Mill Creek buffet spans Asia

MILL CREEK – Herald reader Sherri Rowland sent an e-mail to alert us to an “amazing restaurant” that serves Thai, Japanese and Mandarin Chinese dishes at the same time in one buffet.

“The food is really wonderful,” she wrote. “I sure do love all the different culture foods … and this is the only one of its kind in this area.”

Buffet and Asian in the same place, I thought. Sounds perfect.

Chef Chen is tucked into a corner of a strip mall but the interior is stylishly decorated with treasures from Asia, with comfortable booths near the buffet stations. On my recent Saturday visit during the lunch hour, multigenerational families almost filled the dining room despite the restaurant only being open a couple of months.

I selected a booth at the end of the first station and waited for my server to bring a complimentary pot of tea before filling my plate. I began at the wrong end of the buffet and filled my plate with the General’s chicken, a spicy dish from Szechwan China, and the more gentle sesame chicken plus steamed rice. I ended up at the egg flower and hot and spicy soup. So, I enjoyed the chili-laced, tender chicken as much as the sweet sesame of the second dish. Then, I returned for a cup of hot and sour soup. The traditional strips of mushrooms, tofu and onions filled my slightly sour soup that was hot from the chili as well as from the stove.

The selections from Thailand include Thai noodles and curried fried rice. I sampled all of them and selected the Thai noodles as my favorite because it’s lighter. There aren’t any heavy seasonings and the dish gently tosses noodles with julienne strips of carrots and onions with a hint of garlic.

For my second plate, I scooped little portions of twice-cooked pork, deep-fried fish, tempura vegetables and broccoli beef. The twice-cooked pork and the broccoli beef were tender and deliciously laced with seasonings in authentic Asian style. Regrettably, the deep-fried fish and tempura vegetables were disappointing. The fish, coated with Japanese bread crumbs called panko, and the vegetables were undercooked. The cooking oil wasn’t hot enough. I mentioned this to my friendly server and she explained that the kitchen was still making adjustments because the restaurant hadn’t been open very long.

I returned to the buffet to discover egg foo young and pot stickers plus sushi and salad selections including kim chee and one of my favorites – nori salad. I heaped my plate with nori salad, which is made from seaweed that’s laced with rice vinegar and sesame seeds, a little kim chee, which is a Korean side dish of chili-coated cabbage, plus a couple of pot stickers and sushi rolls. Just this plate of food would have justified my $6.99 tab.

The dessert selections included Thai sweet rice with coconut, fresh melon slices, tapioca pudding and the obligatory red Jell-O. I enjoyed the parents at the next table teasing their son and daughter about having to try the five flavors of beef gelatin. No. I didn’t try it, either.

Once again, a Herald reader proves to be on target. The delicious selections at Chef Chen span Asia.

Herald restaurant reviewers accept no invitations to review, but readers’ suggestions are always welcome. Reviewers arrive unannounced, and The Herald pays their tabs.

Contact Anna Poole at features@heraldnet.com.