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At P!ng, the hero of the menu is no doubt the large variety of Dim sum. As mentioned in an earlier blog (http://thepingrestaurant.com/blog/?p=13&cpage=1#comment-4), we offer more than 35 varieties of Dim Sum at P!ng.

Having said that, there are several other champions on the P!ng menu. At P!ng, we have endeavoured to create a main course menu that is reflective of the variety of Asian cuisine from the eyes of a Chinese cook. This means that several of our main course dishes – the rice/noodles/stir-fries have a Malaysian/Thai/Indonesian/Singaporean touch. The attempt is to get the discerning diner to taste the variety in Chinese cuisine, as it has travelled over centuries from Mainland China to other countries

One such variant of the Chinese Fried Rice is the Nasi Goreng, which is available in two varieties at P!ng – for vegetarians and for meat lovers. The Nasi Goreng, is a dish of Indonesian origin. In fact, it is close to being termed as Indonesia’s national dish – that Indonesia is well known all over the world for. Indonesian fried rice has been popular in and out of the country. If you are stranded in some city or town or village and you stepped into local eateries, and if you happened to be not too adventurous in culinary quest, it is the safest item to order and you can always find it in any decent restaurants in sight. Even when they don’t have it in the menu, providing that restaurant do serve rice, you can request for it.

Indonesians like to fit all sorts of flavors and textures in one biteful. That is what sets the fried rice apart from other version found in the region. The condiments are fried shallots, fried rice / prawn crackers, shredded chicken meat and fresh vegetables such as lettuce, sliced cucumber, sliced tomatoes. The flavor is enriched by shrimp paste, chili, garlic and shallots.

As always, the rice used is day-old rice. Newly cooked rice can also be used, if it is properly cooled. However, the fried rice will turn out to be stickier, so proper care in adjusting the heat is needed to ensure that doesn’t happen. Fried rice with grains sticking together is such a turn-off. Indonesian fried rice normally used javanica, which is a medium grain, fat and dry with low sticky character. The better quality rice would be the nicely polished and white ones with no broken grains.

Nasi Goreng, literally meaning “fried rice” in Indonesian and Malay, can refer simply to fried pre-cooked rice, to a meal including fried rice accompanied with other items, or to a more complicated fried rice, typically spiced with tamarind and chilli and including other ingredients, particularly egg and prawns.

The main ingredients for the plain Nasi Goreng include pre-cooked rice, soy sauce, garlic, shallot and some spring onions for garnishing. Nasi Goreng can be eaten at any time of day, and many Indonesians, Malaysians and Singaporeans eat Nasi Goreng for breakfast, often using leftovers from the previous day’s dinner. The rice used to make Nasi Goreng is cooked ahead of time and left to cool down (so it is not soggy), which is one reason to use rice cooked from the day before

At P!ng, we serve the Nasi Goreng as a main meal accompanied by additional items – in the case of the non vegetarian option – such as a fried egg, chicken satay sticks, prawn tempura ( wafers) and prawn sambal; and in the case of the vegetarian option – with a baby corn wonton, pickled vegetables and garlic wafers. In many street stalls in Indonesia, when accompanied by a fried egg, it is sometimes called Nasi Goreng istimewa (special fried rice)

The Nasi Goreng at P!ng is currently a hot favourite and has won many rave reviews. It is a must try for those who believe that they have had great Nasi Goreng before. You will find the one at P!ng, in a class of its own.

They say most businesses start from the back of a garage; well, ours isn’t much different. Searching for a place to house our dreams of running a restaurant, we landed at this bungalow we almost instantly fell in love with. It provided us with the desired location and space; and alongside came the beautiful compound and the garage to want to do something with. To maximise space utilisation, and to offer the youngsters and the local residents a cool hangout, we converted the compound to a cafe-like informal place and the garage to home of youthful pastries, mocktails, sundaes, sandwiches and momos. So, our garage is up and running, and that is where our business starts, everyday, at 10 AM. We call the place P!ng Dessert Bay.

You may be a tres-passer converted to a guest intrigued by the boutique look of our place and looking to find out more about our restaurant, or a student who wants to leave behind the burden of the run-of-the-mill accounting lecture to sit with friends and generate bright ideas for the future, or love-birds looking to have a nice time together, or a family that wants to have a cool evening in open-air, or a bunch of friends with guitar, cool musical notes and vocal cords, we have place for each and every one of you.

While you are chilling out spending quality time with your family, friends or significant other, you can try from our range of sandwiches and momos. Harish will be happy to make you a plate of yummy Oriental Chicken Sandwich, or a Chicken and Pineapple Sandwich; we have sufficient variety of Veg Sandwiches also. And if you need stimulus for that next idea for the future, or that next brilliant musical tune, you have the yummy momos to help yourself with; you can call them foods for thought.

Cool Breeze

And by the way, if you need to cool down after that could-have-been-avoided argument with your near one, you should just ask Sathish for a glass of Cool Breeze. Which reminds me, we have brought this amazing concept from Taiwan. Well, by now, it is popular in various parts of North and South-East Asia, but it originated in Taiwan. Yes, we offer what is popularly known as bubble tea, which refers to the family of drinks offered with chewy pearls made from tapioca. While you drink bubble tea, you are also supposed to chew the mildly sweet tapioca pearls. Therefore, with the bubble tea, we offer thicker straw using which the pearls can be sucked. We offer four flavours of bubble tea: Green Apple, Banana, Strawberry and Blueberry.

P!ng Bang

And oh, you must check out our options of pastries and sundaes. And whilst you can yourself take a look at our website  -www.thepingrestaurant.com – for the choicest of options created by carefully mixing from the range of ice-creams, cakes and sauces, I should probably share with you that Salju has been very busy making Ping Bang. Ping Bang, a collage of scoops of Strawberry, Chocolate, Black-Currant, Mango and Honey-Crunch ice-creams with fruits, nuts, brownie chunks and a rich chocolate topping, is already a big-hit among our customers!

It is for the above reasons that you should visit P!ng Dessert Bay. All items from the dessert menu at the P!ng Dessert Bay can also be ordered from inside of the restaurant. We are working on our promos and loyalty programs – so we can establish a permanent bonding with you – and will roll them out soon.

You are most welcome to the P!ng Dessert Bay.

As our patrons and fans know, P!ng serves a wide range of Dim sum cuisine. Indeed, that is what we specialise in. The variety of Dim sum available at P!ng is of the highest class. Having said that, the knowledge that Dim sum is a varied cuisine and has a large variety, is not very commonplace.

Here is some interesting trivia about the humble Dim sum, some of which will certainly leave the reader stunned. And of course, for those of you who do not believe in merely reading up, you are always welcome to come over to P!ng to get to taste the range of the Dim sum and the authenticity of the taste that the P!ng Signature Dim sum offers

• It’s really rare for Chinese people to prepare a dim sum meal at home.  Preparing a Dim Sum at home would take far too long. Each Dim Sum dish is quite complicated and time-consuming to make. In China, going for dim sum is a means of socializing with friends and family, particularly at the weekends
• Dim sum literally means ‘touch the heart’. By origin, Dim Sum is a type of Cantonese cuisine.  Traditionally, Dim Sum consists of a wide variety of small dishes, served with Chinese tea
• At Dim Sum restaurants, rice porridge, fried noodles and rice are served alongside different types of Dim Sums. At P!ng – you can get to choose from 40 varieties of different Dim sum and can help yourselves to a delectable range of stir fries served with a large variety of noodles and rice
• Dim Sums are of various kinds and are not necessarily cooked in the same way, which is where the variety emerges from. They can be steamed or fried or grilled. They can be steamed meat and seafood balls. They can also be buns which are typically savory and sweet. At P!ng – we serve all these varieties and its one of the few places where you will get an opportunity to sample all of them in one place. Due to the sheer variety on offer, Dim sum is best enjoyed in a group – with your friends or with family
• Boiled dumplings are known to be the healthiest of all Dim Sums. They are eaten with a vinegar-based dipping sauce, or served in soup, with or without noodles. This type of Dim Sum – boiled and served with a dipping sauce – is traditionally prepared and eaten on the eve of Chinese New Year, the most important festival in the Chinese calendar. The crescent shape of Dim Sum is similar to the gold and silver ingots used in old China, and therefore symbolize wealth for the year ahead. At P!ng, me make our own sauces, and serve them fresh. Indeed, the Spring Onion & Coriander sauce is the current crowd favourite. At P!ng, you can get to choose from more than fifteen varieties of steamed Dim sum with an equal emphasis on the vegetarian taste and the current crowd favourites are the Shanghai Vegetable Dim sum and the Fish and Shitake Dumplings
• Fried Dim Sum can be of two kinds – ‘pan-fried dumplings’ or Wontons. Pan fried dumplings are prepared by frying boiled or steamed dumplings. If fried uncooked, i.e. without boiling or steaming them first, they are called wotip. Served with various kinds of dipping sauces, they are truly delicious. At P!ng, while we offer several Pan fried varieties, the current hot favourite is the Lamb and Ginger Wotip
• Wontons are typically filled with minced meat and wrapped in thinner, silkier square skins made from wheat flour. They are boiled and served in clear broth, with or without noodles, or fried and served with a dipping sauce. There are several common shapes, including triangular and globular. At P!ng, while there are several all time favourites such as the Mini Spring Vegetable Rolls, the current signatures that have won the crowd’s hearts and stomachs are the Vegetable Golden Money Bags and the Fire Cracker Prawns
• The steamed variety of Dim sum is steamed in bamboo baskets. They are not as commonly prepared at home as the boiled and pan-fried versions, because they take longer to prepare. Dim sum originates from Guangdong (Canton) province, and includes many types of steamed dumplings, including the classic prawn dumpling, known as har gau. Steamed dumplings tend to be wrapped in thinner translucent rice flour or wheat starch skins. At P!ng, the most appreciated variety of the translucent Dim sum is the Prawn and Bamboo shoot Har Gau
• Dim Sum is always served in multiple servings and the portion sizes of these are small, with three or four pieces per serving (per person). At P!ng, however, keeping in mind the Indian customs, we offer as many as six pieces for every plate of Dim sum that a customer orders
• Drinking Chinese tea is traditional when having Dim sum. For the true connoisseurs of the Dim sum, at P!ng, we offer traditional Chinese Jasmine Green Tea, served in a tea pot
• Roast buns are wonderful – juicy meat or vegetable pieces inside a fluffy white bun, best eaten steaming hot. The paper need to be peeled off the base of the bun and fingers, rather than chopsticks is used, to break the bun into two pieces. At P!ng, we offer the Pan Fried Vegetable Bun as our speciality
• At P!ng, we have put together the best of all the above varieties into a platter. We offer the P!ng Vegetable Dim sum platter and the P!ng Non Vegetarian Dim Sum Platter for those ( and there have been many happy customers thus far!) who like to have their Dim sum and eat it too

We look forward to seeing you at P!ng to taste the culinary journey of the Dim sum

“Dim sum is a delicious culinary adventure and one which will never be the same no matter how many times you return to the same restaurant.”

As the fans of P!ng would know by now, P!ng is mainly about Dim sum cuisine. It is a humble effort at our end to add to the already breathtaking range of Chinese and Oriental restaurants in Bangalore.

While Dim sum eating and Dim sum based restaurants are by no means absolutely novel, we feel that in India, the concept has not been done justice to and has a lot of potential to occupy a special place in the Indian eating-out scene

When the management at P!ng set about conceptualising its first venture, we noticed a distinct trend that has emerged, both in India, and as we learnt later – worldwide – of entree based menus. For the want of a better set of words, we may call this as a starter based menu

From the Indian cuisine perspective, a kebab based menu, where a variety of kebabs are offered before the main course, is not unknown. Indeed, there are very successful stand-alone restaurants that offer a breathtaking range of kebabs. The kebab has a lot going for it. It meets the Indian taste well – irrespective of which part of India the diner would be from, it offers the chef a scope to be versatile – in terms of presentation and ingredients and most importantly, it allows the customer a varied experience

The Dim sum concept, or more specifically, the concept of a Dim sum based menu is not very much different from this. If anything, the Dim sum cuisine offers a far wider range and a far better scope for experimentation. It is an entirely novel experience for a fine-diner to be able to select from a wide range of appetisers, which then turn out to be small meals in themselves.

For the management of P!ng, the process of conceptualising P!ng was more a discovery of the Dim sum itself. Like most diners there is a misconception that the good-old Momo is all that the Dim sum is about. While the Momo, which is Tibetan in origin, has its rightful place in the culinary map, it is just a small dot in the map of Dim sum cuisine. Each Dim sum at P!ng is an experience in a small way. Familiar ingredients, cooked in dough, with fresh sauces – but with varied cooking options – steamed, grilled, pan fried, deep fried and baked – present an unmatchable choice

At P!ng, we believe that the Bangalorean of today is well read, well travelled and knows his/her food well. We look forward to opening our doors for each of you to understand