Food Review: ALL STIR FRY @ COLABA

All Stir Fried

Yesterday was Vinny’s birthday and she took us to All Stir Fry to celebrate it. She had already been there with a friend a few weeks ago and had been quite impressed with her experience. The restaurant has been newly renovated and is part of The Gordon House Hotel.

Vinny at the entrance to The Gordon House Hotel

Click here to know more about All Stir Fry – menu, rates, location, etc.

While they have an a la carte menu, a dimsum bar and a satay bar, people are more attracted towards the noodle bar that is the Unique Selling Point of the restaurant.

Entrance to the restaurant

You are presented with a bowl and tray on placing an order at the noodle bar. The rate is Rs. 500 plus taxes for either vegetarian or non-vegetarian. You can pick up the ingredients of your choice and present them to the chef. Give him the list of sauces and other flavours that you want and he hands over a hot bowl of stir-fried noodles in a jiffy.

Birthday Baby and Viggy

The ingredients are placed at a counter with a variety of cooked noodles on the left. In front of you are the vegetarian ingredients and behind a partition are the non-vegetarian ones. The vegetarian ingredients include green & red peppers, carrots, spinach, bamboo shoots, corn, baby corn, spring onions, onions, French beans, lettuce, shallots, paneer and tofu – all of them peeled, chopped, sliced and diced to perfection.

Proud parents - Venkat & Yours truly

I believe the non-vegetarian section includes a variety of seafood as well as chicken. A painted board guides you on how you fill your bowl – white with red border for vegetarians and the ones with a black border for non-vegetarians. We are to fill the bowl with the noodles first and the veggies later so that the chef can cook them in the reverse. When I entered the kitchen area, I was glad to see that the vegetarian food was being cooked in separate woks.

The veggies counter

On the left were small bowls with sample sauces in them so that one can taste them and decide what they want in their food bowl. There was Canton Sauce, Szechuan Sauce, Takkoe Sauce, Kung Pao Sauce, Spring Onion Sauce, Pepper Barbeque Sauce and four more that I fail to recollect.

Venkat was not too happy with the experience as he is neither keen on self service nor was he happy with the taste. He enjoys Indian Chinese more than the authentic one, I think.

The rest of us had a great time. While I am not too keen on Chinese – more like Pan Asian – I was game trying a couple of bowls of different flavours. By the way, the number of bowls of food that you pick up is unlimited. So, even if you don’t much like one, you can just keep it aside and take a fresh one.

I chose noodles with some of the veggies and the Pepper Barbeque Sauce for my first bowl. It was absolutely yummy. I got a bit adventurous with my second bowl and choose flat noodles with bamboo shoots (have only read about these and never tasted them – they weren’t too bad) besides other veggies. I requested the chef to add garlic flakes, crushed peanuts and fresh coriander along with Spring Onion Sauce, Takkoe Sauce and Kung Pao Sauce. Paisa vasool!

Vinny had different flavours and combinations in tiny portions three times over so that she got a chance to taste a variety. Viggy went mad and had the time of his life as he is the most adventurous of all. He just loved every bowl that he brought to the table – three or four, I failed to count.

I will award a straight THUMBS UP for the overall experience of the food served, the service, the ambience and the costing – PERFECTO!