FooDiva loves the sound of a quirky restaurant name, especially when it’s new on the scene, as is Wok In – Chow Down, the new Pan-Asian eatery at Mövenpick Hotel Deira. So with chef friend (the Brit one) in tow, we decided to wok in on its power lunch deal.

Wok In Chow Down interior is red, red, red, well after all the Chinese consider it lucky. With so much light pouring in, we settled for a banquette table by the window (also helps with the photo snapping). The circular seating around the central cooking station will I expect attract lots of solo diners.

The ‘oh my this is a huge menu’ describes itself as Pan-Asian, so it’s not just your standard Chinese fare. Soups…dim sum…curries…stir fries…rice and noodle dishes…hailing from China (both traditional Cantonese and spicy Szechuan), Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia – the latter is the chef’s home country, and what FooDiva would describe as the culinary capital of the Far East.

Thanks to a long trip around China last year, I developed an affinity for dim sum and steamed buns in particular, so I settled for the Char Siew Pao starter; now these bundles of goodness never look that appealing, but biting into that mushy ‘white bloomer bread’ dough as you hit the diced chicken smothered in a smokey barbeque sauce was simply put, seventh heaven.

Chef ordered barbequed spare ribs; braised beef marinated in honey and served with plenty of pak choy. From presentation to taste he was ecstatic; I savoured a slither and it slipped off the bone – FooDiva loves a good honey marinade.

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