Restaurant Name: AnQi Bistro by Crustacean
Cusine: Asian Fusion
Location: Bloomingdales, South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa, California
Company: Maddie Ota (:
Overall Experience: WE MET CHEF AN! WEEEE







Since Pizzeria Ortica was apparently closed (on a Sunday night?!), we decided to eat at AnQi for Chef An's famous garlic noodles. [Hopefully, a post for Pizzeria Ortica will appear soon :D]








The garlic noodles were very different from what I was expecting. I was expecting some sauce that would obviously be flavored by garlic, but what arrived instead was a bowl of dry noodles that were magically garlic flavored. I don't know how they did it, but without the presence of garlic the flavor still had a strong presence. The noodles were nothing OMG SPECTACULAR. They packed a lot of deep flavors but the texture of the noodles did not seem to match perfectly with the sauce. I think that if the noodles were slightly warm, to give the "just-came-out-of-the-pot" idea it would have been better. I am used to either hot or cold noodles, but rarely room temperature noodles which made these seem a bit odd. The flavor was definitely there, but the overall dish was somewhat unimpressive.












These are Anqi's filet mignon potstickers. For potstickers, I thought that the shapes were very interesting, as in different. What happened to the enlongated and sculpted potsticker? When the plate was set down, I was slightly confused at first what this dish was, and then I realized. I don't really understand the purpose of making their potstickers more shu-mai shaped than the original potsticker shape. The dough was average, if not a big more doughy that I prefer. The filling was nothing unique or mind-blowing (dang..have I been eating too much good food before that I don't salviate at the sound of filet mignon?). Each bit was half dough and half filling which was a bit more dough than I would prefer. I like having a crispy and light dough that provides a crunchy contrasting texture to the softness and juicyness of the filling. However, eating this felt like I was eating a mini crunchy bao-zi (an Asian bun). It was good, but for the price and resturant, I was expecting something awesome.







AHH. It has been so long that I actually don't remember exactly what was in these or what they were called. I remember the creamy sauce on top, however, which was probably the only thing about this worth remembering. It was like a very light mayo with added spices and chiles to give a kick. However, the actual tuna (I'm assuming and pretty sure) was just okay. Nothing like your awesome freshly and well-cut piece of raw fish from your traditional sushi restaurant.







This I definitely remember: Tofu Cheesecake with banana caramel, pistachio dust, and crispy banana. This dessert was definitely interesting. You have the flavor of tofu infused with the soft creamy texture of cheesecake. It was very very interesting. Almost weird, but definitely cool and high on weird-ness. The caramel was difficult to taste given just like five mini dots of it. The crispy banana tasted like softened dried bananas, therefore not of my list of things to go back and eat. The cheesecake itself was delicious and extremely fascinating!



Overall, I'm not quite sure if I would come back. The food was nice. The garlic noodles were nice. The small plates were nice. And the dessert was nice. Nothing extraordinary. The price was a bit much for the type of food that we have. Don't get me wrong, I love paying for food, but only if it's absolutely delicious! But yes, I felt that AnQi was bit pricey for the quality of the food that we got. But the ambiance was extremely nice and the interior was very appealing.