It was late on a Saturday afternoon, my daughter, my father and I had been out shopping for fall clothes for the two of them, and preparing for our move and of course everyone was starving. The boyfriend was home early from meetings he had, so he wanted to meet up with us as well. So where to go? At my father and daughters suggestion, we decided on sushi. The boyfriend suggested Zen Asian Fusion in downtown Schenectady, and we decided it was a go.
As usual, we made reservations, probably not necessary, as we were going at 5:30, which for us at least is very early. When we arrived we pretty much had the entire place to ourselves. Their menu was vast, but edamame is always a great go to appetizer, so we went with that.
I oddly enough, decided not to go with sushi, and branch out a little bit. I had not had Pad Thai in years, so I chose that. The boyfriend also decided to switch things up and went with a Thai Coconut Red Curry. Both my father and daughter chose two sets of rolls.
At this point the restaurant started to get a little bit busier, but our edamame came quickly. Everyone’s dinners also came with miso soup or salad, and all four of us ended up choosing the soup. The edamame was perfect, fresh, hot, just enough crunch, and a perfect amount of salt. The same can be said from the soup. In my experience, miso soup can end up with an odd taste if it is not done right. I can’t quite decipher was the odd taste is, but it isn’t pleasant. Theirs was not like that, the broth had a nice flavor to it, and the serving size was typical.
Then the waiting game began. As the restaurant began to fill up even more, we saw less of our server. I know it takes a while to make the rolls, so we were patient, but at one point my daughter did ask “did they forget about us?”.
However, once our entrées arrived, the wait was instantly forgiven. The presentation needs to be mentioned first, as it was spot on. Their plates looked extremely appetizing, with the rolls stacked and the sauces drizzled just right. My Pad Thai was steaming hot (which is so important to me) and it just looked good before even tasting it. The same goes for his curry. When I took my first bite of my dinner, I knew I had made the choice. The noodles were cooked just right, the peanuts on top add a nice crunch and the chicken and sauce were plentiful and had an outstanding flavor. The bowl was massive, and honestly seemed to go on for miles! One of the best parts, however, was that the meal continued to stay very hot. Which meant I could enjoy it slowly, and really savor it.
My meal was very filling, so I did not taste anyone else’s, but each of them gave rave reviews, and didn’t leave anything behind.
Then my dad and daughter decided that they “had” to have dessert. I had zero interest, I was way too full, but they each ordered one and again, although there was a bit of a wait, it was well worth it. She had fried ice cream, and he had some sort of chocolate cake. The presentation again was gorgeous, and I did sneak of taste of both of theirs and they were as delicious as they looked. They both polished theirs off in record time and were thrilled.
I definitely would recommend trying Zen Asian Fusion out, especially if you have a group who doesn’t like Sushi, but do enjoy other types of Asian cuisine. They do get busy, we discovered that, so either go on the earlier side, or make reservations. Enjoy, and please comment and let me know what you think.