Japan

It felt like a seafood weekend so a little sushi seemed to be in order. Representing Japan for the Culinary-Passport was Red Bowl Asian Bistro in Rock Hill. To be precise they are an Asian fusion restaurant and have multiple cuisines represented on the menu so they aren’t solely a Japanese place but they do have a pretty extensive sushi menu as well as hibachi options. There are at least 4 Red Bowl restaurants in the area so their offering certainly provided a level of success. I’m pointing this out because my experience wasn’t the kind a culinary empire is built on.

I was greeted by a nice lady who directed a young lady to seat me. She didn’t sigh but it sure felt like I was interrupting her leaning time. The waitress was Jenny on the spot and was at the table and ready to take my drink order before I even got the menu open.

I decided to start with a crispy chicken egg roll and for the entrée went with the lunch sushi which is a “pick two” from a limited selection of rolls or 3 pcs of chef’s choice nigiri plus either miso soup or salad. I chose the Fantasy Roll, the nigiri and miso soup. The egg roll arrived so fast my Kindle app had not even loaded yet. It was warm and tasted pretty decent, nothing exceptional.

So next my sushi came and I had to mention I was supposed to get miso soup and was told “oh, it’s on the way”. I guess the soup comes after the entrée here. I waited the couple of minutes it took to get the miso and really shouldn’t have bothered.

The soup was mediocre and I didn’t bother finishing it. The fantasy roll (crab, roe, spicy mayo) was good but I’ve had better from a Publix grocery store. The nigiri was the high spot as the fish and shrimp looked good, had nice textures and tasted fresh.

Overall this was a disappointing experience and I couldn’t recommend them based on this visit. Even my fortune cookie arrived broken and the fortune was something about how great my wife was. Having said that, a number of years ago I went to the Red Bowl in Fort Mill and it was excellent so I might give them another try once the memory of this trip fades.

If you didn’t visit it last time check out Tell Me More – Japan

Japan

After skipping a week and being busy as IT support Saturday and hitting the cinema to see Capt. America Sunday, keeping it close to home was an attractive option so I decided to head on over to Amber Buffet & Hibachi to represent Japan. I’d seen it many times since moving to Rock Hill but the hibachi part filled the bill today. They were moderately busy at 2:00pm Sunday. It had the most diverse cross section of humanity I’ve come across on any of these dining experiences. I guess buffets are the great equalizers. The dining area was a bit dim and they love some colored lights. The buffet area was a actually better lit and quite large.

The first thing I hit was the sushi line. There was a nice selection of pretty basic options and I tried one of each. You can pick you wasabi and ginger from a big bowl. It all looked pretty vibrant and the way people were hitting the sushi station they had to be restocking it pretty often although I didn’t see anyone making them.

After that appetizer I ventured down that same line to the hibachi zone. Here you pick you meat and a few veggies and some noodles if you want and put the plate on the counter and they line them up and grill the contents, put the finished product on a new plate and set it on the other end of the counter. Nice and easy. I was kind of surprised they didn’t have any rice there but that may have been to keep from having to clean it off the grill. Whatever the reason I wasn’t sad to go with the steak, chicken, noodles, fungus and veggies.

After that I perused the buffet lines. There is a big rectangle with plates of you standard oriental buffet fare and then a couple of lines with salads & vegetables and one with deserts and ice cream. I did like the white serving plates that gave everything a bright clean look. I opted for a couple of items from the steamer section and ended the day with some fruit.

On one hand I’m sorry I never went in before now and on the other I’m glad because I could get big as a house if it became a habit. As buffets go I have to give this place high marks. The food was good, the staff was friendly, the patrons were well mannered and never once did I see people waiting at an empty spot on the buffet. I’ll be back but not too frequently.

Here’s the web site and don’t forget to check out the Tell Me More page for a yum yum sauce recipe and a great music video.

Amber Buffet & Hibachi

Culinary-Passport

Experiencing foods of the world locally

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Japan