Asian Cafe of Westport

Asian Cafe of Westport 256-8882

1757 Post Road E. Westport, CT 06880

Asian Cafe is located in a small space in the Westfair plaza across the street from Stop & Shop. That whole plaza is uninviting, especially the Asian Cafe that occupies the left corner spot. But today I went in for some lunch and ordered the curry chicken and sambal beef. 

Both dishes were labeled as "hot and spicy", but when I tried both, neither had even the slightest kick. Both dishes were cooked with a variety of vegetables (peppers, onions, sugar snap peas)

I honestly could not even taste any curry flavoring in the curry chicken, and it lacked any good flavor. The sambal beef was barely better- only because it had some pineapple chunks in it that added a slightly different flavor. 

Both dishes were about $6 for the meat/vegetables, white rice and a large egg roll. A good deal for the amount of the food except for the fact that none of the food had any flavor (including the egg roll). Both dishes basically tasted the same even though they were completely different. 

Don't bother coming to Asian Cafe- the lunch portion was plenty of food, yet the prices double after 3pm (for dinner portions). The low prices cannot justify that the food was not good and that the service was mediocre at best.  

I'm surprised this place is still in business...

Pho Mekong

Pho Mekong 203-255-2900  1849 Post Road E. Westport, CT 06881

Pho Mekong is a thai/vietnamese restaurant that serves up your traditional asian cuisine, as well as several specialties. The restaurant is overall pretty casual, with average service and an extensive menu. Probably too extensive. When I first sat down and opened the menu, it was just too long for me. There were really so many dishes that I couldn't decide what I wanted. 

But after a while, I tried the fried pork dumplings, a rice pancake filled with ground pork and a crab meat spring roll.  The dumplings were the best dish, nice and crisp on the outside with a good filling. The rice pancake was just too mushy, while the spring rolls did not really have the taste of crab.  

For an entree I tried the traditional Vietnamese dish "pho", which the restaurant is named after. It's rice noodles with thin slices of beef and a hot broth with bean sprouts, peppers and basil.  Overall the dish had tons of flavor- the saltiness of the broth, the spice of jalapenos, and the fresh taste of the basil.  It was the first time I'd had pho, but I would definitely order that dish again. 

Although it needs to shorten its menu and improve some of its dishes, Pho Mekong pulled through on its traditional Vietnamese dish. It was not my favorite asian restaurant around, but it definitely had a couple very good plates.