Asian Bistro

October 25, 2011

Was I in Tokyo or Manhattan? No, I was in Rocky Hill at the newly opened Asian Bistro. What a gorgeous establishment; the decor is stunning. Aside from the dining room where I sat in a comfortable booth, there is a sushi bar, a lounge and a hibachi room.

I had the Sushi Lunch special which included salad or a good bowl of miso soup. There are four choices: sushi [$12], sashimi [$13], sushi/sashimi combo [$15] or my Signature Roll of the Day [$10]. Today's roll was the Volcano Roll the contents of which vary by sushi chef. Mine contained salmon and salmon skin, white tuna and rice with a nori wrapper then deep fried. There were various other veggies and sauces with just enough spice to make it a perfect lunch! This was accompanied by a glass of unsweetened iced tea [$2] with lots of lemon. There are many other lunch options but I will have to go back for dinner and try the Pork Katsu and/or the Yaki Soba.

bloginfo: Asian Bistro is located at 396 Cromwell Ave [very near Jake's Wayburgers] in its own little plaza. Telephone 860.563.8886. There are three earlier versions in Mansfield and Shelton, CT and in NY at Portchester.

blognote: I hope they will heed my request and get rid of the present music and use some soothing dinner music [perhaps from Japan].

October 27, 2011

Night and Day!!! What a difference a [the] day makes. What was subtle and calm and pleasant during the day became brash and loud and unappealing during the evening. Visited tonight with three friends looking to show off my new find.

Started with an order of Edamame [$5] and the Thai Calamari [$9] for appetizers. Both were good but not special. Two orders of Chicken Pad Thai [$11] which were good [I tasted some] then an Unagi Don Combo [$18] which should have been sushi but because of the request for brown rice [$1 extra] it came plated. My Hong Kong style pan fried Noodles with Vegetables [$8] was subpar and edible only after much scrambling to wet the noodles. 

Nice extras were the warm hand wash set-ups and the hot tea. The only Japanese beers were Sapporo and Kirin but BIGBOTTLE ONLY shouted by the waitress. She was aggressive to say the least. It seems like everyone was having first night jitters or something. 

blognote: Music was the same loud radio station.