Explore Asian Cuisine Through 48East

48East is a relatively new Bangalore based food startup that delivers Asian gourmet food to your doorstep with just a click of a button.

Why the name 48 East? The goal was to represent the 48 Asian countries and give us a taste of the cuisine from different regions such as South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia, Central Asia and Middle East. Cuisine from these countries are available in Bangalore though in select 5 star hotels and other such establishment making it unaffordable to the common masses.

With a weekly changing menu, 48East offers handpicked dishes from Uzbekistan, Lebanon, Turkey, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, Laos and many other Asian countries.

Though I have heard a lot about this food delivery they do not deliver to my residence and hence I thought I would give them a try whenever I visit their area of delivery. Luckily I received an invite to visit them at their Indira Nagar kitchen.

48East currently operates two kitchens in Indiranagar and Marathahalli and the orders can be placed via their own website as well as on Zomato and Swiggy.

Areas of Delivery : Indiranagar, Cambridge layout, Old Airport road, HAL 2nd and 3rd Stage, Tippasandara, Ulsoor, Cox Town, and Domlur, Marthahalli, Kundanahalli, Brookefield, Varthur Road,Yemlur, Kadubeesanahalli, Doddenukundi, Munnekolla, and Mahadevpura.

I had the opportunity to meet the founders of this food start up – Mr.Joseph Cherian and Mr.Nabhojit Ghosh who were happy to run us through their vision, thoughts and ideas behind this venture. They had a specially curated menu which was a combination of dishes from their last 7 months of operation so that we could get a taste of dishes from various regions of Asia.

APPETIZERS:

All the below appetizers were served with in house prepared signatures sauces – mustard, chilly paste and soy.

VEG:

SPINACH, CHEESE & GOLDEN GARLIC DUMPLING: 

These translucent dimsums filled with spinach, golden garlic and cheddar were beautiful to look at and equally pleasing to the palate also. These are served with their signature sauces. Definitely a must try for vegetarians and non- vegetarians too.

PAN-SEARED VEG BAOZI :

Baozi was one of those dishes I took a particular liking to during my stay in China and I am so glad to find a very close equivalent here in Bangalore. These bao buns though pan seared are soft and with its filling of veggies is a great appetizer.

NON-VEG:

THAI CHICKEN DUMPLING:

I love dumpling and have had my fill of them during my Asian trips and there are only select restaurants in Bangalore which serve authentic and well prepared dumplings.

These little translucent chicken dumplings flavoured with thai herbs were absolutely delightful and excellently prepared.

HARGAO: 

Another very popular Chinese dish though now served in various other Asian countries was as wonderful as the previous dish. The aroma of prawn is the first sniff of what’s to come and these cantonese prawn dimsums filled with celery, asparagus and carrot was probably my best appetizer of the meal.

CHICKEN & WATER CHESTNUT SIUMAI:

Probably the best looking appetizer of our meal, the hargao is again another very popular dish with the Pork Siumai being my favourite. However I got to taste a very nice combination of chicken and water chestnut which was delicious.

SIDES:

Of course, salads have always been an integral part of the menu and I was glad to notice that they did have some wonderful salads for the health conscious. Though most of the food in their menu is not essentially unhealthy, it is still nice to have the option of such salads in the menu.

MALAYSIAN CORN & BEAN SALAD :

Our first salad was a light and crunchy salad with cucumber, peppers, cherry tomato, cilantro, baked beans dressed kaffir lime served with chilli vinaigrette.  A wonderful and refreshing salad.

KOREAN CHICKEN BULGOGI SALAD:

Bulgogi is an appetizer by itself and this Korean dish is taken to a new level with the inclusion of fresh Pok-Choy, Pepper, Lettuce & Quinoa Salad tossed In Honey- Lime Dressing.

TAI CHIN WATER CHESTNUT:

Water chestnuts are hard to come by in Bangalore and hence it only at certain restaurants we get to taste and savour dishes prepared with water chestnuts. We were served crunchy water chestnut tossed with colored peppers and onion in smoked chili sauce which were a runaway hit among the foodies present for the meal.

INDONESIAN CHICKEN SATAY: 

A very common dish across the world and also in India, this Sumatran satay was perfectly seasoned and with the peanut sauce turned out to be the best side among the lot.

ASIAN LITES:

GREEN PEA FALAFEL SANDY:

I was not expecting this dish and though it did not sound like my kind of dish, I am glad I took a bite of it as I was pleasantly surprised by the taste of this falafel sandwich.

MURGH SULA BAO:

After the veg falafel, I knew the chicken bao was not to be missed and though I do not care too much for mayonnaise this particular bao was very good with the almond and khoya marinated chicken cubes imparting a wonderful flavour.

MAIN COURSE:

POK-CHOY MUSHROOM WITH MOON FANN (RICE):

This dish covered with lotus leaf consisted of braised pok-choy with mushrooms in soya-ginger sauce and served with Moon Fan(Rice). If you love mushrooms then this dish is not to be missed as the soy-ginger sauce takes your tastebuds to a whole new level.

KUNG PAO BRAISED LAMB: 

I am not much of lamb lover and occasionally give in when I find it to be worthwhile.

I must say that this braised lamb literally disintegrated within seconds in my mouth and the melange of flavours imparted by the kung pao sauce left me with a goofy smile on my face. I did try to have as much as I could though I was already quite full thanks to the number of dishes I tasted before this dish. Without a doubt, I am returning for this dish soon.

BURMESE VEGETABLE KHAUSUEY:

Being a malayalee, I have had my fill of coconut milk curries and dishes and hence I was not too keen to try this dish. But the foodie in me had to taste it and it is as close as one can get to the original dish. With its veggies, noodles and coconut curry this is definitely a all in one meal.

CURRY LAKSA CHICKEN:

This coconut – curry soup with chicken, herbs, steamed egg and rice vermicelli is a Nyonya speciality well known in Malaysia and Indonesia.

If you love the flavour of coconut milk then these dishes are not to be missed.

DESSERT:

NEST OF DRAGON:

A very unassuming dessert with little parcels of chocolate filled dumplings served on a bed of honey fried noodles is what you see. But when you put these dumplings in your mouth the burst of chocolate oozing into your mouth on first bite is a memory you will cherish and make you return for more. Easily the best dish of the whole meal for me.

THAP THIM KROP:

A coconut cream dessert from the regions of Indonesia filled with water chestnuts and topped with jackfruit.

BANANA FIVE NUT ROLL:

These asian roll were made of crisp fried banana and nuts enclosed in a thin pastry. Crunchy and perfect to end our meal.

Though I have had my share of Asian cuisine from my travels, I am sure that it is a pleasure to be able to enjoy this food at the comfort of your home and I cannot wait for them to deliver to my area.

Hence it is with great joy that I can say that 48East is heaven sent and a boon to the food lovers of Bangalore and I wish them the very best!

Delivery – NA  

Packaging – 4.5/5

Food Taste – 4.5/5

Quality / Quantity -4.5/5 

Value for Money – 4/5