Restaurant Review- Fusion food China gate, Bandra, Mumbai

Recently on a Friday, my hubby and I decided to celebrate our coming weekend with élan. That’s how we chose to have dinner at a swanky restaurant in Bandra. We are Bengalis and have grown on fish. But the Bengalis prefer to double cook their fish. Though Bengali cuisine is all about fresh water fish (less smelly), yet we fry the fish first and then put it to simmer in mustard glazed curry (mostly, though we have plenty of other variations as well). But the thought of eating raw fish wrapped in a sea weed is not something many bongs can relish, let alone actually eating them. I thought even I belonged to that kind of genre, but for my ever experimentative husband, I did try and liked the sushi very much. We went to China gate in Bandra (opp. KFC).

This restaurant is a sea food buffet heaven. The decor is beautiful. It has a small inbuilt lake- imitation with fishes inside. Children truly loved to gaze around the pool to spot different varieties of fishes inside. The other thing I liked about this restaurant apart from food was that they provided bottled mineral water only. The food was divided in many categories. The spread started with a sushi bar, with veg on one side and non veg on two sides. I was very apprehensive to try them, especially after looking at their raw faces. One can actually see the red meat of the fish. At first I tried the veg sushi and upon insistence from my better half, took only one of the non veg. But lo and behold, it was superb, just the right softness and nothing seemed raw to me. The next time, I was braver in picking up each kind of fish sushi and try them. Trust me when I say, it was awesome. It was even better than steamed momos, which was my favourite south Asian food, till then.

The next counter had a variety of momos and dumplings, tempuras and other south Asian starters. The starters were so good that we straightaway graduated to desserts after that, completely ignoring the main course. The main course had a variety of (Indianised) Chinese food. And after the superb starters the Chinese fried rice was not that welcoming. But the dessert was again a great spread. There were mouthful bites of 6-7 different kinds of pastries, 2-3 differently flavoured cheese cakes, 4 kinds of cookies and cakes each. The spread is unlimited so you may fill in as many plates as you want.

The service and hospitality of the staff was very appreciable. They were courteous and served with a smile. The spread was replenished very efficiently. It was only the prawn tempuras which were evasive.

For people who would like to enjoy a drink with their sushi, there is a fully functional bar there which is not included in the buffet though. The rates are ok and not very expensive. Weekdays are cheaper than the weekend starting from Friday evening. The place is well maintained and the chefs seemed to be imported from Japan itself. All in all a total paisa vasool and should be tried once at least.