The moveable feast: Raddison’s Splash, Pawan Ale and Full Circle

Kathmandu:

Above the city near the highest swimming pool in Kathmandu is Splash which is what Pawan Ale describes as, “A Raddison grill with fusion food and a view that is spectacular.” Pawan Ale is being mentored and empowered by the talented and popular Chef Reddy. The Prawn Cocktail Copacabana is named after the famous night club in Hollywood where in the 40’s and 50’s people like Sinatra and Bobby Darin sang and where our own Nepali Full Circle should be singing were Copacabana still there. The Prawn Cocktail is as piquant as a Full Circle song like “People Of The World” with its haunting lines about peace and harmony. “The secret of the Copacabana cocktail sauce is in combining of tabasco and lemon juice to the usual shrimp cocktail sauce,” said Ale, who at 25, runs Splash with an aplomb acquired from Chef Reddy. The batter shrimps with marmalade, mustard and horseradish sauce are another story.

The marmalade was made commercially by another Brit in 1790, Robert Keeler, who had been sent a gift of bitter oranges. Reddy and Ale transformed the mustard and the marmalade and the horseradish in cream into memorable delights. And as I ate I could hear Full Circle’s “Life’s So Strange” with its apt line “It’s a mystery, Don’t know why I feel this way”. Probably because while Full Circle was protesting the lack of peace, I was finding it momentarily in Reddy’s creation.

Ale brought on the cajun spiced chicken wings which were as smokily spiced as Full Circle’s “Falling,” whose words, “Can’t find the words, Got so much to say…” summed up what I felt about the creole dish which was coated in black pepper, cumin and dry herbs like thyme. According to the authors Rombauer’s, lemon juice, chilly sauce, cayenne chilly and brown sugar are ideal, Reddy’s interpretation was better then ideal it was brilliant. Poised, confident and very much a Reddy product who has put his six years of training in Meerut in India to good use, Pawan Ale presented the pepper and herb crusted sliced sirloin in blue cheese sauce. It was as eloquent as Full Circle’s line from ‘My Love Belongs To You,’ “Always be there, in my world in my life, You’re all I need.” Full Circle was talking about a lover, I, applied the words to the sirlion whose pepper, thyme and onion covering made for memorability. It was no wonder that in AD 408 the Visgoths who attacked Rome demanded a ransom of 3000Ibs of the much-prized spice, pepper. Chef Reddy highlights that the coating of the steak with pepper and the blue cheese sauce calms the mixture and adds another taste. I would recommend ordering the sirloin and the sauce separately and then dip eat the delicacy.

As I would dip sample Full Circle CD, ‘Free Your Mind’ even as Chef Reddy and young Ale free your taste buds. Splash has piped music and Full Circle is ideal listening. For more about Splash, Reddy and Ale call Radisson at 4411818 and for more about Full Circle call Mangal Maharajan at 4256411. Full Circle comes from a lineage that includes Joan Baez, Glenn Campbell and Peter, Paul and Mary in there protest songs. The Full Circle line up is Dimple Singh Nandra (voice and acoustic/electric guitars,) Deependra Rai (Bholu; acoustic and slide guitars), Binod Katuwal (flute and percussions) and Yankey Ongma Lepche (backing vocals).