At SAN SAN, The Vietnamese Prawn Sushi Steals The Show

The national capital region of Delhi has become increasingly adventurous about Asian food. The old shorthand of Chinese and Thai has given way to a far wider dining landscape, with Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Sichuan restaurants finding confident audiences across the region. Gurugram, in particular, has embraced this appetite, with polished new restaurants putting their own interpretations on familiar dishes and diners happily ordering across cuisines in a single meal.

SAN SAN is the latest entrant to this increasingly crowded scene, at AIPL Masterpiece on Golf Course Road. The restaurant is dimly lit, with black and red defining the interiors and giving the dining room a distinctly nocturnal character. It is polished without being stiff, intimate without feeling overly formal. There is a bar at the centre of the room, while the dining area is laid out for long meals and plenty of sharing. The overall look is sleek and contemporary, but it does not overwhelm the food, which is clearly meant to be the main event.

Founder Ansh Khanijo was never interested in creating a menu that reads like a roll call of Asian countries. “We never wanted SAN SAN to be a restaurant where you could look at the menu and tick off countries Japan, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, and so on,” he told Outlook Traveller. The idea, instead, was to work with flavours the team actually enjoys, along with dishes that have stayed with them from years of travelling.

With that distinction, SAN SAN is less concerned with announcing where a dish comes from than with how it tastes.

Start With Sushi, Stay For The Vietnamese Prawn

The Spicy Tuna Tartare, served with crispy rice and fennel mayo, was a good introduction to my dinner. The crispy rice supplied the necessary crunch, while the fennel mayo brought an aromatic sweetness to the tuna. It is an assured opening, though the sushi that followed was considerably more compelling.

The Vietnamese Asparagus Sushi arrived without nori, with avocado and cucumber taking its place in the supporting cast. It is fresh and crisp, and perhaps an unusual thing to call sushi, which is precisely what makes it interesting. Khanijo says the No-Nori Sushi came from wanting something “refreshing and unexpected for the palate”. The team was initially unsure about putting it on the menu, but diners took to it.

Then came the Vietnamese Prawn Sushi, with carrot and furikake, and this is where the menu really hits its stride. The prawn remained firmly at the centre, while the carrot contributed sweetness and crunch, and furikake brought savouriness. The construction is clever, but it never becomes an exercise in cleverness. It tastes good first and makes sense afterwards.

There is no nori here either. After two bites, you stop wondering whether it is technically sushi and simply eat it. This is the star dish, no doubt about it.

The Black Garlic and Mushroom Dimsum followed, holding its own. The mushroom brought considerable savoury depth, while the black garlic lent a rounded, slightly sweet edge. Layered without feeling overworked, and it is another dish I would happily order again.

The drinks follow much the same instinct for contrast. I opted for the Blue Mizu, made with lychee, butterfly pea flower tea, basil and lime. It is floral and lightly sweet, with lime supplying the necessary acidity. It is also remarkably easy-drinking, particularly alongside food already carrying plenty of flavour.

Look closely at the ice, and there is another little flourish: SAN SAN is stamped into it. It is a small detail, but an unusually meticulous one for something destined to disappear into a drink.

Sugar, Spice, And The Robata

The Gochujang Chicken Yakitori is for diners who like their Asian food on the sweeter side. The chicken comes lacquered in a glossy gochujang glaze, bringing sweetness, savouriness and a mild heat. The sauce is unapologetically moreish. If you prefer sharper, chilli-forward flavours, it may feel a touch sweet. If you like your grilled chicken with a generous glaze, it is right up your alley.

For vegetarians, the Truffle Chilli Corn Ribs make a convincing case for ordering from the Robata section. The sweetness of the corn works naturally with chilli, while the truffle adds another layer of savouriness and fragrance without completely taking over.

The Mango Kaen from the Dry Bar, made with mango, coconut water, and green chilli, arrived around the same time as the meal. The mango gives it body and sweetness; the green chilli keeps it from becoming cloying. It is a sensible companion to the richer Robata plates.

The Crispy Sichuan Tofu came from the warm plates and did exactly what its name promises. The tofu had enough exterior crunch to keep things interesting, while the Sichuan seasoning supplied the necessary kick. It is not a dish that requires much explanation. It is crunchy, spicy and disappears quickly.

Then came the Red Curry Grilled Sole, and the consistency slips. The curry has the expected warmth and sweetness, but the sole itself could use more seasoning. The fish is delicate enough that it needs the seasoning to do some of the heavy lifting, and here the curry ends up carrying more of the dish than the fish itself.

The Ho Fun Noodles, meanwhile, go in the opposite direction with a sweet-spicy profile. They are comforting, saucy and easy to eat, although subtlety is not their particular ambition.

There is also a Sakura Fizz, built around lychee, rose, pineapple and lime. Rose and lychee can easily push a drink into overly perfumed territory, but pineapple and lime give this one enough acidity to keep it moving.

The Tokyo Sunrise, with fresh grapefruit, grapefruit syrup and kaffir lime, takes a sharper route. The grapefruit brings a pleasantly bitter edge, while kaffir lime adds fragrance. After the sweeter dishes and drinks, it functions as a useful palate reset.

The cocktail menu is quite intriguing, so I picked drinks that suited my preferred flavour profile.

The Tom Yum, made with Patron Reposado, kaffir lime, lemongrass and Thai chilli, is bold and savoury, with a warming spice that lingers pleasantly on the palate.

And then there is Amami, made with Patron Reposado, mango, passionfruit, basil and Campari. It is juicy, tropical and bittersweet, but the garnish is what makes it memorable: a rolled sheet of aam papad rests over the glass. It is an unexpected Indian flourish, but one that works rather beautifully with the drink.

Dessert Needs A Rethink

This is where the meal falls rather spectacularly short.

I tried the Chocolate Tempura Fried Twix with ice cream, which can also be ordered with Snickers or Bounty. On paper, it sounds like the sort of dessert designed to make a table pause mid-conversation in amusement. In reality, the novelty wears off quickly.

There is chocolate, fried chocolate, ice cream and then more chocolate. The sweetness becomes overwhelming, without enough acidity, bitterness, or textural contrast to make the dessert compelling beyond its initial gimmick.

Of everything I ate at SAN SAN, this is the one course I would most strongly suggest rethinking.

That is particularly noticeable because the restaurant has clearly put thought into the rest of its small details. The branded ice, the aam papad with the Amami, the no-nori sushi and the way dishes move between Asian traditions all point to a kitchen willing to experiment.

Khanijo’s philosophy seems to be that experimentation needs a reason. Before a dish earns its place on the menu, the team asks a simple question: “If we took this dish off the menu, would it be missed?” If the answer is yes, it has earned its place.

The same pragmatism extends to sourcing. SAN SAN is not “obsessed with importing everything just because it’s Asian”, Khanijo said. Where an ingredient genuinely needs to come from a particular region, the restaurant sources accordingly. Otherwise, a fresher or better Indian ingredient can make more sense.

“Good sourcing is knowing the difference between what needs to be authentic and what just needs to be good,” he commented.

It is a sensible rule for a restaurant whose menu has such geographical restlessness. Japan, Vietnam, Korea, and Thailand may all make an appearance, but the experience is not meant to feel like a culinary geography lesson.

Instead, the invitation is to arrive with one craving and leave having discovered something else. That freedom is one of SAN SAN’s more convincing qualities.

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