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| Waiters dressed in tropical style set a table at the restaurant. |
FRAGRANT curries, coconuts and perspiring chili feature in the cuisines of Southeast Asian and eateries offering these flavours are spreading through the city with the growing number of businessmen from these areas.
The Coconut Grove Bistro stands out with coconut palms decorating the entrance hall.
The small eatery on the fifth floor of Plaza 66 attracts many guests, especially during lunchtime when it offers a 35-yuan set lunch.
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| Stir-fried "lady's finger" beans, a typical vegetable of Southeast Asia |
The tiny lamps hanging decorating the trees and lively country music create a nice atmosphere.
After perusing the menu photos, we ordered several interesting dishes.
The Hot & Sour Chicken Soup served in a coconut at 32 yuan is appealing and a spoon is necessary to get every drop of the delicious nectar. Chicken, garlic, mushroom and spices are mixed with the juice of a fresh coconut, then stewed. The soup is clear and subtly sweet because of the juice.
The Curry Fish Head is the restaurant's starring dish. There are two kinds - fresh water fish head and fish head from the sea. The latter is more meaty but expensive and has the Chinese name "opium fish".
The fish head is stewed with coconut milk, home-made curries, red and green chili, onion, fried tofu, eggplant and peas. The opium fish head has a thick and juicy skin, which is loved by most diners.
We then enjoyed the stir-fried "lady's finger" beans, a typical vegetable of Southeast Asia that is slim and long, similar to women's fingers.
The crispy and succulent beans fried with tasty prawn paste and sweety grated coconut may be one of the few vegetarian dishes in the restaurant. Most of the dishes were curry seafood.
For a main course, we ordered Singaporean Laksa at 38 yuan, noodles steamed with heavy coconut milk, prawns, clams, chicken, fried tofu, bean sprout and chili. It's fairly bland compared with the other spicy food.
For dessert, the cool and refreshing Bubur Char-char for 18 yuan combines banana, sweet potato and taro with coconut milk.
The eatery is a cafe and bar later in the evening, providing fresh coconut juice, coffee and cocktails.
The average price per person is about 70 yuan. For 20 to 30 yuan, you can enjoy flower tea and coffee with free refreshments during the afternoon tea period.
Coconut Grove Bistro
5F, Plaza 66
1266 Nanjing Xilu
Tel: 6288-0751
