Asia Grill

Last week I met my husband for lunch at Asia Grill in Peoria's Junction City.
We were greeted upon our arrival and escorted to a table in the dining room, and our drink order was taken before we were left to look over the menu.
For lunch you can select an entrée paired with white rice, brown rice or pork fried rice and an egg roll or crab rangoon for $5.49. Drinks were reasonably priced.
I selected the Szechuan chicken with brown rice and crab rangoon. My husband ordered Mongolian beef minus bell peppers with fried rice and an egg roll.
My entrée was just spicy enough, prepared with quality white meat chicken and the brown rice was expertly prepared. The crab rangoon was of the sweet variety, rich and delicious.
I was curious about one of the desserts listed at the table, Tempura ice cream, but was sufficiently full with my lunch combo, so I will have to check it out another time.
The two servers working the dining room checked on us several times. When we were ready to pay, things had gotten a little more harried and it took a few minutes for us to get someone to cash us out, but it was not a big deal and she did apologize for the wait while ringing us up.

Oriental Palace

My husband wanted to make a stop in Pekin this weekend which gave me the opportunity to suggest lunch at Oriental Palace.

The restaurant features Chinese, Japanese and Thai dishes.

During our lunch visit, the dining room had a clean, simple decor with white plastic covering the white linen tablecloths.

Our waitress seated us right away and went to prepare our drinks while we checked out the menu.

I have had a wide variety of Chinese food and eat sashimi from time-to-time, but my Thai food experience is limited to Pad Thai. The menu was organized into sections, so I focused on the Thai entrées.

I selected the Thai basil beef, $9.50. StfRon chose Mu Shu chicken ($7.75), and we also ordered an appetizer of crab rangoon ($3.95).

Our crab rangoon showed up quickly. It might be the crispiest crab rangoon I've ever had, was filled with a sweet cream cheese mixture, and was very good.

The flavor of my Thai basil beef surprised me, as it tasted quite a bit like fish. Our waitress came to check on us and said that the dish contained dried shrimp and fish sauce, along with the beef and vegetables which included onions, mushrooms and water chestnuts.

My husband enjoyed the Moo Shu, which is one of his latest Chinese favorites.

Service was great, and although we never noticed it, I feel like the servers must have been discreetly watching us or else they have impeccable timing, as they seemed to materialize instantly at all the right times.

Bamboo Inn

We don't go out to dinner nearly as often as we did three or four years ago, but oddly enough for the past three years we've managed to attempt to go to dinner, in East Peoria no less, on the evening of the Festival of Lights Parade without realizing the event was taking place. We probably eat dinner in East Peoria once or twice a year, but somehow manage to try it on the busiest night of the year.

This time we were quite pleased with ourselves, my husband having come up with a new place for us to try that we'd never been to: the Bamboo Inn.

We came off of 74 in East Peoria only to see several police cars with flashing lights on blocking off East Washington Street where we needed to turn to get to the restaurant and, with a sinking feeling, we realized it was the night of the parade. I suggested we could park at Walgreens and walk, but StfRon declared it too cold, so we abandoned our quest and came back for lunch the following week.

Walking in to the Bamboo Inn, the decor reminded me of Yen Ching in Peoria circa the 1980s with the Asian chandeliers and wall art and booths lining the left and right wall. This is fine by me, since Yen Ching was our special family outing when we were kids, and it brings back good memories.

The booths on the left were big, red and cushy, some of them worn but comfy, and the ones on the right were the newer unpadded style you see in places like Papa John's.

There was a buffet set up near the back of the room, but there was no food there during this lunch hour.

There were a couple of other tables of people dining during the lunch hour.

I joined my husband and checked out the menu, a leather-style bound one with a paper insert in the middle listing lunch specials.

I selected lunch special B, your choice of beef or chicken with pea pods, onions and water chestnuts served with fried rice and an egg roll for $4.25. I chose the chicken.

My husband ordered some beef chow mein after making sure there were no green peppers involved.

Our server was very polite and soon brought us a ceramic teapot filled with tea we ordered to ward off the chill.

Our food came out shortly and the lunch special I had was simply the ingredients described in the menu in an almost clear sauce that reminded me of Mom's homemade chicken and noodles sauce. If I had to guess, I would say there was little to no MSG in the dish, just chicken, vegetables and a light sauce.

The fried rice did not contain chunks of food like some places serve, but was also simple and had a nice flavor.

Soon we were on our way back to work having experienced another local restaurant without making a big dent in our wallets.

Peking Garden

On our way back home this weekend, we passed through Eureka and StfRon asked if I wanted to go to Peking Garden. Having never been there, I was game.
We parked across the street from 116 N. Main Street and stepped inside to find about a dozen patrons enjoying a lunch buffet.
We scoped the buffet out, but decided to try something off the menu instead. StfRon placed our order at the counter and we took a seat along the wall.
Soon our order of crab rangoon was delivered, and we dove in. Out of habit, I put a bit of sweet and sour sauce on the fried puff, but after tasting the filling, deemed the sauce entirely unnecessary. The cream cheese filling had visible chunks of what seemed to me to be real crab meat (I'm no crab expert, but I'm pretty sure it was the real deal), and a nice sweet flavor.
My meal arrived: Szechuan chicken with steamed rice, filled with carrots, water chestnuts, onions, green peppers and pea pods, swimming in a nicely spiced sauce. It was certainly good, but I did wish I had tried the hunan chicken instead (I was teetering between the two). I loved the spiciness, but the sauce wasn't quite what I was looking for.
StfRon ordered the Mongolian beef, and the beef, green and white onions and sauce were a nice combination, but not as sweet as some he's had. I sampled the dish and actually preferred it to some of the sweeter versions I've tried.
The tab, with one hot tea and one ice water came in at about $28, and we had enough left over for dinner later this week.
Several more patrons came in while we were there and were greeted warmly by the people working in the dining room. They bantered about how so-and-so was doing and who was in earlier in the day for lunch. Peking Garden obviously offers good Asian fare, and hometown appeal.

Ing's Chinese Express

After conducting some financial business a couple of weeks ago at the Sheridan Village CEFCU in Peoria, we decided to go to Ing's Chinese Express in said shopping center for lunch.
Ing's used to be known as Happiness Chinese restaurant in Pekin on Route 29. I had been to Happiness, and recall it as a cute little restaurant with good food.
The Sheridan Village location looks nice and clean, with a more updated decor and art than many Chinese restaurants in the area sport. It also seems kind of roomy, as they have left the center of the room open for a wide aisle leading to the counter where you place your lunch order. There is a row of chairs near the cash register to sit in while you wait for carryout orders.
I ordered the Mongolian beef, as did StfRon. I'm not sure why I did, because I grew up on Yen Ching's Mongolian beef, and none can ever measure up to that for me. However, this was good, with lots of onion slices, served accompanied by a huge egg roll and fried rice.
The food is served in Styrofoam containers, so if you can't eat it all, it's easy to take away.
Did the Mongolian beef beat Yen Ching's in my book? No, but I would certainly have this one again, or try one of the many, many other selections.

Ming's Buffet

Admittedly, I am not a fan of buffet restaurants.
A few years ago, I was with a group and visited Ming's Buffet in East Peoria, at 1000 Riverside Drive. I didn't have high hopes.
The decor was a surprise. The place looks bright and clean, with sheets of cracked glass topping the tables, and glass panels on the walls with pictures carved into them.
The food is plentiful, of course, but also has been hot and seemed fresh each time I have visited, which sets Ming's apart from buffets I have visited in the past.
I especially like the green beans and the lo mein noodles from the buffet, and the large variety of cold fruit and veggies. They also have a decent sesame chicken.
Ming's also offers a selection of sushi, a salad bar, prime rib during dinner, crab legs, crab rangoon and plenty more.
Lunch runs about $8 and dinner about $12. It's still a buffet, but as far as I'm concerned, it's the best buffet I've been to.
Ming's has also opened a Bloomington location.

Haylumoon

It's been far too long since I've had food from Haylumoon in Chillicothe. In fact, it's been so long, they have moved from the original location at Plaza Drive to one at 142 N. Fourth St.
Haylumoon has been serving up Chinese food in Chillicothe for over 15 years.
This was my favorite place to pick up food when I was going to ICC and living in Chillicothe. On the way home, I would pick up a tub of sizzling rice soup and an order of crab rangoon. Mmm, good eats!

Yen Ching

Moving on we get to a favorite of mine for at least 20 years, Yen Ching. Located at 6936 N. University St. in Peoria, Yen Ching is the place to go for sizzling rice soup and Mongolian beef. It's the best of either that I've ever had. They bring a plate of rice out alongside your soup and dump it in at the table so you get to hear that refreshing sizzle as you are served your soup.
They also have cheap lunch specials, around $5 for an entree, rice, egg roll and drink during the week.

And one thing we keep saying we need to try is the happy family. We've seen people enjoying this in the restaurant, but we just can't break away from the Mongolian beef to try something new!

Yen Ching does serve beer, wine and cocktails.