I recently went to a beautiful new fusion restaurant that offers a different twist on fusion. This restaurant is sort of global cuisine but uses Indian spices and Indian techniques to prepare food however I found that new restaurants almost always have hiccups and that fusion can be confusion.

I know you are always taking a chance when you dine at a newly opened restaurant. It sometimes takes time for them to get their groove and function like clockwork. Things just don’t always go as planned.

On my visit I found that some things I tried I found superb and amazing. I found a couple dishes to be confusing and lastly the dessert I tried was just forking wrong.

Things started out wonderful. The atmosphere is swank and roomy with interesting accents like these beautiful interesting lanterns and chandeliers. The colors of the interior are rich and warm. Our server was very welcoming, friendly  and pleasant. I started with the most interesting hot tea selection I’ve ever seen anywhere.

A glowing box contained samples of high end interesting tea for you to sniff.

I soon ordered the organic ginger snap tea and it arrives in an interesting pristine clean vessel. It was a joy to drink! I haven’t enjoyed tea this much in a long time.

Many interesting choices are offered on the menu. It was hard to decide.  I notice that the menu might be pork free and only has maybe one selection of beef.

We decide to split two appetizers and split a lunch.

We started with the salmon croquettes.

The croquettes were crisp, seemed oil free and were just bursting with interesting flavors and the raita sauce complimented them just right. I was so happy at this point because everything was so great! I thought this was the start to a five star experience. I could have eaten a sack of these little salmon croquettes they were that tasty!

Then came the Szechuan Chicken lollipops.

The lollipops had a nice crisp crust that had a little heat in them. The crust itself was tasty and might have had Szechuan Peppercorn in it. The chicken was cooked nice but not developed with flavor.  Slightly bummed at this point because I’ve had other chicken lollipops that were much tastier. Then my heart sank a little more when the same raita sauce I just had came again came with the chicken because I thought a Szechuan sauce was sort of needed here for something called Szechuan Chicken Lollipops. For me this was some fusion confusion. Maybe a hiccup because it’s a new restaurant. I peeked at the online menu since I don’t recall what I read in the restaurant and the online menu states different sauces.

Now our tandoori chicken sandwich arrives.

I imagined receiving a wildly flavorful chicken on my sandwich. I received plain pressed chicken breast on a fresh roll with mint chutney and a sriracha aioli was on the side. This was nothing like what I imagined the sandwich would be like because when I think of tandoori chicken I think of chicken that was marinated and seasoned with something like cayenne, chili, turmeric and paprika and I certainly don’t think this chicken was cooked in a tandoori either. For me this was more Fusion Confusion. Again not bad food …..but not how exciting I thought it would be. I was confused because I thought that Tandoori Chicken would taste like tandoori chicken. The Sriracha aioli sauce on the side was tasty and I wasn’t sure if it was a dipping sauce for the fries or a spread for the sandwich. This was more confusion for me.

I do have to say not a forking thing was wrong with the masala fries as they were delicious and additive. I would certainly recommend ordering the masala fries.

I saw chocolate fondant on the menu so I wanted to give that a try because you don’t see chocolate fondants on many menus. A fondant is a small but rich French kind of Chocolate Lava Cake.

I imagined getting something like this……… warm with a molten center. It’s usually made with high end chocolate and is very satisfying.

Instead I got a cold but attractive lump of chocolate sugar paste. I received a lump of chocolate (laced with orange) fondant frosting.

Can’t blame this on fusion confusion this was forking just confusion.  It makes me sad that the chef clearly isn’t a pastry chef but I do note they used good quality chocolate. I am also concerned that the management and all the employees working there don’t have a clue on what a fondant is.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to alert them about the fondant because it was complimentary given to me by the management because the original lunch I ordered wasn’t ready to be served but I was going to order this dessert anyway.

New restaurants usually have hiccups and fusion can be confusion.