Every venture by the Bay restaurant family is a thoughtful labor of love. The Courtyard at Park Heights in Dhanmondi is no exception.
The restaurant inside Bay Park Heights in Dhanmondi 8, serves delectable food from both the east and the west.
“It’s purely a fusion of different flavours and caters to the spice-loving younger crowd,” said the Executive Chef of Courtyard, Abdullah Tareq.
With concrete walls - a nod to brutalism without assaulting the senses, and the decor is softened with carefully selected art and edison hanging light fixtures, The Courtyard exudes a warm friendly environment.
Ambiance:
Located on the ground floor, the main area of the restaurant is plush with patio chairs and tables. The indoor dining area is loft chic, with exposed bricks on one side and concrete on the other.
The art and the hanging edison light fixtures gives it that quintessential New York city vibes but at a much cheaper price. “Dhanmondi has a rich art scene, our decor is in keeping with that culture,” Abdullah Tareq said.
The patio is covered by a glass ceiling adorned with artificial vines, giving it an outdoor feel, yet without the noise and chaos of the infamous traffic of Mirpur road.
The chairs are of a lighter shade of white and brown that reflect the warm natural light that comes through the glass ceiling.
Food:
The fusion starters include the cheeseburgers spring rolls that are packed with minced beef, shredded cheddar cheese, onions, and gherkins, creating a mouth-watering illusion of a cheeseburger, but in deep-fried spring roll wrappers.
To complement the flavor, they served the rolls with sweet and tangy ketchup.
The spring rolls were followed by Szechuan beef dim sums- a Cantonese staple.
The dim sums were light and airy, the wrapper, just right, not too thick and not too thin.
They come with the classic condiments - soy sauce, chilli oil, rice vinegar and garlic and are served hot in bamboo steamer baskets.
In the chili prawn dim sum, the filling is perfectly moist with a Szechuan peppercorn kick of course. The chilli oil is a companion for this, and spiced just right.
The mains are fusion flavors from South Asia, East Asia and the West.
The first dish was the beef chapli kathi roll made of some succulent beef, eggs, and cucumber wrapped in a flaky paratha. Traditionally a snack, this roll was served with delectable mustard aioli.
Their spicy Szechuan beef noodles are made with hand-pulled noodles, Szechuan peppercorn, cumin, and chilli and it tastes as good as it looks.
Then came the Chinese beef noodle soup and the use of star anise in the broth adds the required sweetness to the stock and the incredible fragrance that immediately makes you want to grab your spoon.
The heartwarming soup includes the mildly sweet, yet nutty green kangkong that satiates your need for vegetables and makes for a soul-satisfying bowl.
Along with the soup, a rich boiled egg was cut into two halves and as soon as you mix it all in the taste offers a unique blend of East Asian ingredients.
Then there was the fan favorite, the famous Indian dish of butter chicken with naan which was thick and buttery.
The taste oscillated between sour and spicy, but it was the sour taste that really stood out by the end of it. Cooked in a rich tomato sauce with North Indian spices, the boneless chicken was soft and easy to cut into.
The Tom yum chicken pasta was designed to fuse Italian and Thai flavours together.
In my opinion, the addition of spicy and sweet taste to the classic Italian pasta was a creative move by the chef. You get your pasta and Thai food craving all in one.
The price for a meal at the Courtyard ranges from Tk330 to Tk1650.
Challenges:
Opened in October 2019, the three-year-old restaurant immediately encountered the pitfalls of a post-pandemic business and closure due to the Covid-19 outbreak in March 2020.
To stay profitable they continued to operate during the pandemic through delivery and take-outs and persisted despite the burden of economic shocks that they were exposed to.
The restaurant is affiliated with foodpanda and Hungrynaki, if you want to order in.
The thing that kept Courtyard at park heights going was its ardent customer base that was more than happy to see them open their doors again.
“We stayed afloat because we had already earned a loyal customer base before we had shut down for Covid,” said its Brand Manager, Ahmmadur Rahman Showrav.
The inflation hikes in the country have led to a menu overhaul and a revisit in prices in August.
“Although the price range had been adjusted to be more affordable initially, we also have to keep up with the increase in prices for ingredients,” said Showrav.
Despite the price range, the variety in options is a treat itself that makes you want to visit again.
Courtyard at park heights has something for everyone, but for me, I think the interior is what impressed me the most. The indoor-outdoor arrangement of the place is quite unique, especially for a restaurant of this price range.