chilly and oyster sauce), Tom Cherd (minced chicken clear soup with Shanghai noodles and Chinese cabbage) and Mee Daeng (stir-fried vermicelli rice noodles with sri-racha sauce).
Even though each dish has a distinctive composition of flavours, one sauce beautifully brings out the density in each preparation—the Sriracha—made from chilli pepper, distilled vinegar, garlic, sugar and salt, commonly used in Thailand. A note of caution: start with a light drizzling of it and then build up your capacity for more. You’ll thank us later.
Today is the last day of the promotion, but the items are available on request through the rest of the month.