Pan-Asian Cuisine at Inchin's Bamboo Garden
Plus, a favorite restaurant bringing Latin flavor to my Kenmore list
I don’t often eat at chain restaurants and when I do, I don’t typically write about them here. I’m making an exception this week due to the exceptional experience we had this past week dining out for a friend’s birthday.
We prefer to support local small business owners when we dine out. When we selected Inchin’s Bamboo Garden as our destination, we did not realize that this was a chain with locations at 5415 Sheridan Drive in Williamsville, 1 Galleria Drive (food court area) in Cheektowaga, twelve other states and Canada. With the recent disappearance of popular chains, Red Lobster and TGI Fridays, I thought it might be nice to give this one some well-deserved love.
When dining out with these friends, we like to order a number of plates and share. This restaurant was an ideal choice for this method of dining. While my friend jokes that we ordered half the menu, honestly, we didn’t even come close. The pan-Asian or Indo-Chinese menu features dishes inspired by the melding of Indian and Chinese cuisine. Read more about their story here.
We met for lunch but of note, a dinner buffet is offered every Wednesday and Thursday, 5:30 pm - 9:30 pm. We created our own buffet, starting with the Chef’s Choice Dumpling Sampler (10 pcs), available veg or non veg, with two dipping sauces. For the main course, we order four plates from the starters section of the menu and two entrees to share. An order of paratha and stuffed kulcha completed our spread along with a pot of blue tea.
Our favorite dish, voted unanimously, was the Toothpick Lamb, bites of lamb smothered in rendang curry, slightly spicy with notes of coconut, we ensured each extra drop was absorbed by paratha, cleaning the plate after finishing the lamb. The Wings of Heaven were another favorite. Served with green bell pepper and seasoned with onion and dry red chili, these wings were crisp and delicious, more sweet than spicy. I also really enjoyed the warm spices in the vegetable korma. A second round of the kulcha stuffed with onions needed to be ordered.
The woman who took care of us was fantastic. Always attentive, she pulled over an extra table to accommodate the breadth of our order and enthusiastically turned our blue tea purple with a drizzle of lemon juice. We look forward to returning to try more of what their menu has to offer.
Some exciting news graced my feed this past weekend when I read Andrew Galarneau’s Sunday News post on his Substack publication, Four Bites. The owners of Tortuga Sandwich Shop at 5835 Buffalo Street in Sanborn have announced plans to open a second location at 3189 Delaware Avenue in Kenmore. Check out his post here.
I previously wrote about our love for this sandwich shop in Small Town Gems, over a year ago. Since then, we have introduced two pairs of friends to this destination for Latin street food with elements of Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Peru and Bolivia. We would have undoubtedly introduced more, but it is not always easy to convince folks outside of Niagara County to travel to Sanborn for a sandwich, no matter how much we promise it will be worth it. Western New Yorkers are notoriously known to localize their explorations within a radius of a 20 minute drive.
The new location’s opening is anticipated for January and we couldn’t have been more excited to hear this news. This will be one more reason why I enthusiastically promote Kenmore as the best area for many of my favorite places to eat.
Where to eat in Kenmore
A month or two ago, someone on social media asked for restaurant recommendations in Kenmore, NY and I made a note to create this collection that I am sharing today. The village of Kenmore spans less than two square miles and is home to more of my favorite restaurants than any other municipality. I want to buy a home in Kenmore. I want to grow old there.…
Whoever shared the Pan Asian meal with You was a Lucky Couple. The fact must be pointed out because it makes, along with Your Consistently Fine Writing, Your Blog Truly Unique in a Good way. The traveling You do Makes this truly about Western New York as a Culinary Region. It's not a "Buffalo" or "Rochester" compendium; it's places like Mayville and Sanborn. Very entertaining but more importantly it is Eye Opening. You're not just Open til Four, You're on a Regional Dining Road Trip that anyone would love to ride along on. Excellent.