Asia Express is located at 1615 Dundas Street East in Whitby, close to Thickson Road about 1km north of its Hwy. 401 offramp. Disposable chopsticks are used unfortunately which is why I bring my own. Soy sauce is low sodium green-lid at all tables, and it was actually not salty and was good and fresh. Pop is $1.50 per can, not AYCD, but there is a $0.50 discount from the AYCE menu... it's usually $2.00. Booth and regular seating is available. Ordering is done by writing item codes onto blank paper from the menu.
Miso soup was very good and savory. Chicken noodle soup was good with authentic noodles. Fried scallops (probably surimi) was good; sauce was a bit sweet but still tasty. Gyoza were very good in the same sauce. Sunomono salad was good but the sauce was a bit too sweet. Hot and sour soup was lifeless and I did not enjoy it, it seemed like it may have been going off and was the low point of the meal and the only thing that I did not enjoy.
Spicy salmon roll was very good with spicy mustardy white sauce. Avocado cucumber roll was also very good, as well as the Crazy Roll, and I am definitely not an unagi fan (it's in the sauce apparently.) White tuna and red snapper nigiri were very good. Crab (surimi) nigiri was not the freshest, but still was good. Salmon nigiri was excellent with very fresh salmon and good rice. Spicy salmon maki was very good, nicely spiced.
Shrimp tempura was good with a good sauce and not too sweet. Broccoli tempura was good but a little overdone which made it a bit soggy. Chicken teriyaki was very good even with the sweetish sauce, quite tasty. Teriyaki beef is shredded; the sauce was also a little sweet but was still good. General Tao chicken was good with some heat in the sauce. Yellow chicken curry was very good, tasty and not too hot. Chicken katsu was okay itself, but the sauce was overpowering, acrid and with an unappetizing flavor balance.
For dessert both coconut and ginger ice creams are available whereas most places only have one, if they even that, so this was quite a bonus. They were both fresh and excellent. Mango ice cream was good. Coconut ice cream had large shredded pieces of coconut, and ginger ice cream also had pieces of ginger in it. Vanilla ice cream was fantastic with indescribably good flavor. Tempura ice cream was very good. Chocolate mousse was today's "Daily Dessert" and was excellent. Banana tempura was good in maple syrup. Service was quite fast and plates were picked up quickly when done. Weekend lunch price was $16.99. Other than the unfortunate hot and sour soup and katsu sauce, I had a very good lunch and it was quite a reasonable price.
Rating: 7.5-8/10
