Asian Jazz

Restaurant: Asian Jazz
Cuisine: Chinese/Fusion/Asian/Thai/Malaysian
Last visited: February 3, 2012
Location: Delta, BC (Richmond Central)
Address: 8263 120th Street
Bus: SB Scott Rd FS 84 Av
Price Range: $10 or less

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: FMF Must Try!

Food: 2
Service: 3 (really depends)
Ambiance: 2
Overall: 2
Additional comments:

• Chinese owned/operated
• Lunch specials
• 163+ menu items
• Mainly Chinese food
• Other Asian cuisine available
• Asian “fusion”
• Dine in/Take out
• 10% off pick up
• Free home delivery from 5pm
• Tues-Sat. 11:30am-11pm
• Sunday 4pm-11am
• Monday Closed

**Recommendations: n/a

I like Jazz Apples, Jazz music and heck even Jazz hands, but what about Asian Jazz? Hmmm, I don’t know how jazzed up I am about this one. Do I want to risk it? Chinese food in Surrey? And it’s next to Source Adult. It’s called “Asian Jazz” and it’s “known” for “Asian Fusion”. All signs were pointing to no, but I did it anyways.

Well technically it was only a half risk. The real story is that I’ve heard about Asian Jazz before and my Chinese friends said that it wasn’t bad for the area. Well I was in the area and I was on my way to try Hot Millions Cafe, a supposed dive for delicious pizza, but I decided to try Asian Jazz instead. Do I regret it? A bit, but at least I’m no longer curious.

Being that it’s on the boarder of Delta and Surrey on Scott Road I could predict that it was going to be Americanized Chinese food. However I knew my Chinese friends would never tell me to try something like that, and personally I would never consider coming here unless I had sources giving me the “okay”, and I did.

From the moment I walked in and all throughout my dinner the customers were regulars and all non-Asian, but at least the staff were Chinese and better yet so were the chefs. The table settings were a spoon and a fork instead of chopsticks which is normal for Thai cuisine, but not for Chinese.

So what were they serving? Pretty much every Asian cuisine you could think of, but Vietnamese. With a 168+ menu featuring Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Szechuan, Singapore and Malaysian cuisine I was already confused. They claim to be “fusion”, but it’s really just Chinese and you can tell from the style and menu. I can only speak from what I tried and what I observed, but there’s nothing really “fusion” about anything. It offers a mix of Asian cuisine, but not a fusion of them together in a dish. It has Thai curries, Teriyaki, and Nasi Goreng, and it’s supposed to be all of Asia under one roof.

The “Top Ten” items are listed on the front page of their take out menu and on the list includes: Wonton Soup, Hot & Sour Soup, Sweet and Sour Pork, and Chicken Chow Mein as well as other classic dishes you would see at the Chinese stand in a shopping mall food court. To top things off, the chef’s suggestion included “fish & chips”. Really? Reeaally? How could my friends recommend such a place? Well to be fair, they didn’t necessarily “recommend” it, but they just said it wasn’t bad and actually okay. Well, that it was.

The food wasn’t bastardized American-Chinese or Canadian-Chinese food, but it was very average for traditional Chinese food standards. It wasn’t bad for the price and it was edible and I was surprised that it actually wasn’t bad. In the context of Delta I’ll assume it may be the best it gets and it is better than food court Chinese food… unless you’re talking about food courts in Chinese malls which can be housing some of the best.

On the table:

Wonton Soup – 1.5/6 (Poor – Okay)

• $7.95
• The wontons are actually made in house and that’s the only reason why I ordered it.
• There were about 10 bite sized wontons and they were stuffed with pork and a little chopped shrimp.
• They don’t stand a chance compared to places like Neptune Wonton Noodle and Michigan Noodle Shop in Richmond, but they weren’t bad either. They were just very home style.
• There was a random piece of BBQ pork and the broth tasted like chicken broth from a can and an overload of MSG so that was the negative part.

Chicken with Black Bean Sauce Chow Mein – 3/6 (Good)

• $9.25
• This was actually quite good, the portion was huge, and the ingredients were fresh.
• The only thing I wasn’t keen on were the noodles which I can get picky about.
• They were the thicker Western kind of noodles rather than the authentic thin kind, but at least they were fried well and extra crispy upon request.
• It had a generous amount of boneless and skinless dark meat chicken and they were tender, fresh and good.
• The onions and green peppers were also fresh and the black bean sauce wasn’t too starchy or oily. I liked this!

Combo – 2/6 (Okay)

• Chose any 3 for $9.95
• I actually really liked this offering and it caters to solo dining which is rare at a Chinese restaurant.
• It was a really good deal in a context of a sit down restaurant and the portion was generous and it offered variety.
• You can choose 3 out of 12 items which include the typical Chinese dishes that everyone knows. Eg: spring rolls, fried rice and chow mein.
• Honey Garlic Pork – 2/6 (Okay)
• Usually it’s spare ribs, but this used cutlets.
• It wasn’t too sweet, but it was mostly fat. The quality of meat wasn’t great, but at least it wasn’t all bone and the fat wasn’t chewy.
• Sweet & Sour Pork – 2/6 (Okay)
• The classic “white people Chinese dish”. I had to try it.
• It wasn’t neon orange and it was a step up from Sweet & Sour pork from the shopping mall food court.
• They were crispy and the sweet and sour sauce almost tasted like Sweet Thai Chili sauce with some sesame oil.

• Chili Mayo Cod – 2.5/6 (Okay-Good)
• This was the one “Japanese” item I tried, which was just a Chinese interpretation of Chili Mayo Cod.
• They were going for an “Ebi Mayo” thing, but with cod.
• It was frozen boneless cod (which was expected) and they were very lightly battered and crispy and only very slightly spicy.
• The fish was moist and there was no apparent mayo, and I actually didn’t mind this if I think about it being Chinese and not Japanese.

For the most part, you really only get fortune cookies from Chinese places catering to a Western clientele.

Oh really? I can’t wait to see where and I hope it’s delicious!

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