by Annie Zhang, news editor
Those red, leathery seats characteristic of Chinese restaurants, filled with people, and the smiling waitress that greeted me with a heavily-accented “Welcome to China King Buffet” immediately assuaged my fear of having to be the only customer in another Chinese restaurant.
People chatted away at the tables beside me, and I walked towards the buffet lines, where at least a hundred selections greeted me. Eagerly, I grabbed a plate and made my way through the winding course, but the first thing that caught my eye was the broccoli and cheese. I poked the almost brown broccoli stalks and dry cheese with the spoon, and nothing even budged. The cheese mussels and oyster looked more inviting, but the hard and undersized dumplings, neglected sesame chicken, and colorless rice did not receive a spot on my plate. It wasn’t too hard to figure out that the only fresh dishes were the ones that people ate more of, like broccoli and beef.
But as I approached the next line, my head began to spin. Before me lay General Tso chicken, sesame chicken, orange chicken, salt and pepper chicken, sweet and sour chicken, Kung Pao chicken and by then, the word chicken looked funny. The effort put into the most-ways-to-cook-a-chicken project could be spent on fresher selections and more vegetarian options. Because right after those chicken dishes came BBQ pork chop, pepper steak…and then mushroom chicken and phoenix chicken.
After taking a spoonful of fresh seaweed (I had heard that it was really expensive, and I didn’t want my $8.95 to go to waste), I grabbed three salmon and three other types of sushi filled with pickles and cream cheese. So when I finally finished rummaging for edible and tasty food, my plate consisted of two pieces of green broccoli I had found, the cheese mussel, three pieces of tiramisu, seaweed and my sushi.
As I sat down, I furtively glanced at the table beside me to see what others had chosen. A pile of green broccoli amidst a large plate of tempting noodles shocked me. I looked around again, and noticed the large Mongolian grill, where people were waiting in line for their plate of food to be cooked on the spot. Wanting to slap my forehead for not noticing the large grill in the center, I went back to the buffet, filled up my plate with noodles, shrimp and broccoli and beef, and joined the line of people. When my turn came in about five minutes, I handed the chef my plate, and watched as the chef dumped it on the grill, poured in the sauce, and flipped it with a large spatula. A few minutes later, he handed my plate back, and satisfied, I returned to start my lunch. The wait in line turned out rewarding; the sauce had added a subtle tangy flavor to the crunchy broccoli, and the juicy shrimp and beef nicely complemented the dry and still hot noodles.
I almost forgot about the buffet until I looked at the other plate, and soon regretted thinking I couldn’t go wrong with sushi. I most certainly could (and did), finding rock-hard and almost inedible rice. The fish on top and the items in the inside I enjoyed, so five little rolls of rice sat awkwardly on my plate when I had finished. And while I supposedly got more for my money by eating the seaweed, the slick, slimy and distinctively tart flavor extinguished any last hope of the buffet lines seeing me again.
However, the staff was extremely friendly, and smiling waitresses made sure my cup of water was never empty, and occasionally asked how my meal was. After I paid, my receipt came back with a fortune cookie, ubiquitous in all Chinese restaurants except those in China. While the buffet lines could benefit from improvements, the Mongolian grill stole my heart (and my stomach) completely, so don’t be surprised if you ever see me in line, dancing eagerly with a plate of noodles and broccoli.
