Asian Bistro

Hello Everyone,

I am well aware that I haven’t updated my blog in a very long time and I am very sorry for that.  I am going to use the excuse that we are currently in a recession and I have been eating at home more often. 

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.  I just stayed home and invited some friends over and I cooked my first turkey!  The turkey came out better than expected.  Everyone said it was delicious and I am pretty proud of myself 🙂

Also during Thanksgiving break, we discovered a wonderful Szechuan restaurant in Arlington Heights called Asian Bistro.  Our friends recommended the place and when I heard the name of the restaurant, I wasn’t impressed.  The name just didn’t ooze “awesome Chinese food.”  They all gave the place rave reviews, so we decided to give the place a chance.

The first thing I noticed when I walked in was that it was quite crowded and all the customers were Asian, which is a good sign.  We ordered two cold dishes to start off: FuQiFeiPian (spicy sliced intestines) and KouShuiJi (spicy chicken).   Don’t let the redness of the chicken dish scare you…it isn’t THAT spicy.

 

Next we ordered some main courses: ShuiZhuYu (spicy fish in oil), GanBianSiJiDou (green beans), and XiangGanChaoRouSi (tofu stir fry with pork).  The two latter ones were not spicy at all.

Everyone that knows me knows that I cannot eat spicy foods.  Even though some of these dishes sound and look spicy, I was able to handle it; I just needed to have a constant supply of water and rice.  I really enjoyed the spicy fish, but I had to be careful to make sure I didn’t pick up any pieces of fish that were covered with the spice mix.  As a matter of fact, I enjoyed the spicy dishes more than the non-spicy dishes.

I also want to note that the spiciness of Szechuan food is different than curry and jalapeno.   Szechuan spicy is very aromatic and slightly numbing so when I eat Szechuan food, I have the burning sensation in my mouth, but it also tickles my taste buds.  It’s as if my taste buds were set on fire and they were enjoying it.

Overall, Asian Bistro is a very good authentic Szechuan restaurant.  It’s too bad it’s located all the way in Arlington Heights.  The service is very typical of a Chinese restaurant and the prices are very fair.  It is about 10 minutes east from Woodfield mall, so if you are ever out there shopping, consider dropping by and giving it a chance.