There’s a new pan-Asian dining destination in Delhi and it’s slowly making its place in the hearts of gourmet lovers. The Art of Dumpling (TAOD), located in the heart of the city, Connaught Place, prides itself on being the only place in India that offers the largest variety of dumplings — 149 in all. It is planning to take that number to 201 dumplings. To walk into a restaurant serving Asian cuisine is like arriving in epicurean Eden, with a waft of spiced flavours embracing you as you step in. TAOD gives you a similar olfactory experience. As you are ushered in, you are welcomed with a familiar aroma that contains the flavours of ingredients used across the continent to make Indian, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Mongolian and Japanese specialities. 

The interior decor of the 75-seater restaurant, a brainchild of Adipta Majumder, owner of Kahhak Industries, is classy and elegant. Draped in the shades of gold, brown, grey, and black and white, its walls and flooring, furniture and lighting, and tableware, wear a stately look. The ambience is warm and welcoming, and the demeanour of the staff and servers is courteous and hospitable. The food at TAOD is to be relished unhurriedly, exactly the way it is prepared and served. My gastronomic experience begins on a spirited note. The Sparkling Golden Cranberry — which is essentially sangria minus alcohol — comes stirred in the gold lustre dust, and leaves you replenished and rejuvenated, and your palate tingling with its sweet-tangy aftertaste. The condiments that accompany the drink include pickled veggies, roasted peanuts along with a dip, and crispy sago. The starters include Gondi soup (meatballs in clear broth), Chicken Xon Ping dumpling, vegetable dumplings, Crab Rangoon (fried dumplings stuffed with crab) and Mock Duck dumpling (high-protein vegetarian dumplings made from wheat gluten which resembles duck meat).  The main course arrives with a stew of delicacies like crispy Prawn Tempura sushi with wasabi, tandoori chicken, Thai-style fried rice called Khao Pad rice and fish in mahalak sauce. Most of these pan-Asian dishes have been recreated keeping in mind the Indian palate, which has a penchant for strong flavours. Among the desserts, the show-stealer is Auric Aura black spaghetti ice-cream, with sparkles and gold leaves, which looks like shiny black spaghetti until you dig in and realise it’s only creamy and flavourful ice-cream, without any real spaghetti in it. This is a speciality unique to the restaurant and it is planning to launch six more flavours. We wrapped up the culinary affair with Tisanes tea, an infusion of fragrant herbs, fruit, bark, flowers, or spices simmered in hot water, which soothed the senses after a sumptuous meal.

According to Kahhak manager Vaibhav, TAOD opened in 2019 and was just six months old when Covid struck. During the pandemic-induced lockdown in 2020, which saw a lot of restaurants shutting shop, TAOD remained closed and opened again sometime last year. It had to shut down again during the second wave this year. Majumdar, the owner, remained invested in experimenting with dumplings and carried on the tasting sessions inside the restaurant between 2 to 6 pm on most days when it was not operational. Back in action since September, it is now emerging as a new favourite among the discerning Pan-Asian diners.  As of now, it offers, 50 varieties of dumplings and, if things go well and there are no more lockdowns, they are anticipating they’d be able to serve 149 dumplings, the complete menu, within the next six months. 

TAOD also has a cloud kitchen that would deliver within 49 kilometres, which is also going to be its USP. Cooking dumplings is an art that takes perseverance and patience to learn and the dumpling chefs at TAOD contend with this. “Our recipe is different; it’s all fusion. We have a different variety of sushi that you would not get to taste anywhere in India,” says Kahhak manager. According to the dumpling and sushi chefs who have close to nine years of experience working in the hospitality industry, TAOD doesn’t compromise on the taste. Its focus is more on quality of food and customer satisfaction than revenue. Due to the pandemic and some ongoing trade restrictions, there have been challenges in procuring some imported ingredients but otherwise the kitchen is running smoothly.

The chefs added that TAOD doesn’t store anything. It serves fresh food and uses all imported ingredients. They also have options for vegans. Overall, TAOD promises to be a pan-Asian diners’ delight.  Delhi sees a regular inflow of foreigners who constitute a consistent clientele for restaurants like TAOD that promise to serve the authentic cuisine. For visitors from Southeast Asia as well as Delhiites who have developed a great taste for pan-Asian delicacies like Sushi, Tempura, Khoey Sui, and Thai curries, TAOD is a veritable treat.