We dare you to say “Okonomiyaki” 10 times without fumbling!  If you succeed, you deserve this delicious Japanese pancake; if you don’t, then you will just have to be envious about the recently concluded #DiscoverWithOpera meet-up in New Delhi.

Mirroring the way Opera browsers help users discover diverse content from the web, we invited food bloggers on a journey to discover Oriental food with us at one of New Delhi’s newest Oriental restaurants – Ahoy! Asia. Co-founders of the restaurant, Arun Chanda and Satyajit Mukherjee, shared their food-related discoveries and served finger-licking, pan-Asian dishes.

First up was Okonomiyaki – a Japanese savory pancake, and we challenged everyone to guess its ingredients. The name Okonomiyaki is a combination of the word okonomi, meaning “what you like” or “what you want”, and yaki meaning “grilled” or “cooked”. It is made with a variety of ingredients such as cabbage, green onions, cheese and meat, among others.

Dishes from the cuisines of 5 Asian countries were laid out, and the bloggers had to taste and guess their country of origin. It seemed like a pretty tough task until they were given hints, but in the end they all got it.  The dishes served included Malaysian Murtabak, Chinese Toho Kawap, Vietnamese BanhMi Sandwich, Japanese Chicken Yakitori and Korean Mandupi Chips. Arun & Satyajit gave us the inside story on every dish served at the meet-up.

We also indulged in popular Oriental dishes such as Ahoy Fish Bowl Iced Tea, Tangjiao (a Uyghur-style lamb dumpling soup in a delicate meat broth), Toho Kawap (Chicken wing kebabs infused with Xinjiang spice mix), Malaysian Tofu & Bell Pepper Satay with rice cakes, Milk Tea pudding for dessert and many more delectable dishes. Check out our Facebook album from the event here.

Conversations at the meet-up brought forward a lot of interesting facts about food from across the world. For example, the cuisine belonging to the Uyghur tribe in China has Islamic influences. We tried out their yummy Zhua Fan, a Uyghur pilaf of mutton, carrot, chickpeas and rice, served with curry & Uyghur-style yoghurt.

If the description above has left your mouth watering, then step out and discover a new restaurant that will help you embark on  – or continue – your own food journey. If you are not able to go out, then just open the Opera browser (on your Android phone, PC or Mac) – click on Discover, select Food, and sit back while Opera feeds you with the best articles and images to tickle your taste buds.

Malaysian Murtabak

Chinese Toho Kawap

Sticky Rice in Lotus Leaf – Mixed Vegetables & Basil

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