Review: Asia Bistro

Hello dear readers...those of you that are still here after my lazy ass hasn't posted for over a month anyway.  Well, for those of you that have stuck around I wanted to take a little time today to share with you a review of one of my favorite types of cuisine, take-out Chinese.  I've written about it on here before, and you might remember that my unabashed favorite is Hong Kong Cuisine at 126th and Highway 37.  Sometimes though when you see a new place open up it's at least worth trying to shake things up a bit.  That's what I did with Asia Bistro.

Asia Bistro is located in the plaza at 116th and Allisonville between Marsh and Little Caesars.  I believe the shopping center is Fishers Station maybe? One of you feel free to correct me in the comments if I'm wrong. In any case I decided this place was worth a go for Chinese takeout because it is on my direct route home from work, and if it was as good as Hong Kong it would be endlessly more convienient for me when picking up dinner.  However, I knew that was probably going to be a tall order.

When I walked in I saw the usual setup.  Depiste having "bistro" in the name it was more or less the same as every takeout place you've ever been to with the same menu.  To keep consistent and to make good comparisons I ordered my usual dish, chicken with garlic sauce, while opting for an egg roll as my side along with fried rice.  I also picked up an order of steamed dumplings.  The first thing I noticed when I opened up my container was that it more or less looked like the same dish I get from Hong Kong, but the awesome garlicky smell wasn't there.  Unfortunately, the lack of smell carried over to lack of flavor.  When I order something with "garlic" in the name I expect to be punched in the mouth with the flavor of it.  Here it was barely noticeable at all.  There was slightly more heat (not very much) than the same dish at Hong Kong, but it didn't really translate to more flavorful food.  The veggies and chicken were cooked alright, but without the sauce being right it just wasn't enough.  The fried rice was also inferior.  While not as stale and "neon yellow" as I've had at other places it wasn't better than my standard.  The dumplings were good.  The meat inside was juicy and the wrapper on the outside had a good texture, but Chinese takeout places around here have yet to even come close to matching the delicious dumplings served at First Wok in Muncie, IN.  They just do them better, and their dumpling dipping sauce has a big kick.  Not just soy in the cup.

I have to say I was really disappointed here.  I so badly wanted this place to exceed my expectations so it could become my new go-to.   Also, I believe they deliver which isn't something any other Chinese places in the area are doing.  Unfortunately I don't think the food was good enough to ever make me go back.  Ratings time

Taste 5/10 Not great.  Not horrible. Not worth going back.

Value 3/10 With food that isn't as good as my favorite and similar prices the value score has to suffer a bit.

Review: Hong Kong Cuisine

I have lamented on this blog before about how there was a lack of good takeout Chinese food in close proximity to where I live.  However, after my recent experience I have to change my tune a little bit.

Ever since I moved down here I've been searching for a place that was a good as First Wok in Muncie with little success.  Great Taste Chinese was close to my apartment, but after the last meal I had there lacked quality along with getting my order wrong in the first place I decided I wasn't going back.  Chinese buffets can be okay, but unless I drive down to Dragon House in Fishers or 8 Chinese Buffet in Castleton I'm not really a fan.  That left Hong Kong Cuisine.  It was a little bit farther to drive and get takeout, but at this point it was worth a shot.

It has been my experience that when it comes to takeout Chinese food that people tend to get almost the same thing every time.  I'm no different.  My preferred dish is the chicken with garlic sauce and that is exactly what I got.  I have to say up front that this is the best version of the dish I've had in recent memory.  All of the ingredients seemed really fresh.  The chicken was moist.  The vegetables, especially the broccoli, had that nice snap to it that I prefer.  The sauce had a very nice intense garlic flavor and an adequate amount of heat.  It wasn't so spicy that it would put off those with a more tame palette, but it was not at all bland or sugary.  Also, there was a nice mix of veggies and not an overwhelming abundance of fillers like onions or green peppers cough...Great Taste...cough.  The fried rice which can at times just be a throwaway side seemed much fresher and more natural in color than I have gotten from other Chinese places in the past.  It included juicy chunks of pork as well that were quite tasty.  The meal also came with an egg roll that was nicely crisp with good flavor and was complemented well with duck sauce.

We also decided to order an additional side of crab rangoons.  The portion that was given to us was quite large...probably enough to serve 3 or 4 people in reality.  Each one was quite large in size and came with the typical red sweet and sour dipping sauce.  I wouldn't call them exceptional, but I would say they were good for being the usual crab rangoons.  I'm still yet to get the dumplings...maybe next time.

Taste: 9/10  As far as good takeout goes I can't imagine getting a much better meal than this.  It was exactly what I wanted.  No more, no less.  The flavors and freshness were spot on.  This is going to be my new regular place for Chinese to go.  I have also heard good things about King Chef.  I'll have to make a trip there at some point to see how it compares.

Value: 9/10  The girlfriend and I got two combos (entree, fried rice and egg roll) and a separate order of crab rangoon for 15 bucks.  Considering how good the food was, and the fact that we both had enough left over to eat the next day I would have easily paid 20.