Oriental Buffets

With so much competition, some enterprising buffets have tried to widen their appeal by adding Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese items to their menus. No longer do you have to make due with a standard-issue selection of egg rolls, General Tso's chicken, and pepper steak. Instead, try a full-fledged Oriental buffet and teach your mouth something new.

* Buffet Palace (5400 Brodie, #1240, 892-2550) dishes out Chinese, Korean, and Japanese cuisine all under one sneezeguard. Highlights include beef bulgoki (a Korean take on barbeque), and agressively spiced pieces of squid that start out tasting like rubber before assuming the consistency of meat. For the less adventurous, Buffet Palace also turns out a mean sesame chicken that emphasizes subtle flavoring over the tired sugar-happy recipe most restaurants use.

* Dynasty Buffet (7101 Hwy71 W., Oak Hill, 288-3588) is a new place run by the same folks who brought you the acclaimed Yunnan Dynasty restaurant years back. While some of the Chinese dishes were a bit salty, the kimchi (spicy marinated cabbage) was a cool, crisp treat, and the cold noodle salad with sesame sauce prompted me to moan embarrassingly in response to its goodness. Dynasty's interpretation of chicken teriyaki was more akin to jerky-on-a-stick, but it was still quite tasty. To top it all off, they served a respectable apple cobbler a la soft-serve mode for dessert.

* Sea Dragon (8776-B Research, 451-5051) is a long time Austin favorite that recently instigated a quaint $4.95 Chinese/Vietnamese lunch buffet. Their selection is limited, but it's unique and uniformly well-prepared. Their pork satay consists of pork, crisp green beans, mushrooms, carrots, and a sauce that grips the back of your throat with tough love. The Vietnamese chicken vermicelli (bún) can be accented with anchovy sauce, marinated carrots, green onions, and carrots. Sea Dragon's interesting version of hot and sour soup forsakes the familiar sharp tang for a subtle sweetness. My taste buds were a-singin'. - G.B.