Wednesday, March 24, 2010

The Asian Bistro: Great Food for Under $6!


Ah, beloved Chinese Food! When picturing Chinese cuisine, many of us think of a familiar comfort food or our favorite childhood take-out our mothers would bring home when they didn’t feel like cooking.  According to 500,000 responses on AOL's House & Home Channel, Chinese is America’s second favorite ethnic food next to Italian.

In my opinion, when someone moves to a new city there are a few very important questions they need to ask themselves: where is the best grocery store, where is my bank, where is the best coffee shop, and where can I get good Chinese take-out? After eating at a few of the local Chinese restaurants, I have finally discovered where I would immediately recommend Newberg newcomers find great Chinese food!

When driving down highway 99 in Newberg, you may, or may not, have noticed a simple yellow sign saying: Asian Bistro. I thought this restaurant was fairly new, after all I didn’t even notice it until a few months ago, but in fact, the Asian Bistro opened in September 2008. After seeing their sign a few times, I finally decided to stop in and see what this restaurant is all about. I was curious what they meant by “Asian” bistro. Could I expect a pan-Asian cuisine consisting of a fusion of flavors from China, Japan, Thailand, and Korea? In the end, I was not at all disappointed to find that it is simply, and solely, a Chinese restaurant.

There is limited parking outside the Asian Bistro, but once inside, you will be glad you are there! The restaurant is very clean and has a nice atmosphere with friendly service. The menu is extensive and very reasonably priced. In my opinion, the lunch special at the Asian Bistro is one of the best deals in Newberg! You get your choice of almost any entrée, a fried vegetable spring roll, egg drop or hot and sour soup, and your choice of white, fried or brown rice for $5.95 or less!

But more important than anything else, the food tastes great! The entrees that I tried were delicious, but I have to admit, my favorite part of the meal was their brown rice—the best brown rice I have ever had! Often it is hard to find brown rice in Asian cuisine because traditionally, only the poor and lower class people ate brown rice. The wealthy could afford white, processed rice, and so it was deemed the preferred, desirable rice.

At the Asian Bistro, entree dinner prices range from $8.95 to $13.95 and include complementary rice. The portions are very large and can be enough to feed two people! A popular favorite is the Mongolian beef!

The Asian Bistro is located at 2316 Portland Road, and is open Monday through Friday, from 11:00A.M. to 8:30P.M., Saturday from 5:00P.M. to 8:30P.M., and Sunday 12:00P.M. to 8:30P.M. Check on-line next month because they will have a website with additional restaurant information and their menu. Enjoy! 


This article can also be viewed at The Crescent, my university's newspaper here.

7/28/10- I am sad to share that I have recently been informed that The Asian Bistro has closed.



Asian Bistro on Urbanspoon

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