The proverbial Indian curry and barbeque dishes, which have found willing acceptance in Europe and the US, had till now failed to make a dent in its Oriental neighbourhood.
Years after having conquered the Indian palette with their exquisite dishes, the dragon country is witnessing an Indian invasion of a different kind, with desi dishes tickling the Chinese taste buds.
The proverbial Indian curry and barbeque dishes, which have found willing acceptance in Europe and the US, had till now failed to make a dent in its Oriental neighbourhood.
However, experts believe that Indian cuisine is now gradually getting popular in the Chinese food market.
"Over the past five to six years, Indian cuisines have found tremendous response in China. In cities like Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing, there are a number of popular Indian restaurants," says Satish Nair, business head of Indian Kitchen Group in China.
Indian Kitchen has 16 outlets in China and most of them are located in provinces away from the expatriate centres like Beijing, making the local Chinese as majority of their clientele.
According to Girish Chaudhary, director of Punjabi restaurants in China, the current surge in popularity of Indian cuisine is due to success of this year's Oscar winning movie, Slumdog Millionaire that popularised Indian culture in China.
"Barbeque chicken especially, Chicken tikka, Reshami Kebab and fish always find takers in Chinese populace.
Aromatic spices and eye-catching colours make them different from other country's cuisines," says Chaudhary, whose clientele includes around 40% of Chinese.
There are around 200 Indian restaurants across China, and curry is getting popular among youth there.
Chinese were introduced to Indian food by a south Indian, Antony Munuswamy, who opened the first Indian kitchen in Macao in 1990. Though the progress has been slow, Indian dishes have been rising on popularity charts ever since.
"Old generation is not familiar with Indian cuisine, but the youth is crazy about Indian curry. They love it more than Thai and Malaysian curry," says Daya, head of Mirch Masala Indian restaurant.
Some of the restaurants have made modifications in their recipes to suit the Chinese tastes, but most of them want to maintain their authentic Indian taste.
"Modifications are a necessity as the culinary habit of both the countries are different. We have Chicken Samosa, Fisherman Soup, Curry Fried Noodles etc, which is modified from province to province. Though modification doesn't mean a complete overhaul of the cuisine losing its authenticity," says Nair.
"We have added more salads like contemporary cuisine, and particularly modified our presentations such as tandoori items served with sauted green vegetables like green cauliflower and Chinese vegetables," says Daya.
"Curries are served in contemporary dishes instead of Indian brass dishes, and my Chinese customers appreciate that," adds Daya.
Other Indian dishes making inroads in Chinese hearts are Rumali Roti which is called flying bread by them, Garlic Naan, Parantha (paoping), Samosa and Lassi.
Chinese are not much into Indian sweets as they take them to be too sweet, but Rasmalai, Gulab Jamun and Kesar kheer (rice pudding) have hit the sweet tooth of the Chinese here very effectively.
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