Sherman's Food Adventures: Asia Kitchen

Asia Kitchen

If you are familiar with the now closed New China Kitchen in Coquitlam, you don't need much familiarization with mediocre & greasy North American Chinese food.  Naturally, with more refined tastes, those types of buffets are going the way of the Dodo in the GVRD (like Foody Goody and Grand Buffet). The food was so nasty that it tasted like they used Dodos...  Is that how they became extinct???  Anyways, that doesn't mean there aren't some ambitious restauranteurs who dare to offer us AYCE Asian food.  From the ashes of NCK, we now see Asia Kitchen with their Vietnamese a la carte menu or the option of an AYCE buffet.

After watching a movie at Silvercity next door, we decided to hit up the place for dinner. Selection-wise, we were greeted by 2 long hot buffet stations.  For my first plate, I sampled Fried Rice, Sweet & Sour Pork, Chili Salt Shrimp, Fried Basa, Szechuan Beef and BBQ Pork.  I found the pork to be a bit dry, but the sauce was nicely balanced.  The shrimp had good flavour but the shell needed to be fried longer as it needed to be removed rather than eaten.  I liked the beef as it was properly tenderized while sporting a decent spiciness.  The veggies were still vibrant and crunchy. I tried their Hot & Soup Soup and it was predictably lacking in body, but it did have a good tartness though.

Next, my 2nd plate consisted of Fried Chicken, Singapore Noodles, Curry Chicken, Lemongrass Chicken Wings, Mussels, Fried Squid, Honey Garlic Pork and Green Beans.  The exterior of the chicken was a bit dried out, yet the meat itself was juicy and well-seasoned.  Lacking in ingredients, the noodles did have nice curry flavour though.  I wasn't a huge fan of the squid as the batter was strange and not all that crispy (it was hard).  I did like the green beans as they were not overcooked.   As you can see, I didn't get to try everything because of the many different dishes available.  Mind you, some just didn't look all that appetizing, so I skipped them.

There was also a make-your-own noodle section.  It was okay with a slightly spicy & sour broth with rice noodles and a selection of fish cake.  One item I did try without taking a picture of it was the Dungeness Crab. It was actually decent where it wasn't mushy. Furthermore, there was a salad bar and hard ice cream. Considering the price for dinner was $14.95 ($15.95 on weekends), I thought it was okay considering the selection.  Yet, in general, the food reminded me of something I could get at the mall food fair.  Now that can be considered a positive and a negative.  On one hand, the food was edible, but on the other, it isn't something I crave either.

The Good:
- Decent service
- Okay for a buffet

The Bad:
- Some repetitive sauces/ingredients
- Okay if you want quantity...

Asia Kitchen on Urbanspoon

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