Asia's Finest

Asia's Finest
6443 South Cedar
Lansing, MI 48911
517-393-1688

Visit Date: April 3, 2009

Rod and I have been fans of Mary Anne, owner of Asia's Finest, for over 14 years. We first met Mary Anne when she was a waitress at Bangkok House. I am sure I won't get the timeline right, but about seven years ago Mary Anne purchased Dok Sing Restaurant and added Thai food to the Chinese restaurant. Shortly after purchasing Dok Sing, Mary Anne also purchased Asia's Finest. She ran both for about a year, maybe two. It turns out running two restaurants on opposites sides of town proved to be more than difficult. Mary Anne sold Dok Sing to focus her attention on Asia's Finest. As an aside, the Dok Sing location recently transferred ownership again becoming the new location of Fortune House. We hope to blog about it soon.

Mary Anne is a warm and gracious host. Asia's Finest has, what I consider, typical mid-western Chinese restaurant decor. Well lit, Asian art on the walls, fairly uninspired. It is comfortable, but nothing fancy. A feature that I especially like is the large round tables that can easily seat 10 people -- in fact on this visit we had 11 in our group.

The Asia's Finest menu has Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese food. Mary Anne is, in fact, Vietnamese and was excited to open her own restaurant and include Vietnamese favorites on her menu. I strongly believe Mary Anne has the most flavorful Chinese food in the Lansing area. Since becoming a fan of Thai and Vietnamese food I've shied away from Chinese since the watered-down version found in most local restaurants just doesn't seem to have as much flavor, in comparison. Not so with Mary Anne's food -- I am a huge fan of her General Tsao's Chicken!!

I ordered Gang Gai. It is a Thai curry dish with bamboo, green peppers, green peas and holy basil. OK, here's the thing, I hate green pepper in a dish. On it's own, fine. Put it in a sauce of any kind or on a pizza and I feel that it completely overwhelms all of the other flavors -- even in a spicy dish like a Thai curry. That being said, I always replace green pepper for broccoli in my Thai and Chinese food orders.

This night's rendition of Gang Gai was really good, but not the best ever. My love of Thai food stems from the wonderfully complex layering of flavors and the intense spices. The creamy sweetness of the coconut milk, while delicious was the predominant flavor tonight. The spice was not at the forefront and overall the flavors just seemed a bit muted. I got the impression that others who ordered Thai that evening were having a similar reaction. When using fresh herbs and spices, as Mary Anne does, there is bound to be some variance so I assume this evening was an anomaly not a trend toward the mundane.

It is also important to note that Asia's Finest does not serve beer, wine or liquor. Regular readers of this blog know that finding great beer on a menu is important to Rod and me, however we make exceptions when the food is as good as it typically is at AF. I usually opt for ice water or hot tea as my beverage of choice.

The prices are extremely reasonable. Most entrees are under $10 and with no bar service, the typical bill for a couple with two entrees and an appetizer is under $30. If you haven't been to Asia's Finest, you really should check it out -- and tell Mary Anne I said "hello!" If you've never had Thai food, consider ordering mild and adding extra spice if needed.

Deadbeat Blogger

OK -- I feel like a total deadbeat! Our group has dined together a few times since our last post, but for some reason none of us has blogged about our outings. I am going to attempt to blog from memory on a few of the places we've visited -- so they may be more overall impressions rather than detailed descriptions of food -- but I'll do my best.

Also, I must thank my inspiration for getting going again. Last night Mike, Keith, Rod and I went to the Peanut Barrel, the Dairy Store and then Summer Circle at MSU. There we saw one of our blog followers and he mentioned that he'd been to the site a few times recently and was disappointed that we hadn't posted in quite some time. Boy, did I feel like a shmuck -- but I appreciated the mental kick in the pants seeing Paul provided. Paul, thanks!!! I loved your shades -- super cool. I'll be interested to see your thoughts on the play in the City Pulse.