Not so far from the Vintage Oaks Mall in Novato, in fact just across the freeway and up Redwood Dr. a bit, is FuZhou Super Buffet. Yes, this is a dive place, don't expect fancy surroundings. You can expect a huge selection of mostly good food. I would say all the food is good, however with so much food there are some items that have been sitting on the table longer than others and so there is a dryness to the top. I noticed that these are rotated out in turn, so the less fresh ones get renewed before long. And yes, there are some items that are more carby or filler type items. And there are seven islands chock full of food choices!
So how I 'work' this buffet is find a few luscious things, and stick to those. I started with a small bowl of tasty egg flower soup. Then I assembled my main plate. There is one island with Chinese staples. I started there and took some green sauteed spinach (a sliver is seen in the far lower lower left of the photo), a nice mound of very fresh singapore noodles (seen as a sliver in the far upper left of the photo), and a few princess prawns (in the far lower right of the photo).
Then I headed to the seafood island for crab. There were two types, as you can see in the left part of the photo - steamed and roasted with garlic and seasoning. I took some of both, but the steamed crab was actually easier to crack and eat. It was fresh and sweet! And I kept going back for more crab, after all, it was all you can eat... I finished with some deliciously cool and sweet fresh honeydew melon slices. The basic plate, plus all that crab was a dinner hard to match anywhere else for $11.95. There was a coupon in the IJ recently - I just decided to go on the fly so didn't bring it with me so we missed out on even a better deal. Dad enjoyed it too, although the variety actually was a little overwhelming. I got him started with a variety plate, and he winged it just fine the second go round. There is only a fork as a utensil, so it is a little challenging to eat the crab, so Dad, being 88 and not so dexterous any more passed on the crab except for some pieces I shelled for him.
Avoid the bathrooms, and the sushi.
If you don't mind the casualness, this is a great place to ferret out some good quality and delicious things for dinner (or lunch, but no crab at lunch). Choose well and you shall be rewarded!
Restaurant Inspection Results
Critical: 0
Noncritical: 0
Last inspected: 12/26/2008
So how I 'work' this buffet is find a few luscious things, and stick to those. I started with a small bowl of tasty egg flower soup. Then I assembled my main plate. There is one island with Chinese staples. I started there and took some green sauteed spinach (a sliver is seen in the far lower lower left of the photo), a nice mound of very fresh singapore noodles (seen as a sliver in the far upper left of the photo), and a few princess prawns (in the far lower right of the photo).
Then I headed to the seafood island for crab. There were two types, as you can see in the left part of the photo - steamed and roasted with garlic and seasoning. I took some of both, but the steamed crab was actually easier to crack and eat. It was fresh and sweet! And I kept going back for more crab, after all, it was all you can eat... I finished with some deliciously cool and sweet fresh honeydew melon slices. The basic plate, plus all that crab was a dinner hard to match anywhere else for $11.95. There was a coupon in the IJ recently - I just decided to go on the fly so didn't bring it with me so we missed out on even a better deal. Dad enjoyed it too, although the variety actually was a little overwhelming. I got him started with a variety plate, and he winged it just fine the second go round. There is only a fork as a utensil, so it is a little challenging to eat the crab, so Dad, being 88 and not so dexterous any more passed on the crab except for some pieces I shelled for him.
Avoid the bathrooms, and the sushi.
If you don't mind the casualness, this is a great place to ferret out some good quality and delicious things for dinner (or lunch, but no crab at lunch). Choose well and you shall be rewarded!
Restaurant Inspection Results
Critical: 0
Noncritical: 0
Last inspected: 12/26/2008
1 comment:
Ha ha ha ha ha - you are dead on about the bathrooms and the sushi! Ditto for the bargain buffet here in Edison that we frequently go to. Again you are right - you learn to pick the right things and know what to go for in which season... but the variety is exquisite.
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