Some Quality Asian Cuisine

Finding quality Asian cuisine in the Knoxville area…other than Thai and sushi/sashimi can be challenging.  At least in our experience, good Chinese food is particularly hard to find.

Consequently, I was very happy when I had a chance to purchase a Groupon for an Asian themed restaurant that we hadn’t tried before!

This is Fulin’s Asian Cuisine in the Town Center Shopping Center of Knoxville Tennessee.  Fulin’s is a small regional chain based in Brentwood Tennessee.  The company has 12 locations in Alabama and Tennessee. 

The interior of Fulin’s Asian Cuisine is modern and warm with wood and an earth tone based décor.  It has a full service bar and the sushi/sashimi offerings are right up front to entice prospective diners.

No less than 3 of the 12 current Fulin’s locations can be found in the Knoxville metropolitan area.  This one is on the south side, there is one on the north side of town and there is one in Oak Ridge.  Unfortunately they are located anywhere from a 47 to 55 minute drive from our home!

We ordered hot tea as our beverage… It could have been hotter and that very attractive pot doesn’t hold that much tea. 

We love Hot and Sour Soup and this was a very satisfying version! ($2.50) It was just spicy enough for us and it was full of goodies… In addition, the fried wonton crisps were much better than the usual ones served by most Chinese restaurants.

We ordered the Crab Rangoon as an appetizer. ($5.00) It’s one of Laurie’s favorites and this was a winner!  This version was huge and it was loaded with cream cheese and crab meat.  The plum sauce was right up Laurie’s alley…but I would have appreciated them even more if I’d remembered to ask for Hot Chinese Mustard.

For the uninitiated these deep-fried dumpling appetizers are stuffed with a combination of cream cheese, lightly flaked crab meat, (or in some cases with canned crab meat or imitation crab meat), plus scallions, and/or garlic.  The filling is then wrapped in Chinese wonton wrappers in a triangular or flower shape and deep fried.

Laurie loves sushi and sashimi…and even more importantly, she loves lobster!  Consequently she ordered one of the evening’s specials…the King Lobster Roll. ($13.99) It was served with these decorative plastic lobster ‘shell’ pieces…pretty fancy!  There is actually a small LED light in the front part of the shell… Laurie was very pleased with her choice!

The menu contains a nice selection of Chinese offerings as well as sushi, sashimi and a selection of Japanese dinners.  There are also daily specials.  For those who prefer, Lo Mein or Fried Rice is available…

I went with the Chinese side of the menu… This is the Yin Yang with brown rice. ($17.99)  The left portion consisted of those large breaded and fried shrimp in a semi-sweet spicy sauce with carrots, peas and onions.  The right side…on the other side of the ‘orange divider’ was the crispy beef with zucchini slices in a spicy sauce.   The shrimp were plump and very nice but the crispy beef was my favorite!  The texture and spice level was just right.

My only criticism was that the vegetables with the shrimp appear to have come from a bag of frozen veggies.  Peas are peas…but the perfect little squares of carrot could easily be replaced with carrot shreds or julienne carrots.  Never-the-less, I would order this again! 

Fulin’s Asian Cuisine in South Knoxville is located at 2060 Town Center Boulevard.  Phone: 865-769-1515.  The company’s website can be found at http://fulins.com/.  This restaurant is open daily for both lunch and dinner.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave