Ai fits hot Asian kitchen in SP outside the gastronomic buzz

Want to put the foot in Asian cuisine without taking the risk of bumping over with too much exotic ingredients? Ai ai Asian cuisine, in Ipiranga, southern São Paulo, can be a good choice. Even if you are not familiar with names like Bao, Domburi or Katsu Karê, you will feel properly welcomed.

The townhouse in which the restaurant operates reminiscent of a rotisseria. It is not exactly a warm place. Wooden tables, with small room open for the sidewalk, and kitchen closed in the background. Disposable hashis, bagged napkins and plastic utensils that mimic ceramic give a fast food air. Still, customers took a long time to vacate the tables. The secret, of course, is in the food.

With prices below than those practiced by equivalent restaurants in other regions, the menu comforts from the entrances. This part of the menu – which has a breaded eggplant (R $ 14) and Kimchi (R $ 9) – the vegetable guioza (R $ 13, two units) was proved. They look like sealed in the frying pan after steam cooked, because they arrive soft, but with delicately crispy parts. Plunged in a little soothing soy, they were very light, with tasty filling.

In search of something more robust, the attention turned to the part of the menu reserved for BAOS (steam cooked cuddly breads, with three filling options)-and japanese sandwich, there in pantry and served in yam bread).

The pork bao ($ 29) is great. The recipe became famous in the world especially at the hands of the American Korean descent David Chang. Bao homesick customers he served in his restaurants in New York (from them, only Momofuku Noodle Bar remains open), may think that the version of the mass served in Ai could be cutest. But it was really good in a firmer texture. Maintaining expected contrasts between cucumber pickles and the sweetened greedy grease of the grilled pance.

Two main dishes were proved. The karaague chicken domburi (R $ 44) comes with Japanese rice, spicy purple onion, cabbage salad and the friendly ajitama egg (cooked and marinated in soyo, shaped as a teddy bear). The chicken comes in a crispy breaded with sweet touch, playing with the textures of the rest of the plate.

Already in Katsu Karê (R $ 46), the rice came with a breaded and curry pantry. The Japanese version of this sauce is softer than Thai or Indiana. And rice, as you know, is without (or with little) salt. Despite being a tasty dish, it seems to miss something.

There are three items in the dessert part. But only one with sustenance. Chocoopie (R $ 26) is a texture chocolate pie that approaches a mousse, awarded with Missô caramel syrup. The idea is good. But perhaps the presence of the syrup could be more discreet for more balanced bites.

The other options to sweeten the mouth are not made in the house: two minicookies (R $ 12) and Sorvetinho Moti-Moti (R $ 8), mole mole, mango or matcha. It is true for those who want to prove something culturally distant from our gastronomic reality.