Asia Style Glasgow with the Flatmates

Hey Hey, I am back. This is going to be a long post and one which I should have done long ago. Asia style is the first AUTHENTIC chinese restaurant that I visited in Glasgow excluding the first Chinese restaurant that I went to on Byres Road with my parents. For the last 5 years, this has been my source of food whenever I have cravings for that Asian flavour and I believe it will continue to be my eternal source for the duration that I am in Glasgow.

Many Times, I have brought my juniors here as part of their orientation but on this occasion, C was giving Aa and I a treat. Woopie.

We decided to go for an individual dish each and top it up with a side. Pipa toufu is C's favourite dish and we thought it would be most polite to have it since she was treating. I like the texture and flavour of the fried toufu surface. The balls were really big as well. There was a starchy msg sauce to accompany the dish and Aa was delighted to mop it all up.

I choosed this dish initialy but changed my mind later so C took it in the end. Most of my friends find it difficult to understand why I like chicken rice so much and die die must eat whenever I am back home. The reason is that I miss chicken rice and you don't get chicken rice here like you get back home. Furthermore, the standard of chicken rice is so high in Singapore that there isn't a bad version to compare with. Luckily for me my palettes have not been sensitised, allowing me to savour the wonderful chicken escence of true Singapore Hainanese CHicken rice. Anyway, this chicken rice ain't so bad. The rice definately is less oily hence healthier but not entirely devoid of the chicken oil flavour. The chicken meat is less tender and instead of the usual sauce that you get back home, the version that you get here has a higher soya suace composition. I like how they provide chilli and minced ginger as condiments. Good stuff

Braised fish rice. Bet you've never heard it before. Well, me neither until 4 years ago and I recalled the first time eating it, I felt a surge of yummy yummy flavour that never existed in my taste vocabulary. A stew of deep fried fish ( Its called Ban Lan Yu in chinese), bamboo shoots, mushrooms, roast pork and Toufu poured over a plate of steaming rice is what this dish is all about. I don't think I have the capabilities to replicate this dish because the sauce is so unique. Difficult to describe and the only way to experience it is to savour it yourself.

Lastly, Prawn noodles which Aa took. The soup is very very good and better than some of the hawkers in Singapore. Its super red oily and full of UMAMI (haha I like that word) flavour. I don't know whether its due to a premix that they use or by their own efforts to deep fry tonnes of prawn shells. At the end of the day, the flavour was achieved so I am not really bother. You get 2 king prawns some pork slices, egg slices interestingly and a nice touch of kangkong and deep fried shallots. HIghly recommend this dish if you want something noodley and soupy.

Well that concludes my really long post on Asia style formally known as Swiss. Expect to queue for long half hour periods over the weekends because there are more and more Ang Mohs who are frequenting this place. Nevertheless, for a flavour of home the wait is worth it.

Asia Style

185–189 St George's Road

Glasgow, G3 6JD

Phone: 0141 332 8828

Website: www.asiastyle.co..uk

Braised Fish Rice, originally uploaded by jiapui.