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I’m not sure if I’m becoming a grumpy old man, or whether it’s my Taurean temperament playing up but I’m not a great fan of change when it comes to eating out.
I like my Indian restaurants to dish up spicy Indian curry (with peshwari nan, although you can’t find one anywhere on this island), my Chinese restaurants to have chopsticks on the table and my Thai to be tantalisingly hot, served up in pretty pottery.
Nowadays, it’s all about ‘fusion’ and even some of my favourite restaurants have changed their operations and gone down this road.
So, it was with some trepidation that I ventured into bustling Umm Al Hassam at lunchtime to sample the fare at the impressive-looking Panasia Restaurant & Tea Lounge.
The outside courtyard has tables with ashtrays and a water feature which also works throughout the building as a space divider and calming influence.
Inside boasts a clean and airy ambience, comfortable lounge furniture and sofas with hanging white beads dividing one section.
The place-mat on my table read: experience a blend of Eastern promise with Indian delights. Executive Chef Sarkar must have seen the expression on my face, but he looked confident that he was up to the challenge of allaying any fears I may have over the food.
An Indian from Kolkata, he arrived in Bahrain four months ago having gained culinary experience in his home country, Cyprus and more recently, a five-year spell in Dubai leading the team of chefs at the celebrated Goldilocks Restaurant.
Operations manager Dinesh Chandra, of Unique Restaurants, the company behind Panasia, explained: “People like a choice and so far, so good. Our customers appear to be appreciating the menu and the quality of food prepared.”
The choice is truly impressive. I was tempted by the Tangy Thai Orange Salmon at BD3.500 and on the Chinese side the thought of Dim Sum steamed dumplings with tenderloin at BD2.500 had my mouth watering.
But if I was really to put Panasia to the test I had to compare it with one of my favourite restaurants. The five-star Taj Mahal Indian in Bristol dishes up the best tandoori trout in the world, in my humble opinion. Now that would be a challenge.
Of course, there is no trout available here but the hammour is usually a tasty number for sure.
I ordered from the Indian section the whole local baby hammour marinated and grilled in the tandoori oven, served with a garden salad and costing BD5.900.
Now if this was a baby, he must have been the bam bam of the school. The mighty fish filled the plate impressively and its succulent meat melted in the mouth.
Seasoned to perfection it would have easily given Taj’s trout a trouncing. Marvellous and it complimented my starter of clear lobster and crab meat soup at BD2.500 superbly.
These are exciting times for the restaurant as it finds its feet in a competitive marketplace and its staff members are full of energy and ideas.
A business lunch buffet is being set up at BD4.200 for Mondays and Wednesdays, noon until 3pm, with the a la carte also available. The spacious restaurant also has facilities to hold small conferences, so companies can enjoy mixing business with pleasure.
Dinesh showed me around the impressive tea lounge upstairs which is sure to become a massive hit when it officially opens, with the Bahraini community in particular, with its comfortable, relaxed and chilled design.
A work colleague recently enjoyed a black bean vegetarian Chinese dish which she thoroughly enjoyed.
Panasia is a welcome addition to the dining out scene with a fusion fare which appears to work on the wok, in the oven and most importantly, on the plate.
