The word Mandarin means a minister or counsellor. Expat Chef Luo Jinhong will be Bangalore’s acting mandarin for food for this week. Mandarin Calling gives you a taste of the Mandarin experience or, Southern Chinese cuisine. The promotion is at OKO Lalit Ashok from 25 August to 3 September, 2017.

OKO’s philosophy is to basically give guests an Oriental experience. Chef Lou being from the Southern region has created this menu to give an insight into the region’s specialities. We spoke to Executive Chef Ashish Sanyal of the Lalit Ashok. He told Explocity, “Cuisine from this region is closer to the Indian palette. The food is spicier, richer and a lot more flavourful.” The Southern Chinese cuisine is where Sichuan and Cantonese cooking comes from.

We asked chef what one can expect from this menu. Well, sauces. There are some unique sauces that are not common in most Chinese dishes. This menu focuses on the combination of spice with the exotic sauces.

While you are at OKO, Chef Sanyal has a menu you must try:

To start the meal off, appetisers are

-          Crispy Vegetables in Chilli Plum Sauce

-          Wok Fried Prawn with Chilli Szechuan Pepper Oil

-          Chong qing chicken with onion and dry chilli

-          Corn and Chestnut Dumpling

For soup and entree

-          Lamb and Black Pepper Soup

-          Seafood, Meat and vegetables in choice of sauces like Xiangla, Szechuan Pickled Chilli, Fukien Shacha, Chengdu Pickled Chilli

-          Chilli Black Bean Fried Noodles with Szechuan Pepper Oil.

Close the meal with

-          Steamed Chocolate Bun with Honey Butter Sauce

-          Sticky Rice Ball in Cantonese style.

There you have a it. A full meal that is more than just “sauce-tenance” (Get it?)