Japanese Buffet
I haven’t been able to take nearly as many photos in the past several weeks as I normally have, because of poor lighting during the day and evening. So please indulge me as I supplement my usual mostly Asian-groceries posts with Asian meals-out ones. Because I’d rather give you some posts than no posts.
Like a post with photos taken at a Japanese buffet restaurant to celebrate a friend’s birthday. There are few better ways to mark such an occasion than by eating lots and lots of food, right?
Korean Pancakes with julienned vegetables.
I thought they needed a few streaks of Sriracha, but sadly, the restaurant didn’t have any bottles of the red-hot goodness.
A plate of Tempura. The oval-shaped pieces are Satsumaimo, a Japanese sweet potato, and the curved ones are Kabocha, a Japanese squash.
I was so focused on snapping photos I forgot to get tempura sauce. But both the Satsumaimo and Kabocha were naturally sweet enough that the lack of a dipping sauce wasn’t really a problem.
Gyoza. I have the hardest time pronouncing that word.
Dumplings. So much easier to say.
Oriental Chicken Salad.
With scattered pieces of chicken.
And cucumber slices.
As well as slivers of almond.
Proof that I will photograph a lot of things, even a bowl of soy sauce.
It was at this point, when my camera was leveled on the bamboo design, that one of my dining companions got up from the table so he could pretend he didn’t know me.
Assorted sushi.
I wasn’t paying attention to the names of the sushi as I picked them up, thinking I could get them later. So I didn’t know what the thing sticking out of this roll end-piece was until I bit into it. Now, I may not have recognized the look of bacon, but I certainly know the taste of it. Folks, this was so, so wrong. It pains me to write this, but you can go wrong with bacon.
Something more eye-pleasing, California Roll.
I think this was Caterpillar Roll.
The tasty mess of a dressing.
Philadelphia Roll with yes, cream cheese.
Roe. Can you handle The Roe?
I really liked the sweetness of Tamago, an egg omelet.
Baby Shrimp and Scallops Fried Rice.
I thought it was missing something…like soy sauce.
Is everything better with soy sauce? Must ponder this.
Kung Pao Chicken with diced chicken, baby corn, green bell peppers, straw mushrooms, peanuts, and chilli peppers.
Spicy Eggplant. (I think eggplant is an underrated vegetable. Anyone else? It absorbs sauces so well.)
What the two had in common, chilli peppers. (When I was five, an uncle thought it would be funny if I “just tried” a chilli pepper from a stir-fry. I didn’t, but that doesn’t mean I don’t still hold a grudge.)
Korean Short Ribs.
Meaty and uh, bone-y.
Yep, what some people consider to be the best part of this dish.
The bones.
Green Tea Cake. FYI: this wasn’t how the cake was originally presented.
No; using a plastic pair of tongs, I selected three pieces from the large rectangular platter located at the dessert station. Then, back at my table, I took a pair of chopsticks and arranged the cake pieces just so, and flicked the crumbly green tea powder around the plate with the tips of the chopsticks. It was at this point that I wanted to pretend that I didn’t know me.
You may be wondering, “Where are the photos of plates piled high with assorted foods all mixed together and stuff?”
Well geez, a girl’s gotta have some modesty!
Great, now you’ve got me hungry…..And Asian eggplants are the BEST!
And I miss Asian buffets. They don’t seem to have buffet much of anything out here. LOL!
That is it, I’m coming over and we are going to that buffet. Forget the fact that we don’t know each other and we live a bazillion miles apart… I need that buffet in my mouf!
Slammie: I was actually debating, “To post or not to post during lunchtime?”
Sarahbelle: Funny girl, I guess we can forget the whole, “If I’m ever in your city, let’s do coffee.” bit and leap right to, “Let’s get to know each other while stuffing our faces with copious amounts of food.” Ummmm…sure?
My husband can’t get enough of Sriracha hot sauce. He calls it the “Rooster sauce”, funny guy
I love the Japanse egg plant. I would roast it in the oven @ 350 deg until it soft, shred it with a fork, top it with chopped green onion and eat it with fish-sauce dressing (fish-sauce deluted with water, rice vinegar, sugar, chili paste and minced garlic). My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
Oh my gosh, those pictures look yummy. Delicious pixels. At first I thought the first image was Okonomiyaki (Which I would love to try one day. All because of the anime Ranma 1/2). The Philadelphia roll looks good. I don’t know if I’ve ever had the tamago one (egg). I think I always assume “Ah, it’s just egg,” and skip right over to other sushi and sashimi. I do love Korean pancake (probably because it’s the same concept as Okonomiyaki, probably. And I like tempura too. Ah, yum. And Gyoza! Yeah, I call them dumplings too. Or tzui-gyao. I’ve also heard them referred to as pot stickers. That fried rice looks kind of yummy, even though you said it was lacking in flavor. Oh yeah! How was that green tea cake, btw? And I remember I used to looooove baby corn. And those mushrooms (looks up asian mushrooms on Google); Straw mushrooms! Those are pretty dang delicious.
http://www.chinesefood-recipes.com/cooking_guide_tips/mushrooms_chinese_cooking.php
Oh, and that wood ear fungi. I never new its English name till now! I only know it as Bohg-xi (bohg-ji?). Since I don’t eat meat (apart from seafood), my mom would put it in eggrolls and dumplings. And soup, of course. Swah-nah tahng. Sweet and sour soup, I think it’s called.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3577/3482497957_f480fb43a5.jpg
Looks like this^
If you ever eat Okonomiyaki or takoyaki, please let me know! Yelp has so far only turned up disappointing or just okay reviews (according to my brother, who looked it up for me.)
Lian: I also thought the Korean Pancakes looked like Okonomiyaki, which I’ve never tried, either. The pancakes at the buffet were actually labeled as Bindae Deluck, which may have been a misspelling (should be Bindae Duk?). The Green Tea Cake was yummy, very light and easy on the green tea flavor (I don’t like a strong GTF). And I ate all three pieces easily because that amounts to what, half a slice of a normal serving of cake?
I’ve had wood ear fungi, which I have a bad mental association with because of a sibling. Sisters are evil.
And I’m kind of hesitant to try Takoyaki because octopus scares me. I may try it one day, anyway.
Oh, now I’m so curious as to what the bad mental association is. One time at a restaurant, (it was me, my extended family, and friends’ friend) I told my sister’s friend that the thing she was eating at the time looked like congealed pig’s blood. And then she put it back down and wouldn’t finish it. In my head I was kind of like, “Oh what a waste.”
As for Takoyaki, you don’t have to have tako in it. There was this Japanese cooking show called Dotch Cooking Show (where there are two dishes and the contestants pick which one they want to eat and at the end, the side with the most people gets to eat, while the side with less people can only watch them eat.)
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dotch+cooking+show&search_type=&aq=f
Aw, too bad Youtube doesn’t have every episode. I don’t think the takoyaki one is there. But anyway, there can be cheese takoyaki. (I think). Cheeseyaki?
Lian: I’d rather not repeat what my sister made up because it’s gross, but the name itself, wood ear fungi, is a hint. It’s good to know Takoyaki can be had without the tako. And Cheeseyaki is such a silly name I’m sure there’s dish called that somewhere…
Hi! I got hungry with all the great pictures of food!
Where is this restaurant? And what is the price range of their buffet? It really looks good!