Yansoy/Wansoy

Tasted:  The Coriander

Asian cuisine is known to favor light meals over heavy ones like those of European cuisine.  There have been lots of fusion cuisine that have sprouted all over town and my now health conscious partner in crime would jump at the opportunity to try it out.  So off we headed to Banilad Town Center after hearing mass.

Thanks to Facebook, I saw this restaurant featured in one of my friend's wall.  She attended the opening and is friends with the chef and proprietor.  I'm a big fan of Vietnamese and Thai food so I didn't need much prodding in wanting to try this place for size.

Now there's some confusion as to what the herb coriander is in the local dialect.  Some say it's kinchay, while others say it's yansoy (Bisaya) or wansoy (Filipino).  I did some research and yansoy is the apt equivalent.  Here's the link to my source:  Filipino Food Glossary

view from my seat

stairway leading to the 2nd floor

My boyfriend was looking for rotti which they don't have.  In its stead, they serve nan with curry.  If you're used to the rotti from Spice Fusion, you might experience a let down.

Nan with Curry

For his main course, my partner ordered fish tandoori.  Unfortunately I couldn't take a decent photo of it since he keeps on sticking his fork in the dish and a big chunk was gone in a few seconds.  So this is the closest thing that I could find online.  (Photo courtesy of Mystygal)

Fish Tandoori

The Coriander's version doesn't come with rice.  But the fish served is meant to be shared.  I'm not an expert on Indian cuisine but the flavor was quite mild than I expected but the fish was flaky but not dry.  So plus points for that.

Hainanese Chicken

This one I've been waiting to try.  I made this once at home, but wasn't sure whether it tasted authentic.  So I picked it right out of the menu to find out for myself.  I didn't get the buzz that I was anticipating since it arrived cold and I was expecting it to be piping hot.  The chicken wasn't overly done and tasted quite bland to me.  You really have to rely on the condiments that come with this dish such as the sweet soya sauce, chili sauce and ginger to amplify the taste.  These three sauces are just right behind the curry in one of the pictures above.

For the drinks, we had this citrus drink made from 3 kinds of lemons.  So it's something similar to the citrus and herb drink from The Lemongrass except it's more concentrated and leans to the sour spectrum.  Sorry, no photos here.  At this point, hunger has taken priority over taking good photos.

In a nutshell, The Coriander caters to fusion cuisine in a sense that Asian food is married to a wide selection of European wines.  They serve the famous Singaporean Chili Crabs and some prawns and Hainanese chicken as well as Malaysian dishes such as the famous satay.  But what you can see in the menu is more of the Indian food staples such as chicken and fish tandoori, chicken masala and chicken curry just to name a few.  Service wise, their staff could improve on their knowledge of the menu.  A group of Indian and Singaporean tourists were dining and asked several questions regarding the menu but their staff had to make several trips to the head waiter to ask questions.  Considering that most of their food is Indian, they should have a steady supply of nan since it is usually eaten while waiting for the main course to be served.  Price range is more or less similar to that of Spice Fusion but there's a big difference when you let your taste buds do the talking.  Would I be willing to give it a second try?  It's a MAYBE....