I’ve been told by a few neighbors in the last couple of years about Roots Asian Kitchen. It’s on Route 1 in the shopping center with Whole Foods. It’s a small spot serving Asian Fusion foods. The store front has a pretty conservative, almost inconspicuous sign. The inside is simply, but neatly designed and very clean. The menu is varied, but all the choices are appealing.
The outdoor seating is sparse and simple.
Take your time choosing from the menu.Then be prepared to relax and enjoy a totally wonderful meal.
Guess what…It’s BYOB. You must be shocked. I bought this $14 puppy from Bottle King in Princeton . It matched perfectly with all of our choices. I cheated and checked out the menu online so I pretty much knew in advance what I’d be ordering. We started with Blistered Shishito Peppers with Prosciutto ham. I ate the ham. We shared the peppers. As good as any I’ve had in San Sebastián.They offered several kinds of sushi,sashimi and rolls. We ordered enough to taste and experience their fish. It was quite fresh and reasonably priced. We like to order sashimi so we don’t fill up on the rice.Barb’s entree was (what???) Grilled Organic Tofu served with Chinese Eggplant, Baby Bok Choy and Mushrooms. The texture of the tofu was exquisitely smooth, and the whole dish was crazy delicious. It was accompanied by purple rice, perfectly cooked. This dish was a surprise vegetarian (or was it actually vegan) treat.I ordered the Rendered Duck breast, rare. It came out rare! It was served with a Grapevine Reduction sauce (tres Francaise), Tarot Root Croquettes sitting in a bit of habanero sauce and soba noodles. Just to add a touch of class they included some baby bok choy. At $30 this was the most reasonable and tastiest duck dish I’ve enjoyed in the last few years.This Mandarin Suzette Sweet Crepe was served with a scoop of ice cream along with the Mandarin sauce. It was the perfect end to an amazing meal.This is Kai. He guided us well, let us know which choices might be preferable to others, and made sure our experience was a pleasure.
We enjoyed our meal so much that we returned the next week vowing to taste totally different dishes. Since Kai was there, we requested him for our server.
I had this $11 California Sauvignon Blanc bought that day from Bottle King in Princeton. It was mostly dry, but not grapefruity. We both enjoyed it and agreed that it complemented our meal.We started with Crispy Rock Shrimp. The sauce was just slightly sweet and the shrimp were, in fact, crispy and lightly fried.Wait! How’d we get a repeat of the Shishito Peppers? I guess we couldn’t resist.Barb ordered the Chicken Lettuce Wrap. It’s listed as a small plate. It was still too much for her as an entree.Plenty of lettuce to wrap upthe chicken.Put together, you have a choice of eating the chicken dish open like this or folded up like a sandwich.I ordered the Pan Sear s Scallops served with a saffron butter. They were accompanied by Chinese Eggplant, greens and purple rice. This dish was totally enjoyable and a steal at $26.And having loved the crepe the previous week, I had to do it again. (“Oh, Magoo, you’ve done it again!”)
When you’re near Princeton and want a “sure thing”, get a bottle of wine and hustle over to Roots.
Having enjoyed both of our meals here I can best describe the restaurant as “Understatedly Elegant”. Need I say more?
JoshEatsandDrinks 