So, I was going to do this review as a comment on my fb wall, and then I thot I should just do a note because a note gives you more space to write your thots, and then I realized that I've been trying to get back to blogging since I moved and this 'article' would be the perfect theme to blog instead of just note. :) Don't you just love that I give you the whole background story - don't you feel so much more involved in my life?? I know, right?!!
This was just going to be a review of the restaurant that we visited tonight but I realized I have more thots about this topic than just this eatery's specific notes. So, John and I have come to realize - since we've eaten out more in the last month than in the past year - that the more a restaurant tries to do the less effective they are at it. In other words, the more items they offer on their menu, the worse the food is.
Of course, that's really a true axiom for most of life. The more a person tries to do, the less they do well. You know there are life principles all around us if we're just open to seeing truth in 'out of the way' places.
The Royal Buffet restaurant was okay. John tried their sushi - he said it was good but he's had better. In fact, there's a little 'hole in the wall' sushi place between here and Wilkes-Barre (where the company apartment John lived in is located) that is amazing. And, why? Because that's all she does there - sushi! Anyway, this restaurant had 7 buffet stations - wow! I hadn't realized it was so many until I just thot through them! - so 7 buffet stations: salad (which was actually the best part), dessert, soup, sushi, 2 different sections of hot foods (not sure how they were divided) and a stir fry part.
One thing in particular that I noticed about the hot foods was that their meat choices were obviously not of the top quality. When you're offering over 100 items on a buffet, it's not cost effective to use the best cuts of meat. In most of the chicken dishes, the chicken was small and tough - cooked too long and sitting too long. In fact, as we were eating I realized that the food at Panda Express (a very good Asian fast food restaurant) is so much better -- and why? Because they're menu is limited so that they can focus on what they do best.
Sad thot: I just looked up the closest Panda Express and it's 2 1/2 hours away near Harrisburg. Guess I'll have to wait until I visit my aunt in Minneapolis or my friends in Houston!
Anyway, back to the review of The Royal Buffet. I tried a few dishes (coconut chicken, general tso's chicken and chicken and broccoli) and discovered that while they were okay - but all of them were bland by comparison with most other Asian-related cuisine I visited. The coconut chicken and the chicken and broccoli were slightly slimy and the general tso's chicken was very sweet with none of the expected heat for which the dish is known. I also sampled their wonton soup - and the broth was very good, however, the dough of the wonton was very thick and dough - a quality that I enjoy in most dough things but which does not serve wonton soup well at all.
Restaurant Impossible is one of our favorite shows. 1) Because Robert Irvine is so ballsy in his comments to the restaurant owners - I know, he gets paid to do that but still.....and 2) There's so much hope in what is accomplished by the end of the show. And yes, I know that it's not all magic and fulfilled dreams - some of the restaurants have not succeeded after the 'intervention'. However, one thing we've learned - and yes, this paragraph is related to the rest of this article:) - most of the time the restaurant redos include a simplification of the menu. He tells them to choose a few things to do well instead of trying to offer every kind of recipe out there.
And I would have to agree - if I could tell most of the restaurants I've visited one piece of information to improve their place - choose a few things to do well, do those and keep your environment simple, clean and bright.
