Aroy

74, 15th Main,
3rd Phase JP Nagar,
Bangalore 560078
Phone: 080 4093 9311
Website: http://www.thearoyrestaurant.com

Food: 3.5/5
Ambience: 3.5/5
Service: 3.5/5
Meal for 2: Rs1600

JP Nagar gets hip! Forgotten by the biggies in the hospitality business for long, this suburb now boasts of a true blue Thai restaurant, nestled in lush greenery. Aroy, meaning 'delightful' in Thai, opened a few months back and has managed to elicit a similar response from residents of JP Nagar and the surrounding areas (us! us! us!).

Situated on a rooftop, next to the Sarakki mini forest, its the perfect ambience for a leisurely meal (ambitious plans if you are adventurous parents with a pint sized brat in tow). The breeze swishing through the trees as you indulge in some wholesome and delicious South East Asian cuisine under the open sky, drowns out all the din from the traffic below. There is also an indoor seating arrangement if al-fresco isn't your cup of tea (or, if like us, you are caught unawares by a sudden downpour :((( )
The banana blossom cakes came with a lot of recommendation from other reviews and did meet expectations. A crisp crust with a soft inside of shredded banana flower, served with pickled cucumber, the cakes built us a nice appetite.

Banana blossom cakes

The hot and sour Tom Yum soup gets a thumbs up too. Bursting with tangy flavours of lemongrass, in harmony with fresh galangal and aromatic fish sauce, this hearty soup is just what the doctor ordered to beat the winter blues. The kaffir lime leaves added a distinctive zing to the stock. The fish soup with prawn head paste didn't disappont either- delicate chunks of fish in a pungent broth, good for the nasal passages!
The twice cooked chicken wings were full of greasy goodness and best eaten hot. The prawn satay could have been better though; it was quite insipid.
We attacked the burnt garlic chicken noodles with gusto. The shitake mushrooms and pokchoy gave a nice bite and the smoky flavour of the dish was given good company by the chicken krapow (Thai basil chicken stirfried with long beans and red chillies).

Burnt garlic noodles

Thai basil chicken

Aroy also has a limited menu of Burmese and Chinese so we gave Ong Noh - Khao Swte (pronounced -Ono cow soy; also spelt khao sway, khauk swe, khaot swe, Khao Swea etc) a try. Noodles with curried chicken in coconut milk, it is a meal by itself. It came with a host of condiments like peanuts, slices of boiled eggs, slivers of red chillies, sliced onions, quarters of lemon and the like. Being a spice junkie (blame my South Indian genes!), I was disappointed by the (coconut)milky flavour but I hear that this is how the Burmese broth is supposed to taste like.

Khao Swey

And now for my favourite part of the meal- dessert! Do not give the lemongrass icecream a miss even if you are bursting out of your pants after the meal (very likely- did I mention that the portions are very generous?). I fell in love with the nuances of citrusy taste that came through. The zesty flavour of lemongrass made my tastebuds tingle in Hallelujah.

Oooohh..lemongrass icecream

Actually, I am a sucker for anything citrusy so if you aren't, please ignore my ridiculously wordy exaltation and try something else- water chestnuts in coconut milk maybe? Which, by the way, is good too. Crunchy, cold and sweet.

Crunchy waterchestnuts in coconut milk

(Pssst...do.not.miss.the.LEMONGRASS ICECREAM!!!!!!!!)

Did you know.......
...............................that citral, the oil from lemongrass, is used as a mosquito repellent (citronella)around the world?

...............................that galangal is considered an aphrodisiac, and acts as a stimulant and has been said to cause mild hallucinations?