If you are always on the hunt for healthier food options, head to Trincas for its retro ambience, live music and now, its guilt-free food. The iconic restaurant on Park Street, along with the Ming Room, The Other Room and Tavern have turned a new leaf, creating healthy versions of their classic favourites. My Kolkata joined Anand Puri, the third-generation owner of Trincas, to explore the new additions to the Chinese menu.
From Dry Chilli Chicken and Garlic Prawns Cantonese Style; Dragon Style Broccoli with Water Chestnut and Lotus Stem, to Mushroom Fried Rice topped with Fried Ginger — all of them have gotten a healthy upgrade
All images by Soumyajit DeyExplaining the tweak, owner Anand Puri said, “We've added balance to the menu, where we have got some amazing stir-fries, which everyone can enjoy. It’s an evolution of the old menu. All familiar items on the menu remain — like chilli chicken, hot garlic chicken, chicken Manchurian etc., but if you want a healthier version, we will make it for you.”
The kitchen has made some tweaks to ‘healthify’ the dishes. For example, the healthy version of the classic chilli chicken (left) is made without any flour coating. The chicken is sliced (right), and instead of deep frying it, it is stir-fried in minimal oil
For the Garlic Prawn Cantonese Style, the prawns are not coated in batter. It is cooked with less oil and broth. This is designer Navonil Das’s go-to order at Trincas since it was introduced to the menu a few weeks back. “I absolutely love the juicy prawns. It's very simple because there is no excess oil or excess sliminess of the corn starch. Now that the summer is here, it would be perfect with some steamed rice,” Navonil told My Kolkata
Up next was the Sizzling Ginger Chicken. Again, It was made with sliced chicken with no flour coating. There was a balanced portion of chicken and veggies like broccoli, pak choy, onions and peppers sprinkled with sesame seeds
We also tried the Chilli Basil Roast Lamb. The sliced meat was stir-fried with crunchy long beans. A great source of protein!
It was the turn of the vegetarian dishes to surprise us. The first was a Dragon Style Broccoli with Water Chestnut and Lotus Stems. The overall dish was full of textures. The crunchy water chestnut, lotus steam and cashews made a flavourful combination. The dish was mildly sweet
For the mains, there was a Mushroom Fried Rice topped with fried ginger. The combination of ginger and mushroom added a subtle flavour to the rice.
“I wanted to eat more Chinese food daily and I love Chinese food at Trincas. That’s when I sat with my chefs and discussed the menu. I think it fits well with our concept of being classic, but also keeping up with the times,” said Puri, adding that the new menu also got a thumbs-up from his gym trainers!