Taste of Asia Buffet

FOOD

Taste of Asia’s unlimited lunch and dinner bring a Chinese American hot buffet together with shellfish and prepared sushi. Chicken wings, chicken skewers and fried rice give the cooked selection some specific foods to look for, alongside fried dumplings and a daily rotation of beef, pork and fish. The seafood receives substantial attention too, with whole shrimp and mussels sharing the meal with the sushi counter.

The wings and skewers give chicken two distinct presentations within the hot buffet. Wings belong to the familiar Chinese American appetizer repertoire, while the skewers make a more individually portioned chicken dish. Fried rice accompanies that selection, providing a rice preparation alongside the dumplings and meats. Availability follows the changing spread; the restaurant does not publish a fixed daily roster.

Fried dumplings give the appetizer selection its own preparation, and soup is included as well. The dumplings bring a fried starter alongside the wings and skewers, with several small hot dishes available before the larger meat and seafood preparations. Beef and pork broaden the meat selection beyond chicken, though the daily rotation sets which dishes are served. The buffet keeps that familiar Chinese American appetizer-and-entrée repertoire at the center of its meal.

Whole shell-on shrimp comes with sliced green vegetables, giving the hot seafood a shrimp-and-vegetable dish to notice. Mussels bring a different shellfish into the rotation, and fish supplies another seafood choice. The whole shrimp calls for a little hands-on eating, a different proposition from the ready-to-eat sushi. Those are useful distinctions within a buffet that puts seafood into several parts of dinner, rather than reserving it for one specialty counter.

Prepared sushi includes cut rolls with varied toppings and fish-topped rice. Rolls and individual fish-and-rice portions offer two forms of sushi alongside the cooked seafood. Their presence makes Taste of Asia a Chinese American buffet with a sushi selection, a combination in which cooked seafood and prepared sushi each have a distinct place. The unlimited counter changes with the assortment. California, Philadelphia and spicy-tuna rolls on the separately priced menu are individual orders, with their own purchase terms.

Sliced oranges and other fruit accompany dark-topped cake squares and cookies at dessert. The oranges bring a citrus finish after the savory dishes, while cakes and cookies make room for a baked sweet. That small collection covers fruit and dessert within the unlimited meal without requiring a separate kitchen order. The selection varies, just as the hot buffet does; the specific attraction is the combination of chicken appetizers, shellfish and sushi with a straightforward fruit-and-sweets finish.