We were headed down West Princess Street to Asia Style on St Georges Road. It was Thursday, dark, damp and early. We'd skipped lunch. Almost there, stomachs rumbling, sensing some sort of atmosphere, we stopped, turned and stared down through a steamed up basement window. Inside were tables filled with Chinese people, all laughing, slurping, and passing pots filled with diabolical looking wonders. We fell down the stairs and through the front door.
Normally at this point I wake up. Luckily, this time I didn't. There was one table free. Within seconds of sitting a plate of delicately salted daikon dressed with chilli and vinegar arrived. Then an enormous pot of green tea. The menu was massive. The daikon was delicious and scoffed in minutes. Another plateful arrived.
From the massive menu came Shredded Pork in Peking Sauce with Pancake and from the Chef's Specials supplement Monkish with Spring Onion and Ginger. The Shredded Pork was ok. The Monkfish was superb and without doubt the biggest portion of monkfish I've ever been served. All this plus a mound of steamed rice came to £20. Remarkable.
The decor's best described as functional. Intensely bright lighting, paper tablecloths and after thought wall hangings. But the food's good. The daikon dish, which was free, was worth the trip alone. Really. The portions are huge, so you'd get the best out of the place by going in a bigger group and sharing. Over the next few weeks I plan to do just that and try the following...
crab and pumpkin soup £12
white clam and tofu soup £10
deep fried pumpkin coated with salted egg yolk £8
jellyfish with shredded cucumber in garlic sauce £7
salt and chilli crab £10
hot and spicy frogs legs £9.50
steamed tofu with king prawn in salted egg yolk £8.50
fried jade Japanese tofu with spinach £8.50
deep fried sea bass with leeks £11
Some other 'interesting' dishes on the menu...
braised pork trotters £6.50
stir fry pork head meat with green pepper £6.50
marinated honeycomb tripes £6
fried fish head with tofu and vermicelli £9
quick fried pork intestines in brown sauce £8
shredded pig ear and cucumber in garlic sauce £7
We headed off to Chinaskis for a digestive rum and passed Asia Style on the way. Completely empty. The staff stared back at us, somehow they knew.
Asian Gourmet
17 West Princes Street
Glasgow
G4 9BS
They do takeaway too, and the more usual Chinese restaurant fayre.
0141 332 1639
07588 598 862
Open 7 days a week 5pm - 3am.
Posts
LOL, i was trying to get the phone number to book a table then I stubbled upon your review! I'm supprised anyone actually blogs about restaurants esp. the ones in glasgow :) But I'm a loyal customer with them... I'm chinese and I can say thier food is as authentic as you can get... It is BRILLIANT. Prices are so good too... You should try this next:
ReplyDeletedeep fried pumpkin coated with salted egg yolk £8
Thats one of my favs... Although I have a few lol... Another dish which is amazing is the Cumin lamb dish - i'm can't remember the exact name, not in english anyway lol. Its authentic but it isn't everyone's cup of tea. This retaurant unlike asia style is predominately focused on catering for chinese people so the taste will be a bit stronger.
Asia style, I wouldn't recommend, they have been going downhill the past few years. I hardly go there these days. I think they have lost a lot of customers. Not sure what happened, perhaps the chef was changed? But the food is mediocre to be polite. I am no cook but I follow some youtube videos and the standard of my food is similar to them!
Another good place is Rumours in town for malaysian food. Its great. China Blue is also nice although me and 2 friends got food poisoning from there once :)
Happy eating!
That comment's worthy of a blog post itself Anon!
DeleteThanks for the pumpkin tip off, nearly went for that last time. Will definitely go for it next. Like the sound of the lamb dish too, I'm a cumin addict.
Love Rumours, ever since a friend tipped me off about their Salt and Pepper Squid, mmm.
Sorry to hear about China Blue. A group of us had a great meal there once... including a spectacular tripe dish. That's not the sort of word I'd ever imagined using to describe tripe, but it was that good. That was a couple of years ago though.
Happy eating to you too!
I moved to glasgow a few months ago and live close to this fantastic gem of a restaurant. I'm a regular for both sit in and take away.
ReplyDeleteMy recommendations from the menu have to be the Mongolian Barbecue Beef, Fried Aubergine Stuffed with Pork and, if you like a kick, the kung-po chicken (be sure to have the one form the chinese menu NOT the english one!).
I cannot shower high enough praise upon this place and was left in dire staits when they closed for a couple of weeks over Chinese New Year. The day they re-opened I was one of their first customers!
Easily the best Chinese restaurant I've been to anywhere. Used to flat share with a Chinese bloke nearby at St. George's cross and he wouldn't take me anywhere else to taste Chinese cuisine.
ReplyDeleteI believe they have a separate menu written in Mandarin with dishes not listed in the English version. My flatmate ordered something that looked like beans and tasted rather good. He said that's called "money meat" and came from a part of a donkey I didn't want to know. So didn't ask :)
pros - taste & price
cons - found some dishes a bit too oily