Queens Tribune

95-24 Queens Blvd., Rego Park
(718) 275-0417
www.tangrawok.com
Cuisine: Asian Fusion
Hours: 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Mon. to Fri.; noon to 11 p.m. Sat. and Sun.
Parking: Street
Credit Cards: All major
Before stepping into Tangra Wok last week, this amateur food reviewer couldn’t tell you what Asian Fusion really meant.
In fact, I probably would have tried to convince you that it was just fancy Chinese food as I told my roommate before leaving my apartment.
I’m not too proud to say I was wrong.
I love Chinese food, Thai Food and Indian food, don’t get me wrong, but blindfold me and serve it with rice and it’s harder than the Pepsi challenge.
But after eating at Tangra Wok, my palate is honed to the intricacies and delicacies each ethnicity deserves in this review.
Walking into Tangra Wok the décor symbolizes the synergy of its food. Samurai statues stand in attention on either side of Lord Ganesha. At first glance it looks like any other Oriental-themed restaurant that lines Queens Boulevard but then subtleties and individual flavors surface.
Tangra Wok’s food does the exact same. Soups combine flavor and the longer you hold it in your mouth, the more subtleties you can detect. A flood of gustatory memories help distinguish the Chinese, Indian and Thai elements in each slurp.
For me, Indian hints at curry, Chinese is tangy-sweet and Thai is stark and spicy. But, of course, these are just generalizations and the lines are much more blurred, which is why a place like Tangra Wok works so well on the tongue.
And it goes to show more of my ignorance that I haven’t discusses the myriad of other countries in Asia, their foods and their distinct flavors which are played with at Tangra Wok – Tibet, Mongolia and Taiwan to name a few. Asian fusion is much more than fancy Chinese food.
Opened in 2006, the restaurant can host up to 80 people and is situated just across the street from the Sears Mall. It has just unveiled a new lunch buffet to test the tongue. The restaurant serves chicken, lamb, seafood, beef and vegetarian dishes between $10 and $15 as familiar as Kung Pao to obscure and unique as chili fries cauliflower.
The Chicken Manchurian is a saucy bowl of fused ingredients served over basmati rice that battle for your taste buds. Fresh cut greens snap and hot peppers cut with each bite.
Make sure to calm your embattled tongue with a sweet and creamy dessert. Rasmalai is Indian cottage cheese in sweet sauce. Or if you’re more of a sweet kind of person, try the honey-soaked fried Indian cottage cheese balls and leave satisfied and better educated.
Tangra Wok offers free delivery, caters and is happy to host business seminars, birthday parties, sweet sixteen parties or anniversary celebrations. The restaurant can be reserved on weekdays for celebrations on special occasions.