The Saskatoon Asian Restaurant has been around for a long, long time. When I moved to Saskatoon, people were like, "Oh, that's my favourite Asian restaurant," and I think now people were saying that because it was the only Asian place around when they were children. Much like I thought Buster Brown's was the place for shoes, only I know better now.
I had only been there once before, when I had these strange tofu-triangles cooked in tomato sauce called, "Soldiers", or something. (They are no longer on the menu). I never went back, but not because it was an unpleasant experience. I never went back because Saskatoon has a MILLION Asian restaurants and The Saskatoon Asian Restaurant is somewhat tucked away, and so I always forget about it.
Anyway.
A couple of weeks ago Patrick and I decided to Saskaspoon. First we got the Konga Cafe, which was our Saskaspooning adventure last time. Thanks for the variety, Internet. Next we got Mel's Diner, which would have been super, if we wanted a $3.75 breakfast special. (Mel's is only open for daytime eating). We kept on shaking, and finally hit a viable place! The Saskatoon Asian Restaurant! We were on our way to a party on the other side of town, (it's a small town, so in Toronto terms the party was, like, down the streetcar line a ways), and The Saskatoon Asian Restaurant is downtown, and, luckily, open later than most downtown restaurants on a Saturday. Perfect!
Because it's not Saskatoon Thai or Saskatoon Cantonese, they pretty much have very big menu with many Asian countries represented. As we were on our way to a party, we didn't need to eat a ton -- I had a bag of chips waiting in the car and I wanted room for them later. So while my normal rule-of-thumb in Asian restaurants is for each person at the table to select one dish each for sharing, plus a plate of spring or fresh rolls, also for sharing, this time around we ordered only one dish between the two of us. And that dish?
Thai Peanut Chicken with a side of Rice!
We drank our tea, (they just brought it automatically! We didn't have to order it! Which reminded me of Chinatown in Toronto), and sipped it while we waited. We eavesdropped on the people next to us. It appeared that a young man was introducing his girlfriend to his parents for the first time. Both the mother and the girlfriend were dental hygienists, and while the boyfriend was all, "Oh, wow, I never thought about you two having the same job. That's so cool," I suspect he was really like, "Oh, God, it's that Oedipus complex I read about in Hustler." There was also a debate about the usefulness of getting a trade versus just working as a pipe fitter, which both amused and irritated Patrick in turn.
We looked around at the people eating at other tables and they were all getting these delicious, saucy dishes. The Oedipal-Complex table beside us had, like, 9 dishes for four people, and they all looked so good. But when our dish arrived, it seemed that all the sauciness had been used up at their table, because our food was, well....sauceless. I wanted to walk over to their table and tip their lovely, drippy dishes over my plate. But I didn't know them, and this isn't the big city where you can get away with crazy mealtime shenanigans. So I ate my somewhat uninspired chicken dish and thought about my chips in the car.
Luckily the price was right. A pot of tea, rice, and a meal that fed two of us for less than $16.00! AND there was even extra, which I took home with me. I ended up cooking up a lovely, spicy peanut sauce and adding it to the leftovers. And voila! I had a saucy meal at last.
