Best Food In China

Location

What do you get when you cross the American nineteen-seventy’s Funky Chicken with a ninety-eighty’s Beijing Duck, well, it seems an eclectic hybrid of goodtime oldies and never-let-rest love ballads, all summed up quite fittingly in one nondescript word, Icons, a restaurant cum entertainment venue.

On Tong Ren Road, a well-known street for its bar and restaurant scene, in a building as out of place as the wacky interior, llocated just next to The Spot, is Icons. An American sock-hock and disco era themed seafood buffet restaurant that offers live entertainment and sounds of all generations throughout your meal.

Sliding back in a boxy white-pvc, retro chair, wooden Formica tabletops fulfilling the décor, I found myself slightly disappointed to discover the staff were not dressed like yesteryear icons as advertised. There were no vodka-martini twirling Marilyn Monroe’s or busboy gyrating Elvis Presley’s. However, when a table of twenty people sprung to life, laughing and screaming over what may have been Diana Ross, I thought better to join them. Unbuttoning my shirt a few extra notches, puffing out my chest hair, just enough for the disco lights to catch my medallion in full gleam, I submerged into the groovy tunes of Icons. And, yes, I do normally wear a medallion.

While there was a menu that allowed you to order a-la-carte, I instead went with the seafood buffet (98rmb.) No whiskey, martinis, or wine, but a free flow Tiger beer and soda to keep the atmosphere upbeat.

Away from the mini-dance floor, the stage and most of the tables, is the buffet and bar, which resembles an American fifties era malt shop. The bar serves primarily as a counter to leave large jugs of coca-cola, juice, Tiger beer, and other free flow drinks. The buffet wraps around the other side of the lobby. Clams, crawfish, and a number of other cooked seafood, marinated in various sauces sit in large warmed trays. Alongside the surf is the turf: curried chicken, potato and beef stew, sliced pork, spicy tortillas – my favorite selection of the night. As you move along, you will glide over a few desserts, some which may tempt an early invitation, the double-chocolate fudge cake for one, and on to the raw seafood – sushi, salmon, oysters, and quite a bit more.

The buffet also included two stations, an outdoor barbecue, where you could get pork chops, chicken wings, fish, and even bacon cooked-up on the spot and an indoor pasta station, complete with chef. The barbecue was tasty enough, but rather bland, the meats tasting more or less the same. The pasta was run-of-the-mill and could definitely use some additional ingredients to entice its flavor as it was one step away from ketchup.

With two plates before me, surf and turf on one side, barbecue on the other and Tiger’s before us, we dug into our meal just as Casablanca swooned mystically over our heads. The evening performance was by a young man who was doing his best impersonation of a Bee Gee. I don’t think he was actually in costume, but he did a great job all the same.

The food was pretty standard fair. And, the challenge that all buffets face – lack of turnover – was painfully felt at Icons. As a food sits, it loses its freshness. The meats had the expected flavors, curried carried the Indian spice, stewed beef in a thick, salty stock. But, many of the dishes were near cool. Some of the dishes, especially those that include cheese had hardened. The raw seafood was an exception, as the options were kept on ice thus retaining the necessary freshness.

And, the highlight of the meal was the double-chocolate fudge cake I’d passed over earlier. It was basically as rich and smooth as many similar options you’d find at 5-star hotels, but where would have paid nearly triple the price.

Taking note of my fellow diners, I saw that most did not have their eyes on their plates, but more on who was performing on stage. Icons is clearly entertainment first with accessible secondary cuisine. And for 98rmb, the pricing seemed quite fair.

If you and your friends are looking to experience a meal heavy on the entertainment, one part ham, two parts cheese, and three parts whatever karaoke, disco lights and dance than make your way to Icons, where, you just got to see it to understand it.

-- by Kevin Smith

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