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Seafood

REVIEW – Dao Modern Asian Cuisine (Mason, OH): California Roll, Dragon Roll, Tempura Udon Noodle Soup

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June 26, 2015 | Post a Comment
California roll & dragon roll from Dao Restaurant, Mason, OH
Tempura Udon from Dao Restaurant, Mason, OH

My mom and went out to eat at Dao Modern Asian Cuisine in Mason, OH. It was a Friday night, and while there were a few sets of customers, it didn't seem very busy. My mom and I shared a California roll and dragon roll as appetizers, and I had tempura udon soup as my meal.

The California roll was just fine, but it was a little bit warm, perhaps because it was next to the dragon roll. The dragon roll had tempura shrimp on the inside, and the shrimp was pretty good, and nice & crunchy. The shrimp went well with the sweet eel sauce. However, I did find there were bits of shrimp shell still on the shrimp :(

Shrimp shell in the dragon roll

I also noticed that some of the dishes they used for our food were broken. The corner of the shrimp and vegetable tempura plate was broken as well as bowl for the tempura sauce.

Broken bowl of tempura sauce

The udon noodle soup had a nice, tasty broth. It had a very slight hint of sweetness, and it wasn't overly salted. I liked the slightly sweet taste, and as the amount of soup decreased, the sweeter the soup became. The udon noodles in the soup were also good and had a good noodle texture.

The tempura that came with the soup included shrimp tempura and different vegetable tempura like zucchini, sweet potato, and broccoli. The zucchini tempura didn't have much taste. I didn't really care much for the broccoli tempura or the shrimp tempura, either. The shrimp in the shrimp tempura was kind of dry. I liked the taste of the slightly sweet tempura sauce, however, it was a little watery and when I used it with the tempura, the taste didn't last long so it didn't help much. However, I really enjoyed the sweet potato tempura; the taste of the sweet potato went really well with the fried batter.

Overall Rating:
OK
Food: California Roll, Dragon Roll, Tempura Udon Soup
Source: Dao Modern Asian Cuisine Restaurant, Mason, OH
Rating (California Roll): OK
Rating (Dragon Roll): OK (would be good without the shrimp shell bits)
Rating (Udon Noodle Soup): Good
Rating (Shrimp, Zucchini, Broccoli Tempura, Tempura Sauce): OK
Rating (Sweet Potato Tempura): Delicious
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REVIEW – Soho Japanese Bistro (West Chester, OH): Chicken Teriyaki & Shrimp Tempura Bento Box

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June 23, 2015 | Post a Comment
House salad from Soho Japanese Bistro
Chicken Teriyaki & Shrimp Tempura Bento Box from Soho Japanese Bistro

My mom took me out to eat at Soho Japanese Bistro for lunch. We came at 12:30 pm on a Tuesday, and it was very empty; there were only two other parties at the restaurant. Although it was a sunny day, it was pretty dark inside of the restaurant.

Inside of Soho Japanese Bistro

Inside of Soho Japanese Bistro

I ordered a bento box combination lunch meal, which comes with the following:

  • Miso soup
  • Small House salad
  • A Choice of Two: Chicken Teriyaki, Salmon Teriyaki, Strip Steak Teriyaki, Pork Katsu, Chicken Katsu, Shrimp Tempura, Vegetables Tempura, Gyu ni [sic] (I chose chicken teriyaki & shrimp tempura)
  • Steamed Rice or Fried Rice (I chose steamed rice)
  • Spicy Tuna or California roll (I chose California roll)

    • The food was served to us pretty quickly. I guess it was good it didn't take a long time, considering there weren't many customers there.

    The miso soup and house salad was given to us before the meal. The miso soup contained tofu and seaweed and had a good savory flavor, although it was a little on the salty side. The house salad had lettuce with onions, carrots, and tomatoes, along with a few wilted leaves. It was a decent size for being just a side salad. The salad dressing tasted like Thousand Island or something similar, and it wasn't overdressed.

    From my bento box, the chicken teriyaki was a little dry even though it had teriyaki sauce. The sauce was a little sweet, but maybe also a little salty. It tasted mostly bland to me. It also came with noodles that had a texture more like spaghetti than Asian noodles.

    The California roll was a decent size, the avocado was fresh, and it tasted pretty good. I also had a taste of my mom's salmon nigiri sushi, which seemed nice and fresh, and it was a pretty decent size.

    The steamed white rice was a sticky rice, and some of the rice was a little hard. It had a weird taste... maybe buttery or oily, but I didn't like it.

    I ate my shrimp tempura last, which I guess was a good thing, because they asked if I wanted any tempura sauce toward the end our meal. I definitely needed the sauce because, while the shrimp tempura was nice and crispy, it didn't have much taste. The sauce wasn't delicious, but it helped give more flavor to the shrimp.

    Overall Rating:
    OK
    Food: Bento box lunch combination with chicken teriyaki, shrimp tempura, steamed white rice, and California roll
    Price: $13.00 for bento box lunch combo
    Source: Soho Japanese Bistro, West Chester, OH
    Rating (Miso soup): OK
    Rating (House salad): OK
    Rating (Chicken teriyaki): OK
    Rating (California Roll): Good
    Rating (Salmon nigiri sushi): Good
    Rating (Steamed white rice): Blegh
    Rating (Shrimp tempura): OK
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    REVIEW – Aquastar: Crab & Shrimp Seafood Feast (Frozen)

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    June 16, 2015 | 14 Comments
    Box of Frozen Aquastar Crab & Shrimp Seafood Feast
    Aquastar Crab & Shrimp Seafood Feast Cooked

    We saw this box of crab & shrimp seafood at Fry's (Kroger) and thought it sounded good so we tried some.

    The seafood feast comes in a covered aluminum tray, and the cooking directions show that you can cook it in the oven or on the grill from frozen, but the grill is the preferred method, which is what we went with, and it was pretty easy.

    While cooking the seafood was fairly easy, eating it was a bit labor intensive since you had to shell both the crab legs and shrimp. Both the crab and shrimp were fine, but I would have preferred more. 2.21 lb of seafood sounds like a lot, but it cooks down to a smaller volume and some of that is the crab leg shells, so it wasn't very much of a feast.

    However, it did all taste pretty good with the broth. It was salty, but not excessively so. The broth had a nice, garlic and butter taste. There were 5 discs of corn, which were all nice and super sweet. The sausage tasted good, like a bratwurst. The potatoes were good red potatoes, but they were mushy, which is to be expected for being in a broth. The broth also turned into a sort of slurry with potato starch. There was some red and green pepper bits, but they were very tiny. The mussels also tasted good, but there were some broken pieces of mussel shell lurking underneath some of the other foods.

    As an overall meal, it could have used more of everything: more seafood, more sausage, more corn, and more/bigger peppers. It also would have been nice if the shrimp and crab were pre-shelled and if there weren't as many broken mussel shell pieces. I probably would have even preferred artificial crab to having to shell the crab legs. And while I shared the seafood feast with my boyfriend, I probably could have eaten the entire thing by myself.

    Overall Rating:
    OK
    Food: Aquastar Crab & Shrimp Seafood Feast (Crab, Shrimp, Mussels, & Vegetables in a Classic Beer Broth)
    Price: $9.99
    Source: Fry's Food & Drug Store (Kroger), Tucson, AZ
    Rating (Seafood & Vegetables): OK
    Rating (Broth): Good
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