Kenzo Japanese & Asian Fusion Restaurant - Chambersburg, PA

One of my friends in Chambersburg, PA told me that she had been to Kenzo once and did not enjoy their food.  I completely disagree with her assessment.  My husband and I ate there and I loved the food that I had!  The service was a little lacking – there were about five tables seated at one time and the two waitresses on staff proceeded to serve all of the food to the tables that had already been sitting.  They did not even ask us for a drink order!  We waited about 15 minutes until somebody finally came to get our order.  I was on the verge of walking out, but I am glad that I didn’t.  The food was worth the wait!

Kenzo is a small restaurant in shopping complex that also houses Montezuma (one of two locations in Chambersburg) and a Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins combo.  It is a small restaurant, with only about 10-12 tables (which makes the slow service even more confusing).  There is a small sushi bar with four or five seats at the back of the restaurant before the kitchen.  The atmosphere is quiet and a tad romantic (maybe because of dimmer lighting and dark-colored walls).  I felt comfortable, like it was a place I belonged.  I will give the servers and cooks some credit, though, they did get our food out rather quickly and were attentive after our initial wait.

I ordered the Vegetable Gyoza and a House Salad to start, followed by the Thai Original Curry (I picked green curry with tofu).  My husband ordered Roti Canai (Indian Pancakes) as an appetizer and some sushi as his main.  The Salad came out first – it was mixed greens with ginger dressing, simple, but the ginger dressing had a good flavor to it.  It was quite thick and they went heavy-handed with it.  I recommend asking for it on the side.   The Gyoza and Roti Canai came out next.  I ordered the Gyoza because during my adventures in Tokyo, my boss kept telling me I should try Gyoza, but we could only find meat-filled ones.  The Vegetable Gyoza at Kenzo are pan-fried and full of cabbage and spring onions.  I really enjoyed their taste, but the dipping sauce that they provided added a nice spicy kick to it.  It was a little too spicy for my husband, but I loved it!  The Roti Canai, according to the menu is a flavored Malaysian version of pancakes with curry dipping sauce.  I find the bread similar to naan, but slightly thinner with a bit of a fried crust.  The curry dipping sauce was yellow curry and had a hint of spice.  It was  very good.  My husband could not stop eating it!  He mostly ate that entire dish himself – I think I got two small pieces of pancake.

Now, on to my main dish – Thai Original Curry!  I am not sure which curry is the spiciest, but they had the options of yellow, green, and red.  I have had green curry before and found it to be just at the edge before I start to sweat.  The green curry at Kenzo was not quite to that level, but it had a delicious, beautiful curry taste with a kick of spicy heat.  The tofu was lightly fried and definitely not in short supply.  There was an abundance of green peppers and onions mixed with the curry and tofu and a little touch of potato.  They served the dish with a small side of rice;.  My mouth is watering just thinking about the food – the tofu was slightly chewy, the potatoes soft, and the onions and peppers slightly crunchy.  The curry soaked into the tofu and potatoes and clung to the peppers and onions.  I cannot wait to go back to Chambersburg to eat at Kenzo again!

Le Shio - Wilmington, DE

http://www.leshio.com/

Le Shio is a very unassuming restaurant from the outside.  It is in a strip mall in Wilmington, DE, stuffed between a Radio Shack and a Dress Barn.  Even though you could pass right by and not realize it is a restaurant, I strongly urge you not to.  The food is worth a stop at this Asian Fusion restaurant.  The décor has a modern/industrial feel to it, one large room with white walls, a sushi bar at back before kitchen (with some available seats), a bar to the right after you walk in, and a number of booths and tables spread throughout the large room.

I ordered the Vegetarian Sushi Set (a selection of 24 pieces of maki sushi) that came with a cup of miso soup or a house salad.  I opted for the salad and also ordered Edamame as an appetizer.  The edamame was served in a small bowl and was enough for my husband and I to share.  Nothing special about it, just your standard edamame pods.  The salad was in a very small dish and consisted of a bit of lettuce and a tomato slice.  It was served with an aged ginger dressing – which was creamy and delicious, pretty sweet.

My sushi set consisted of three rolls cut into eight pieces each.  Asparagus, Oshinko (a pickled vegetable), and one with Avocado and Carrots.  Each one was rolled in seaweed and covered in rice.  They were tightly rolled and easy to pick up with chopsticks – they also held together well when dipping them in soy sauce.  The sushi was, of course, served with ginger and wasabi.  I added a bit too much wasabi to my soy sauce, but that’s OK.  Nothing too bad happened!  Overall, I really liked the sushi set, the Avocado and Asparagus rolls had a crisp texture because of the fresh vegetables.  Quite enjoyable!  I don’t remember ever having Oshinko before – it was good!  At first I thought it was Yellow Squash, but the texture was a little creamier.  I definitely recommend trying it.

I like Le Shio, though not quite as much as my sushi-loving husband.  If you are looking for vegetarian sushi, I recommend it go to the top of your list.