Variety is on the menu at Lim Dynasty Asia Café
Some days, I just feel like I’m chasing my tail. I recently journeyed to my most recent intended Grub destination in Turkey Creek only to realize the restaurant hadn’t yet made its debut. No problem; I drove to a nearby backup location but discovered it wasn’t yet operational either. The next closest eatery on my list was Lim Dynasty Asia Café, just off North Peters Road. As they say, the third time was the charm.
I’ve dined at a couple of other Asia Café locations over the years, and I’m not sure if they’re owned by the same folks or not. One of the employees told me they had affiliated restaurants throughout Knox and Blount Counties, so perhaps it’s the same outfit. But this particular site has been in business for only a month, so it was new to me.
A lady who turned out to be my server escorted me to a booth and handed me two menus — one for sushi and one for the rest of their fare, which spans a wide range of Asian cuisines: Chinese, Japanese, Malaysian, Thai, Indonesian, Vietnamese and Singaporean. That would explain why the menu was so voluminous and offered so many choices that I struggled for the longest time trying to narrow down my selections.
Lighter bites include a couple of salads, familiar appetizers like Crab Rangoon and tempura vegetables, and eight varieties of soup. The Vietnamese options are broken down into rice dishes, pho and bun vermicelli. A section called Exotic Delicatessen has a few Malaysian dishes, while the Japanese fare included bento boxes and hibachi and teriyaki plates. Classic Chinese entrees like General Tso’s chicken, Mongolian chicken (or beef) and Hunan beef were represented as well.
Elsewhere on the menu are vegetable entrees, noodle dishes and curry dishes. I also spotted a couple of unique plates based around tilapia — one fried and one grilled, both of which come with steamed rice.
Since I was dining solo for this lunch outing, I decided to order from the lunch menu, which lays out a modest sampling of items, mostly Chinese and Japanese but with some Thai and Malaysian thrown in for variety. As tempted as I was to try something unique, I went with the cashew chicken ($8.98). The chicken is stirfried with onions, green and red peppers, carrots, zucchini, mushrooms and cashews. It comes with a choice of soup, and I picked hot and sour over mushroom, egg drop or tom yum.
I also spent some time with the sushi menu, which, pound for pound, is even more comprehensive than the main menu. I tallied nearly 70 sushi roll options, including vegan rolls, house rolls and special rolls. I also spotted a few poke bowls as well as sashimi, nigiri and sushi-based dinner platters.
I ordered one of the special rolls, the Knoxville ($14.98). In addition to the rice and seaweed wrap, ingredients include shrimp tempura, cream cheese and crawfish meat. It’s topped with snow crab, sliced avocado and two kinds of sauces.
My hot and sour soup (which was quite hot, spicy and pungent) arrived first, followed surprisingly promptly (I love consecutive adverbs) by the cashew chicken. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a letdown after the awesome soup. The food itself wasn’t bad, but it did nothing to distinguish itself from the countless other Asian entrees I’ve had in the past. My main issue was that the vegetables were undercooked. There’s a fine line between mushy and too firm when cooking veggies, and this effort came up on the raw side. I wasn’t crazy about the rice consistency either. At least the lunchtime pricing didn’t leave me feeling I’d overpaid.
Things picked back up with the sushi, however, which showed up at my table while I was working my way through the cashew chicken. The roll made a pleasing visual presentation, and I enjoyed each of the slices I tried before becoming satiated. The combo of cream cheese, crabmeat and crawfish meat was a pleasing one.
I thought the service in general was efficient and courteous, and I felt the price points for both lunch and dinner options were more than fair. And while my meal wasn’t as consistent as I would have hoped, I do offer kudos to this Asia Café for its diverse selections, so I think there’s a decent chance that curious Asian-food fans will find something to their liking.