Delhi's romance with Japanese cuisine continues to flourish with more and more Japanese restaurants opening up in the city! I have been a big fan of Shiro, New Delhi but I have to admit that I have been on a lookout for a new place since long. I was invited for a review to Etc Cafe Pan Asian. Located in a beautiful, super beautiful arcade at Ambawatta One, Mehrauli this place is perfect for anyone looking for a venue for perfect date night. And If you love Japanese cuisine, then it's a bingo!

We were invited for a dinner that had Chef curating special menu and not to forget some live music. The restaurant has two facets to it. There is a more relaxed side with a laid back cafe like feel and then there is another side which is more of fine dining. The one with the live music was in the cafe side. With cuisine on offer that spans South East Asia – the menu is a bold compilation providing options for quick bites or leisurely meals, in the form of delectable smatterings of Thai, Chinese, Burmese, Indonesian, Japanese Etc.

Cinnamon and watermelon mojito

diced potato with pepper garlic and honey

Diced Chicken with sweet and red pepper & lamb Satay

In between all that food!

Oriental chicken with soy sauce and fried rice

Chicken Teriyaki with Rice

gateau chocola and chiffon cake

Gateau chocola with caramel sauce.

We started our evening with drinks. We ordered cocktails and I have to give a special mention to the cinnamon flavored mojito. Oh the watermelon mojito was a good one too. Very refreshing, very balanced and had a very good amount of alcohol infused. The starters very very good too. Absolutely loved the peanuts flavored lamb satay. Diced Chicken with sweet and red pepper was full of spices and flavors. Then there was diced potato with pepper garlic and honey which was basically caramelized chili infused potatoes were a lot like toffee and ended up sticking on the palette after every bite. I have to admit, no matter how much I love caramel, the potatoes were really sweet, like really. We enjoyed a couple of drinks and moved to mains. You have to try Japanese sticky rice and Chicken Teriyaki, a perfect bowl dish. Another favorite was the Oriental chicken with soy sauce and fried rice. The chicken was moist, full of flavors and scrumptious.  The bowl dishes are lip smacking and fresh. The portion too is good per person. From mains we switched to desserts and Oh boy, how much I loved the light, beautifully textured gateau chocola with caramel sauce. I particularly loved the dessert because it wasn't very sweet or chocolaty. It reminded me of  my favorite french sponge cake with the only difference of being more gooey. Along with the gateau, we had  Chef's special Chiffon cake. This was a miss for me, a little dry and a little bland. The consistency looked good but the flavour did't really work for me!  

With the varied indulgences in order, a destination is borne, where visitors can expect to be pampered by good food and an ambiance to match at any given point through the day, and at night. Must check out this place for romance and good South Asian cuisine!