Hibachi menu at Noho in Hyderabad

Have you ever considered what could be short and sweet, apart from speeches? A menu. A concise menu saves time when deciding, keeps our food thoughts focussed and ensures we can taste almost everything in it. That is what the Hibachi menu at Noho, Progressive Asian House offers. Noho’s set menu is not just small in the number of dishes and portion size, it only allows two reservations (one per hour) during the day and three at night, as Noho has only one flat grill station. 

Before the chef gets going with the soups, amuse bouche and the salad of the day, he performs some tricks — like juggling his spatula and a teeny-weeny fire play. After switching on the exhaust, he double-checks that all the precautions have been taken before the fire play — he suggests we move back and his assistants were on the side as standby, all done within a couple of seconds. 

Hibachi is all about cooking on a flat grill, so the chef interacts with the guests to understand their choice of meat, spice tolerance and preferred side dishes.

The Hibachi menu at Noho offers vegetarian, chicken and seafood options and each diner can make only one selection; a set menu is served accordingly.

The soup of the day was a peppery one, akin to a rasam. Then comes his choice of amuse bouche; we were served bite-sized crackers with vegetarian or non-vegetarian options. 

For starters, I asked for chicken skewers prepared in a hot, sweet and tangy sauce. The chicken pieces were cooked to perfection — soft, yet not overcooked. 

The main course is served with either noodles or rice. The meat is made in a mild hot sauce, a perfect complement to the hot garlicky noodles. The chef presented a complimentary Thai yellow curry to be paired with the fried rice.  He also insisted that I try the prawns in the main course. This dish is mildly hot and suits the pleasantly chill weather of Hyderabad.

For dessert, there is a chocolate mousse and a decadent chocolate pie.

This Hibachi menu is priced ₹1,999, ₹2,499 and ₹2,999 for vegetarian, chicken and seafood options respectively.