One of my favorite places to have Indo-Chinese & Thai in Pune !

Rating – 4.5/5

My first contact with Kimchi was initiated more than a couple of years ago and I used to order from here primarily owing to exciting offers on home delivery (read 50% off) from Tastykhana (now foodpanda).

Over the years my appreciation for the place has only grown due to the three following important factors:

1. Quality of Service.
2. Consistent and tasty preparation of dishes.
3. Reasonable price point.

These days whenever I am in a mood to get over my North Indian and Mughlai fetish for food, the next best option for me is to go over and have some Indo Chinese and Indo Thai preparations at Kimchi.

Having tasted both the authentic Chinese and Thai preparations in Vancouver and Hong Kong I can vouch that what we eat in India is hardly authentic Chinese and that’s why I refer the preparations here as Indo Chinese style instead of Chinese. As a matter of fact I doubt how many of us will be able to take in the authentic Chinese preparations as it doesn’t use too much of spices and is somewhat bland with a primary usage of extensive sea-food stock even in non sea-food dishes resulting in a bit of off putting smell which I can hardly bear. However I am a big fan of Indo-Chinese food and I can equally vouch that Kimchi has more or less pioneered this variant and cuisine beautifully and it’s easily my favorite Indo Chinese Restaurant in the Kharadi Area.

Talking about the Thai cuisine I can comfortably say that what gets served in here resembles fairly closely (if not completely) how Thai food needs to be prepared with the green, red and yellow thai curries being really good !

Ambience – a respectable rating of 3/5.

There’s nothing wrong about the ambience of the place though essentially it’s a small place with a place for about six tables, some able to accommodate six folks and others four. It has sufficient number of ACs to beat the heat and the seating is decent enough for a good family dinner.

Service – a good rating of 4/5.

The servers here are quick and efficient and the best thing I like about them is their readiness to always ask about the feedback of their dishes once you have taken a bite or two. Also to highlight that once you report anything which is not up to the mark they are always eager to hear the customer’s feedback and if the dish is too salty or something not cooked properly it’s guaranteed that it will be changed and corrected with a smile and you don’t even have to tell them to do it but they’re likely to do it on their own !! Keep up the good work folks 🙂

Food – an excellent rating of 4.5/5.

The best thing about Kimchi is the fact that it serves awesome food for both vegetarians and non vegetarians alike. There’s no discrimination if you are herbivorous or omnivorous like me, you’re guaranteed to be served value for money and tasty food. I am going to list my favorite dishes that I have had in Kimchi over my countless visits all this while.

Manchow Soup – Veg/Chicken – Among the soups my favorite is the manchow soup and it’s not too tangy, not too sour and not too spicy either. It’s just about the perfect manchow soup and undoubtedly one of the best I have had in Pune.

Paneer Chilly – This is one of the best starters in vegetarian, it’s prepared in a different manner in the sense that it’s not prepared crispy i.e. no/minimal corn flour is used. The cottage cheese used is really soft and is a bit of a different perspective on the usual mundane preparation but has a good accompanying masaala comprising of garlic, bell peppers, onion and other usual suspects.

Roasted Chicken Chilly dry – This is the spicier version of the chicken chilly dry and this is my choice as the chicken chilly dry starter is a bit washed down and I like this spicier variant to be honest.

Chicken LollyPop – Works well with a schezwan sauce, the chicken is a bit crispy on the outside and tender from inside, it’s a nice choice to be had in the starters section.

Fish Placho – A fish starter in a dry variant that comes with a hearty sprinkling of caramelized onions/coriander and other tid-bits. The starter has a unique sweet and tangy taste and surprisingly it worked for me and I’ll look to have it when I am there the next time.

 

Chicken / Veg Hakka Noodles – After having tasted different variants of rice like the fried rice or the schezwan rice preparations I have settled now for the hakka noodles and both the veg/non veg variant just goes fine with any of the thai curries based on your personal preference.

Chicken Laksa Curry – Another thai preparation that goes absolutely well with the hakka noodles and the combination worked like a charm when I had it on one of my usual visits. It’s one of the new dishes introduced by Kimchi and in my view is a valuable addition along with Fish Placho in the starter section.

Chocolate Brownie with hot chocolate sauce – This is the usual way to polish off a satisfying meal. The brownie is soft and served hot with a warm chocolate sauce which makes it a good option for dessert. The brownie comprises of walnuts and works well with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream as well. It’s a bit of a mundane dessert but works just fine for me 🙂

Finally I have attached a snap of the new menu introduced at Kimchi and I tried two dishes from the same and both turned out to be quite a find. As usual I had a top class experience here and I wish them all the luck and determination to maintain their consistency in the future as well. I’ll be back for sure !