ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — In the heart of downtown Asheville, a new restaurant is quietly bringing together quality cuisine from seven culinary regions.
Jazmin Pan Asian is now open seven days a week at 22 College St.
Jazmin is a journey through Asia
According to Jazmin Executive Chef Sheenu Govindarajan, who prefers to be known as Chef Sheenu, the Jazmin menu is built around passionate authenticity. The restaurant’s aim is to bring genuine flavors and dishes from seven different Southeast Asian nations – China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam – to Asheville tables.
“I think Asheville was demanding a good Asian restaurant,” Chef Sheenu said. “There are few, and I had the idea, and I tried out, something which we were trying to put across as something very different.”
Jazmin is unique in the Asheville food world for its fidelity to tradition. In order to prepare the diverse dishes on his menu, Chef Sheenu has traveled to the nations they come from, learning about preparing the food from chefs of the culture.
“I could learn 10 things, I would like 10 things, but all I can do is just pick up the ideas and I see where I can translate that into my restaurant.”
“I work with various chefs coming from these places. I had a Thai lady who actually started off, then a person from Malaysia, then I travel to Singapore very often from India. That’s a place where I normally travel twice a year, just to see what the nutrients are trending around, what I can learn, what I can pick up,” Chef Sheenu explained.
“Anything I could just try out and see what I can do in my place. Looking at the availability, looking at the capability, looking at the people’s profile. I could learn 10 things, I would like 10 things, but all I can do is just pick up the ideas and I see where I can translate that into my restaurant.”
In one example of the chef’s dedication to bringing home authentic recipes, he was traveling with a truck driver in Phuket, Thailand when the two decided to stop for food.
“I said, ‘Where do you eat?’ He said, ‘I eat in a small place, but I can’t pay much.’ I said, ‘Okay, we will eat together,'” Chef Sheenu recalled. “So, we went there, sat down on the floor, had food. I converted the same dish, which was just a simple, nice homestyle food, into fine dining stuff. That’s how something which is very flavorful just needs a sort of a buildup, and given that look and feel which can be served in a restaurant.”
Manifold menu
When Chef Sheenu devised the menu for Jazmin, he came up with two rules to follow: Offer community favorites and things he can make which others do not offer.
“It’s a mix of both,” Chef Sheenu said. “Something which is very common, everybody likes it, you still have that on the menu. Because people go there, they might come here, and they will ask for those dishes. Something which, others don’t have it, but I can do it, so have those.”
“You need to be passionate to get into cooking.”
The chef had a story behind every single item on the menu, as well as a detailed explanation for the way their flavors work together. According to Chef Sheenu, passion is a requirement in his kitchen.
“It’s purely a passion. You can’t go without any passion. You need to be passionate to get into cooking,” Chef Sheenu said.
While Jazmin is open to the public now, a grand opening may be in the works further down the line. In the meantime, Chef Sheenu and his staff are focused on bringing the community together through their international array of good food.
Check out a few photos of Jazmin menu items:
