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Jun 05, 2008
Oriental Masterpiece!
For your information, this chain is run by the BJN group, a well-known entity in the south.
I had been to this restaurant once before, but to the Bangalore branch. Although I was still in college and used to cheap, road-side 'chaainees', I found the place palatable and the food, though expensive at that time, VERY tasteful.
Now that I've moved to Hyderabad, thought I'd give this a try. A breezy Sunday evening brought me to this elegant oriental corner of City Center, the mall in which AOC is located. I always have a habit of looking into the eye of the usherers / managers and flashing a smile, to guage their level of involvement with the customer. For the first time in Hyderabad, as soon as I walked in with my girlfriend and did my assessment, we were greeted with genuine and warm smiles from the usherer and manager. We were then calmly ushered to a table for two while I noticed the dim, yet visible surroundings. The music, sweet and softly oriental, hit my gut hard and convinced me of the imminent experience even before I sat down!
The waiters were surprisingly courteous and interactive, and instead of rushing back to the manager for feedback on any of our queries, they politely answered all of them. The service was extremely efficient, and the timing of the service was brilliant. Out of the corner of my eye, I even noticed the waiters constantly trying to guage when to visit the table and when to leave the guests alone. This is truly a sign of a great place to eat.
On to the food.
Orders: Soups and main course, followed by Dessert.
The entire meal was for meat-eaters, so I wouldn't know much about the veg stuff here. But I had to go by the quality and taste of the meat, then I'd pounce on the veggies in much the same way!
Soups were great and had the right blend of broth with meat, and gave a distinctly chinese aroma. Brainwave: Ah! That's why the name. *grin*
Main course was delectable, with us trying the Sticky rice with no extra dishes. Turned out to be more than sufficient for the two of us, with still some remaining. YUM's the word! *grin*
When we were comfortably well fed and almost reaching the Zen of satisfaction, we decided to push it and ordered for a dessert, the Oriental Mango Pudding. And before we know it, me and girlfriend were fighting for it!
After that close-to-beijing experience, I looked at the bill and was stunned with INR 650. All that for just this much!?
Have already vowed to visit as often as I can and am planning to take a couple of chopsticks back home the next time. No lifting, just politely asking the polite folks at AOC. :-)