Kirin buffet feast spreads joy

Sweet and sour chicken, meatloaf, coconut shrimp, fried chicken wings, corn on the cob and green beans are among the buffet items at Kirin Garden in North Little Rock.
Sweet and sour chicken, meatloaf, coconut shrimp, fried chicken wings, corn on the cob and green beans are among the buffet items at Kirin Garden in North Little Rock.

What do you get when you cross a deer, an ox, a horse and a fish?

The answer is a Kirin.

Kirin Garden Chinese, Sushi and Hibachi

Address: 4000 Vali Court (off East McCain Boulevard), North Little Rock

Hours: 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday

Cuisine: Chinese and Japanese

Wheelchair accessible: Yes

Alcohol: Full bar

Carryout: Yes

Credit cards: D, V, MC, AE

Phone: (501) 955-4588

The mythical creature is said to have the body of a deer, the tail of an ox, horse hooves, the scales of a fish and one flesh-covered horn on its head. They can live to be, mythically, more than 1,000 years old and are said to appear before the birth or death of a great and wise person.

The Kirin also seems to be the mascot of Kirin Garden Chinese, Sushi and Hibachi, a Chinese and Japanese buffet off East McCain Boulevard in North Little Rock. A figure that sort of looks like my description appears on their menu, and after seeing it I was intrigued. Plus I wanted to know where the name possibly came from.

But I digress.

The building is a step away from being "off the beaten path." It sits near the end of McCain not too far from the junction with Arkansas 161. The building originally housed a Ryan's buffet as well as at least one other Chinese buffet restaurant.

The exterior is tan with green trim, and the parking lot is in good repair and quite roomy. The interior is attractive and inviting. It's decorated with a little Asian flair, and there's a really big water feature on the right-hand wall as you come in, basically a big tank with lots of bubbles that float around and look pretty.

If you are familiar with the setup of a Ryan's restaurant, you'll recognize the layout. The dining area, with a selection of tables, chairs and booths, is divided into two wings by a bank of four steam tables and a cold food bar.

My son, nephew, mother and I headed over for an evening meal on a recent Thursday. We decided to have the Chinese buffet -- $7.95 for lunch, $9.85 for dinner, dinner price all day Sunday.

The buffet is big enough to be a bit overwhelming. There's a varied selection of Asian dishes with a few American options thrown in.

On the traditional side, choices include pepper shrimp, beef with broccoli, seafood egg, coconut shrimp, egg rolls, spring rolls, "crab" Rangoon, pepper steak, sweet-and-sour chicken, fried rice and noodles. The soup selection includes hot and sour, egg drop, miso and clam chowder.

The more American selections include meatloaf, crawfish, corn on the cob, green beans, ham, salmon, apple turnovers and fried chicken wings.

The fifth section of the buffet is a salad-dessert-ice-cream-and-sushi bar. Salad bar choices were pretty standard, with the exception of the little whole baby octopuses that just looked, well, sad. They were purple and rubbery looking.

I spooned dribs and drabs of the dishes I wanted to try onto my nondescript beige plate, starting with hot and sour soup, Rangoon and chicken on a stick. The soup was very sour, made with chunks of tofu and what appeared to be mushrooms. The Rangoon was tasty, but a little sweet. Thankfully the cream cheese filling was thick and flavorful, and the outer wonton wrapper was crisp. The chicken on a stick, an especially good selection for kids, had a subtle teriyaki flavor.

The pepper steak was good; the beef was tender and the flavor of the peppers wasn't overpowering. The meat in the beef with broccoli was a little tough and the broccoli had a yellow tint to it that was a bit off-putting. I really liked the pepper shrimp, which is breaded, fried and sprinkled with black pepper. I then got bold and picked up a pepper shrimp that was in the shell with the head on. Peeling it was just too messy, and it was overcooked.

The coconut shrimp was flavorful, made with breaded fried shrimp coated in a creamy white sauce. The coconut flavor is present, without being too strong. A scoop of fried rice was a bit dry and flavorless. I think it had been sitting a while.

I fell in love with the seafood egg, which looks like something you'd have for breakfast, made with eggs mixed with fake crab, shrimp and onion. It's a cross between an omelet and scrambled eggs, and it is delicious. The eggs were soft, not overcooked or rubbery.

I had noticed meatloaf on my mom's plate, which looked promising and tasted homemade. The meat was tender and moist, and the reddish topping tasted a little like barbecue sauce. One of the fried chicken wing drumettes was delicious, battered and fried crispy, and the meat was moist, even after sitting on the steam table. The green beans were just a little too crunchy for my taste, and once the corn on the cob cooled down enough to eat, it was delicious, a little sweet and tender-crisp.

The buffet offers the usual little cakes and cream puffs found on many Chinese buffets, plus fresh fruit, pudding and squares of red gelatin. There's also a freezer of dip-your-own ice cream in Neapolitan and chocolate, and sherbet. They serve the familiar almond cookies but place them on the steam table, which keeps them warm and makes them seem fresh-baked.

If you want more of a sushi experience, the restaurant offers a Japanese Buffet, $12.95 for lunch, $21.95 for dinner. There's a small sushi bar on the right side of the dining area where you can sit on stools and get made-to-order sushi. Diners get a paper menu to check off their order, but management stresses that customers who order more than they can eat will have to pay for it.

Along with sushi and sashimi, the Japanese buffet offers some tempura dishes, soup and salad. I tried a couple of sushi rolls from the buffet, which were OK, but it's probably better if you get it fresh.

A partitioned section toward the back has several small hibachi tables, but it wasn't in action on my visit. The menu lists hibachi entrees, which are a bit more expensive than the regular menu choices. Most are more than $15.

Weekend on 07/09/2015

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