Yuan — Restaurant in Kolkata

Yuan or 元 literally in colloquial mandarin means The Beginning. And I must say after the visit to this Oriental hot spot and tasting their cuisine was a gastronomical delight and perhaps all the more because I never expected this place remotely existing to the location where it is.

Let me explain. Out in the pandemic and lockdown me and my brother ventured out to find some food for ourselves as we were tired with Swiggy and it’s mediocre offerings. And considering our parent’s place we never hoped to find a Michelin quality Oriental gourmet restaurant at all.

And then finding such a delight like YUAN in a quaint corner of the EM bypass was just like finding Hogwarts out of nowhere.

We were hesitant not knowing how YUAN would be but then out of no where two amazing people comes out to greet us and escort us inside to the restaurant.

I was literally impressed with the interiors which was so richly decorated with the mandarin flavour and gradually as we were introduced with our hostesses, we finally realised that we were in an amazing place as their gastronomic tastes were rich, textured and amazingly varied.

I was visibly impressed with Anjali’s rich understanding of Oriental cuisine and warmth and hospitality of Soumi. Together, they were the testimony of the changing landscape of the rich culinary tradition of Kolkata. Two Young and amazingly enterprising abd dynamic Women leaders who are hell bent in not only promoting a Michelin Quality Cuisine at an affordable price point but out there breaking the gender stereotypes and standing tall, amidst the gloomy weather of Pandemic all around.

Other than the pandemic and lockdown these two amazing Women leaders are fighting their way out, against the continuous challenges that comes from every other quarter and that including the over zealous local police administration, time to time, in the pretext of lockdown.

But you know what ? These Two strong Women are not deterred and they carry with them a zest for life and their warm smiles shows their grit and determination.

Now you might get bored and ask whether this is a food review or reviews for Anjali and Soumi ? Well both! The food and these two Young Women and their stories are inseparable and without them the story and the reason why you should read this review is incomplete.

Now going back to food ? How was it ? I would like to rate it 5 star for the sheer reasons below Tastes! Portion! Temperament! Arrangements! Price!

Tastes - We ordered for Salted Pepper Prawns and Crispy Chilly Pork along with Mixed Fried Rice. I must say that the Prawns and Pork just blown us away. Specially the Pork. It’s soft aromatic tender and yet smoky taste makes me rate the dish as one of the best pork preparations in my entire culinary life. And the Prawns ? The hint of pepper along with a slight touch of garlic and the crispy mellowed buttery goodness of the Prawns makes the dish so exquisite.

Portion - Well that’s the another best part. Easily 3 to 4 people could easily eat out of every single portion. If you’re super hungry then you might not agree with me :)

Temperament - What is temperament? In the world of Michelin culinary tradition temperament is key to the success of taste of any dish you have. It literally means whether the near or fish retains its original flavour and nature and not overcooked. Over here too the Prawns and Pork retains their 5 star rating.

Arrangements & Price - The arrangements for the dishes we ordered were so refined and so well accompanied that the tastes of the dishes got enhanced.

And Pricing ? Best Part! Such exquisite and delectable flavoured cuisines are so amazingly priced that it doesn’t pinch a hole in your pocket at all. Rather I must say the Prices are much lower to any other Oriental culinary joints like Mainland China or Peter Cat or Yauatcha or Royal China in Mumbai.

So what are you waiting for ? Just go! I must say being a Mumbaikar I will have to wait eagerly until my next visit to Kolkata....

Starring from the very beginning we were greeted at the gate by the security personnel very warmly. After we went inside the owner sitting at the reception told us to wait as they were sanitizing the table where we seat.

Now coming to the food. We had:

*Pan fried fish (basa): One of most beautiful fish starter I have ever had. The fish was so soft and gently tossed in the sauce with bell pepper and chopped garlic.

*Lat me kai: While placing the order we asked about the no. of pieces of chicken and they told us that there will be 8 pieces but they served us 10 pieces of chicken and like that, that any of the pieces were small so they gave us. The taste was also beautiful and again nice tossed in the sauce with the chopped veggies.

*Moon fan mixed fried rice: Rice with overloaded mushroom, baby corn, egg, chicken and other veggies. The taste was authentic and the quantity was more than sufficient for two.

*Chilli garlic fried rice: Primarily it will give you a schezwan look but it is not at all like that. The taste was awesome and contains sufficient amount of veggies and non veg.

*Pork in chilli garlic sauce: When they served us the dish we thought that they gave us the quantity of two dishes but they told us that it was their normal quantity. It was not a gravy item, a dry one tossed with bell peppers in chilli garlic sauce. Most importantly the quality of the pork was very good.

*Kung pao chicken: Again they will serve you the dish in huge quantity and contains more than 8 pieces. Very nicely cooked and the chicken was very well tendered in the gravy.

All the dishes we have were very nice and tasted as authentic one. The quantity and the quality both were very well maintained. Most importantly they serves in disposable cutleries and properly maintains the sanitizing in...

Visited Yuan at Patuli for Dinner on 16th Nov 2024, to say that it was a terrible and disgusting experience would be an understatement. Starting with the ambience, There was insufficient air conditioning making the place suffocating and dingy. The food was below average to downright disgusting. We ordered Chicken Hot and Sour soup which had a weird tangy tomato flavor to it. Then we ordered the Golden Fried Prawn which had a thick batter coating and absolutely no seasoning in the prawn. The Bhetki Chilli Garlic Pepper fish constituted of 6-7 tiny bhetki pieces poorly coated with besan or cornflour and horribly tossed with some dried up onion petals and capsicum with loads of salt. Main course was horrible..The chicken hakka noodles were over cooked with lot of salt, the hot and Sour chicken was tasteless and the sizzling chilly chicken was stale.. which made the chicken so chewy and hard. God knows how stale the chicken might have been..

To top it all, we ordered for coke and the glass we were served in had a dead fly stuck on the inside of the glass which we noticed much later as the dark cola concealed the dead fly in the beginning. Absolutely disgusting and unhygienic.

WE ARE NEVER VISITING AGAIN. OVERALL RATING 0.5/5

All this for 3k..completely gone down the drain.

We gave this feedback to the manager and would also like to tell the owner to close down such an unhygienic place.

Disgusting...