A new Thai food restaurant is always welcome. Chinese cuisine is one of the most popular choices with the Mumbai masses. So when a new restaurant promises to offer the best of both worlds, our taste buds are piqued for the outing. Soul Food is a nondescript looking restaurant that is located in the lane diagonally opposite Mini Punjab at Pali Naka.


Chicken Lollipop in Black Bean Sauce was spicy but did the tric

When we stepped in, we noticed that the decor was basic sans any uber fancy interiors. It gets the job done but for lack of better choice of words, felt very elementary. Now that is not necessarily a bad thing but brownie points are always in the offing when one is welcomed by the ambience on a night out.

Chinese is the way
We began with the Chicken Lollipop (Rs 190) in Black Bean Sauce. It's a nice spin on the typical Lollipop. The tiny black beans, packed and fermented in salt and the chilly, give a pungent dimension to the stir-fried wings. You might have encountered spicy Lollipops before but this version fell under the nasal-clearing, sinus-clearing category.u00a0


Thai Green Curry didn't match up to the expectations

The Chicken Chilly Pepper Dry (Rs 190) was our pick of the evening. Tossed in soya sauce, salt, pepper, ajinomoto, garlic and green chilly sauce, the shredded bits of boneless chicken were soft and spicy.

Flavour call
Since the Chinese section was a satisfactory affair, we decided to take the Thai route. The Chicken Thai Green Curry (Rs 180) was one of the most bland dishes we've tasted. Green curries tend to be as hot as red curries but the flavours of this dish were tepid. The rice and gravy left a very dry taste on the palate.


Chicken Chilly Pepper Dry was the star of the evening

Not recommended. Perhaps, the guys at Soul Food should stick to preparing the Thai Green Curry by using readily available, commercially-made curry paste. Even the Steam Rice (Rs 90) wasn't satisfactory at all.

Soul food
Food: can do better
Service: attentive
Ambience: elementary
At Silver Croft, Shop No. 7, intersection of 16th and 33rd Road, diagonally opposite Mini Punjab, Bandra
Call 26004520, 9819145558

Soul Food didn't know we were there. The Guide reviews anonymously and pays for meals.