An out of the ordinary dinning experience
the ordinary dining experience
AMAL AL-SIBAI
Dining at Bamboo is like travelling to some natural resort. The partitions that separate the dining rooms are all made of real bamboo plants.Eating out is never only about the food. It is about relaxing, being pampered, and sharing a new experience with someone. Dining out gives you the chance to re-connect wit
h your partner and friends, communicate with colleagues, or just have fun with your family. It also gives insight into cultures of people from all over the world. One elegant restaurant in Jeddah stands out in its food and design: Bamboo Chinese Seafood Restaurant. The sound of trickling water from a waterfall invites you into the restaurant’s main entrance. The water drops down into a small pond with colorful fish swimming around, surrounded by green plants and natural rocks. As the weather in Jeddah is hot and humid for nine months of the year, we rarely get to enjoy natural scenery, but now we can at Bamboo. Bamboo is not designed like most fancy restaurants that resemble the inside of a palace, home, or castle. Dining at Bamboo is like travelling to some natural resort. The partitions that separate the dining rooms are all made of real bamboo plants. A carpenter who specializes in handling bamboo was brought in from Vietnam to decorate the restaurant. The bamboo plant is very important to the peoples of the Far East. It is a symbol of good luck, friendship, prosperity, and long life. Chinese people aspire to become in their own lives as the bamboo plant: strong and solid when necessary but also flexible enough to bend without breaking. Families can choose from a number of small private dining rooms to sit in, most with their own fish aquarium or view of the waterfall. The lights are soothingly dim and the atmosphere is peaceful and quiet. Single men are seated upstairs where there are also large, round tables suitable for business lunches. There is a huge variety of dishes to choose from and we sampled a little bit of everything to give you a complete review of what Bamboo has to offer. Starting with soup, we tried the lemongrass chicken cream soup. Unlike most cream soups, this one was not thick and heavy. Floating in the soup were cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, baby corn, and tender chicken pieces. It was slightly sweet and the lemongrass imparted just a hint of a spicy taste. Since Bamboo is like no other regular Chinese restaurant, skip the regular spring rolls. For appetizers, go for the fried shrimp balls or grilled dumplings. The center of the shrimp balls is a soft mixture of cooked shrimp meat, then rolled in small cut up toast pieces, and deep fried until it is crunchy and golden in color. To eat, cut the shrimp ball in half, and drizzle with soy or sweet n’ sour sauce, and the shrimp will soak up all the sauce. The dumplings are made of a paper-thin pastry, stuffed with minced meat. The average diner may be unaware that the Chinese are talented and creative in cooking seafood. The most common Chinese dishes are sweet n’ sour chicken or beef with broccoli or mixed vegetable chopsuey. but we rarely try their shrimp or fish selections. An out of the ordinary restaurant like this one calls for an entirely different dining experience. For example, you have probably never sampled fish cooked in banana leaf! This dish is a najil whole fish wrapped in banana leaf and baked in the oven without any oil. It is not loaded with spices because that would mask the original taste of the fish. Instead, the aromatic green banana leaf is used so that the fish absorbs the subtle flavor and a delightful scent, while locking in moisture. This is a healthy, low fat, and absolutely delicious dish, but the downside is that it is expensive. Bamboo Seafood Restaurant brings us food from another part of Asia. They serve the popular Japanese food, sushi, reasonably priced at SR30. “Sushi is the falafel of Japan. Many people may be curious about the taste of sushi but cringe at the thought of eating raw fish,” remarked the Director of Bamboo, Ali Ayoub. “So, we modified our sushi to give our customers the pleasure of eating this exquisite food that is also acceptable to their palate and culture. We cook or half cook the shrimp or fish, add cucumber and carrot slices, then wrap it in a layer of cooked rice and finally seaweed.”
Authentic sushi is served with the condiment wasabi on the side. Eaten alone, wasabi is too spicy, so you should mix it with soy sauce. When diluted, it is stimulating and spicy but not in an irritating, burning way. Wasabi is related to the horseradish and cabbage family and it acts upon the nasal passages more than the tongue. For those of you who stick to the belief that what you know is better than the unknown, you can pick a regular Chinese meal, such as fried noodles or chicken with black mushrooms that tasted very good. What makes Bamboo stand out from other restaurants is the extreme care and immaculate attention to detail that goes on behind the scenes so that the food presented is of highest quality and great taste. Ayoub is adamant on using no MSG in the kitchen.
“We know that MSG has harmful effects on the body and may trigger severe allergic responses in some sensitive people. To enhance the flavor of foods, our chef uses natural seasonings and herbs even though they cost much more than MSG. Also, our purchasing team and chef go to the fish market every day at dawn to buy the best quality of seafood caught from the Red Sea. We bring in a supply that will last for only one day so that we never have leftover or frozen seafood. Our chef bakes the toast that we use in the fried shrimp balls. We came up with a recipe so that the toast does not soak up too much oil nor does it have a greasy taste when it is fried. A member of our team actually traveled to Shanghai, China and brought back an experienced Chef with him to cook at Bamboo,” Ayoub explained. It is obvious that the food at Bamboo is prepared by an expert in Asian cuisine. I used to hold the stereotype that Asian desserts are weird and do not taste good. That is because I never tried this Chinese luxury before: fried apple with honey. When I ate it at Bamboo for the first time, I could not stop myself from behaving like a happy little kid; licking my fingers and quickly eating my entire portion. The apple slices are juicy and soft yet chewy, enveloped in a crispy batter. The fried apples are then dipped in honey. Each bite is like an apple pie, with the perfect balance of warm fruit, golden crust, and sweetness. Bamboo restaurant is located on Al-Rawdah street in Jeddah. You cannot miss it as there is a large lobster on the outside, and once you visit it, you will not forget it. Bamboo may become your comfortable place to dine, listen and talk to family, and give you that emotional boost you will need to get your through yet another week of hard work.
