Sunday, July 1st, 2007
Naan is yet another upscale restaurant in the Shops at Legacy in Plano, but it manages to distinguish itself by offering a unique menu that combines both Korean and Japanese cuisine. We visited Naan for lunch this past weekend and enjoyed our meal thoroughly. The fairly small lunch menu features a selection of bento boxes, rice bowls, and salads, as well as a separate menu for sushis. The sushis were quite expensive so we went the safe route and just tried the bento boxes. There are several bento boxes to choose from, including Spicy Barbecue Chicken or Pork, Bulgogi (Shredded Ribeye Steak), Prime Short Rib, and Chicken Teriyaki. We ordered the Executive Bento which gives you a choice of two meats. Every item in the bento box was delicious, and the meats in particular were prepared perfectly. Portions were just right and we left full and satisfied. Service was generally good except for a slight hiccup where our server mixed up our orders, but other than that there’s not much to complain about.
Miso soup
Executive Bento ($11) with Chicken Teriyaki and Bulgogi
Naan
7161 Bishop Rd #G2
Plano, TX 75024
Phone: (972) 943-9288
Website: http://www.naan-restaurant.com
Ambiance: 8
Food: 8
Service: 6
Health: 6
Cleaniness: 8
Value: 6
Overall: 7
Tags: Naan, bento
Posted in Restaurant Reviews, Japanese, Korean | No Comments »
Sunday, February 18th, 2007
A new restaurant just opened up recently in the Chinatown square in Richardson on the East side of Greenville between Arapaho and Beltline. We decided to give it a shot. I was skeptical at first because there was another Japanese restaurant in the same square so I wasn’t sure what Ajisen could offer to compete with it. Turned out better than I thought.
The inside decor of the restaurant was very nice. I think they’re trying to create an upscale atmosphere in contrast to the other restaurants around it. The servers to customers ratio was high, so service was very good. The food was somewhat unique, but having been to Japan and tasted the more authentic dishes over there, it’s hard not to compare. Cleaniness gets a fairly high mark because the restaurant was actually newly built so everything looked new and clean. We even got a hot towel to wipe our hands clean with.
Ajisen served up a rather healthy fare compared to many restaurants out there. Japanese cuisine is usually that way. But they do come at a cost. Each of our ramen bowls were $9 each. I remembered paying the same price, maybe even less, for a bowl of ramen in Japan. You have to understand that prices in Japan are at least 20-30% higher than prices here. Plus the ramen in Japan tasted tons better too. Not to say the ones at Ajisen weren’t good, they just couldn’t compare.
The “Casual” refers more to the food than to the decor…
…as you can see.
Many items on the menu are tailored to eat with beer. This style of cuisine is more for the “salaryman” who after a long day’s work decides to go out drinking with some beer snacks on the side as fillers. Because of this, I think, many of the dishes are on the salty side.
We sat literally next to the kitchen. Only thing separating us from the chefs a couple of feet away is a wall of glass.
Cajun roll made of fried crawfish, spicy mayo, and avacado. Pretty good.
A traditional ramen. Portion looked rather small though, so if you’re a big eater opt for something else on the side. Oh, and don’t let the soup go to waste because it’s the main ingredient in true authentic ramen.
There was actually a pretty good selection of ramen on the menu. This one had chicken karage, basically fried chicken.
This one immediately caught my eye because I’ve not seen anything like this before served here in the US. It’s a rather plain combo plate in Japan though, but here it deserves some attention. I like the combination of rice, curry, and fried chicken cutlet. Could be better if the curry was spicer though.
Ajisen
Ambiance: 7
Food: 6
Service: 8
Cleaniness: 7
Health: 6
Value: 4
Overall: 6.5
Tags: Ajisen, grand opening, Japanese, casual dining, ramen, curry rice
Posted in Eating Out, Restaurant Reviews, Japanese | No Comments »
Saturday, September 9th, 2006
Restaurant grand openings are great because at the expense of promoting themselves, we usually benefit from their special prices and deals. A prime example is E Ji Bon, a new Japan & Asian fusion restaurant that just opened in Frisco. 30% off for the whole month of September on all their menu items!
The inside decor is simple but clean. The kitchen is hidden, but their sushi bar is open for all to see. Because of its central location, your eyes can’t help but be drawn to the chef working behind the counter.
Since it’s 30% off everything, we thought we’d take advantage of the deal, so we ordered a whole slew of items over the course of two trips. I think we might check back one more time before the month’s over. Here’re all that we ordered in no particular order.
Sea Sweep Salad - marinated/pickled seaweed salad. A bit slimy but very tasty.
Squid Salad. Even though it says squid, I think it’s made from octopus. Has a savory sweet and sour flavor.
Vegetable Tempura - deep fried assorted vegetables. It has onion rings, string beans, green bell pepper, sweet potato, and zucchini. Comes with a warm tentsuyu (mix of soy, stock, and sweek sake) sauce.
Salt and Pepper Calamari. Their menu says calamari AND shrimp, but really it’s calamari OR shrimp. First the calamari’s deep fried, then stir fried with salt and green & red chili peppers. Its got a spicy kick to it, but the combination of deep frying and stir frying made it quite oily.
Roasted Pork Ramen and…
…Miso Ramen. The main attraction in good ramen noodle soup is the soup. It makes or breaks the ramen. These pass the test, but ever since our trip to Japan years ago, we have never been completely satisfied with the quality of ramen here. That’s not to say these aren’t good. They’re actually the closest we’ve had so far, but they’re still not as perfect as the ones we’ve had in Japan. Our search continues.
Triple Pan-Fried Noodles. I think the triple means the trio of shrimp, chicken, and beef stir-fried with vegetables. Instead, we got shrimp, scallops, and beef. Not a bad trade-off. It’s served on a bed of crispy fried egg noodles.
Seafood Dan Dan Noodles. While we may have gotten lucky with the Triple Pan-Fried Noodles, I think we got shafted here. Supposedly the seafood should have shrimp, scallop, and crabmeat. I didn’t see any crabmeat. Overall the dish is okay, but they went overboard a little with the sauce.
Kat Su Don. Fried pork cutlet over rice topped with egg, onions, and mushrooms. Simple but tasty. The juices from the stir-fried onions and mushrooms seeped down to flavor the pork and rice underneath.
Bul Gu Gi Asia Grill. Marinated slices of beef with onions and mushrooms served on a hot sizzling plate shaped like a bull. Comes with rice and…
…miso soup and…
…salad.
Portions at E Ji Bon may be a little lacking by the norm here in the States, but it was enough to satisfy. Overall the food tasted good, and service was above average. Our waiter was dressed in a casual like tux of some sort, without the jacket, and he was available whenever we needed. As for the prices, without the 30% discount I think it’s a little bit overpriced. So if you want to try it out, you have until the end of this month to do so.
E Ji Bon
7151 Preston Rd., Suite 201B
Frisco, TX 75034
214-705-8381
Ambiance: 7
Food: 6
Service: 8
Cleaniness: 8
Value: 5
Overall: 6.9
Tags: E Ji Bon, Japan, Asian, fusion, grand opening, 30% discount
Posted in Eating Out, Restaurant Reviews, Chinese, Japanese, Korean | No Comments »
Friday, August 11th, 2006
It was late, around 9pm, when we pulled up to Sakana to get a bite to eat. We chose to get it to-go so the workers there wouldn’t have to stay longer than they had to. The hostess was really nice, offering us water to drink while we waited. I was really thirsty so happily I accepted. I even got a refill. While I greatly commend the service there, I can’t say the same for the value of the food we got. We got a teriyaki chicken and a beef yakisoba at $11.95 each. When they gave me the boxes to carry.. my first thought was how light they were. I mean, I’ve carried salads heavier than this.
When I opened the boxes up, I couldn’t help but think that we’ve overpaid for what we got. The teriyaki chicken was just two chicken breasts covered in teriyaki sauce, served with veggies, rice, salad, and half an orange. At least the chicken didn’t taste too dry with the help of the sauce, but overall the dish was average at best. The beef yakisoba tasted better. It was basically a stir fry noodle entree with beef (which were a little dry), mushrooms, onions, carrots, and zucchini. But, it still lacked in quantity for its price.
I think Sakana specializes more on sushi because their menu has a very small selection of entrees. It’s either teriyaki meat with rice or yakisoba. I saw some of the sushi they made, and they looked pretty good. The downside is that each sushi roll (about 8-10 pieces) will cost you around $20.
The radish dressing was pretty good on this otherwise regular salad.
Teriyaki chicken in its purest form, nothing fancy.
The beef was a little tough, but this entree was the better of the two. I like the balance of noodles and the other ingredients. No one ingredient overwhelms the other in quantity.
Sakana
3000 Custer Rd. #110
Plano, TX 75075
972-398-1790
Tags: Sakana, teriyaki, chicken, beef, yakisoba
Posted in Eating Out, Japanese | No Comments »