Thai & Chinese fusion at LèTen
Overlooking the mighty Burj Khalifa and the wonderful Dubai Fountains with the picturesque Souk Al Bahar as the backdrop, LèTen brings you delightfully modern Thai and Chinese fusion cuisine and makes the perfect setting for a date or a friends night out. We were obviously there for the latter!
We start our experience of the fusion of Thai and Chinese flavors in designer mocktails at LèTen, Dubai Mall.
Pictured here: the sweet and sour Tamarind Passionfruit Lemonade, the Spiced Mangosteen Margarita with a hot chili garnish & spicy rim, and the light and refreshing Peach Asian Lemongrass Iced Tea with lemongrass stems.
You cannot go to LèTen and not try this! Their signature dish, the Wasabi prawns are another designer specialty. Deshelled tender prawns are covered in creamy and spicy Wasabi mayo, garnished with coriander leaves and placed over a sweet watermelon disc. These contrasting fusion flavors are almost like a disco party for your taste buds, offering a lot more than you expect in one bite. Absolutely recommend this one. It’s a must try.
Definitely making you rich with flavor, the golden vegetable money bags come deep fried and filled with hot vegetable stuffing. They are carefully tied with a thin seaweed ribbon and served with spicy Thai chili sauce.
No, it’s not as devilish as you think it will be. The vegetarian variation of Devil’s Fried Rice takes spicy up a notch but not enough to make your eyes water or steam escape your ears. Stir fried in black pepper sauce, it comes with a spice infused mixture of chili, peppers and spring onions. If you’re in for trying something out of the ‘classic Chinese’ box, give this dish a try. You won’t regret it. The original version comes with diced sirloin beef.
Classics never disappoint! And the Yang Zhou fried rice at LèTen just proves that. This popular Chinese dish comes with all the things you love about the cuisine – stir fried rice, scrambled eggs, diced chicken and spring onion. The original comes with prawns but we gave that a miss in this variation.
The rice dishes are great on their own or can be paired with a gravy based main course.
I love it for the cashews! Another Chinese cuisine classic, the Szechuan Kungpo chicken features tender pieces of stir fried chicken fillet. Dried chilies take the spice level up a notch, doing justice to its Szechuan-ness, while the cashews keep it earthy. The dish is cooked in a vinegar sauce that adds a tantalizing tangy taste. Try it as is, or pair it with rice to cut the spice.
The final leg of our Modern Asian dining run, the chocolate fondant arrived with a strawberry on the side and the vanilla ice cream slid off the top, which was okay as far as the dessert was satisfying. The ice cream was, but the fondant cake was cold and tasted slightly stiff. The oozing ganache that you expect from a warm fondant had turned thick and firm. Ideally supposed to be baked fresh, fondant cakes take atleast 30 minutes to be served from the time you order them. Ours arrived within 5 minutes, which meant it wasn’t prepared fresh. If you are ordering this, make sure they are baking a new one just for you. Usually, this dessert is worth the wait.
