It was a usual weekend morning with us sparring on where to go for lunch. Yes I do reviews and so many think its easy to settle on a place to go, but believe me it isn't... you aren't sure of what cuisine you want, how far you are willing to go, how much you are willing to spend and whether your gut tells you that the new place is worth it all or not. On just one such weekend of brain wracking, Sudhakar took the lead. He just bundled us in the car and said I am taking you somewhere and you will know when you get there. And that's how we ended up at Xian near Ulsoor.
The entrance to Xian is nothing much to look at and for a split second you may wonder what its like inside. But once inside, it pleasantly bright and airy. We chose a corner table and post 1PM the place was relatively empty. Sudhakar felt that its the office crowd that largely was Xian's clientèle and weekends were quieter. We got straight down to business. All of the thinking in the morning was done on an empty stomach and somehow breakfast never really happened. That's why we decide to go all the way here.
Pleasant and bright interiors
Xian's menu has all of the usual suspects characteristic of Chinese menus. Here and there, a few names stood out and that's what we ordered. We began with Shrimp in Rice Wine soup split by two. This was a thickish clear broth with shrimps and a distinct taste of rice wine... not intoxicating by any standard, bland yes... but very nice from the rice wine taste perspective. I, of course, had to destroy the original with some soya sauce.
Shrimp in Rice Wine Soup
To go with this we ordered Chilli Squid. I have never had squid in a Chinese joint and so this to was a type of experiment. An ample quantity of squid mildly batter coated, fried and tossed in a chilli soya sauce and a huge handful of diced spring onions. Squid was not rubbery which is good, the sauce is pretty spicy and you will like it if you like spice as much as I do.
Chilli Squid
Main course for junior was egg fried rice. It was moist enough to have without a gravy and came home as in doggie bag. We decided to go with Veg Chow Cantonese - a mix of half fried, half boiled plain noodles with a bowlful of veggie gravy on the side. The gravy was a riot of colors of all the peppers and vegetables thrown into it. All parboiled, each mouthful with the noodles had a pleasant, crunchy and smooth feeling all at once.
Egg Fried Rice
Veg Chow Cantonese - the noodles
Veg Chow Cantonese - The Gravy
All mixed and on the plate
To go with this we ordered the Double Cooked Chilli Pork. Boiled, fried and tossed in a spicy chilli sauce. Very different from the sauce of the squid and a perfect combo with the noodles.
Double Cooked Chilli Pork
We were really stuffed by now but couldn't possibly go all the way without dessert. We decided to share a date wonton with ice-cream. Surprisingly it took a while in coming. The staff had thoughtfully split it into two bowls. A wonton and a small scoop of ice-cream each. The size of wonton was a little too small for my liking but was crunchy and filled with mashed dates.
Date Wonton with Ice cream
Service is decent and quite prompt. The bill for all of this came to around Rs 800 which is reasonable I feel. The loos are pretty clean.
Address: #132, Ground Floor, Gangadhar Chetty Road, Ulsoor, Bangalore 34
Phone: 41515163
Cuisine: Chinese (Indianized)
Cards Accepted: Yes
Wallet factor: Rs 800 for two
Parking: Street Parking - can be difficult
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