12/11/03 by Yuki Ukemura (Japan), Kenshi Nakagawa (Japan), and Eriko Tanaka (Japan).

Chinoise cafe, an entirely Asian style restaurant in the U.S, might delight customers on Queen Anne. When we heard about the restaurant from our friend, we were excited to go there. The restaurant is an Asian fusion style, but the cuisine is Americanized. They have a curious decor that did not make us cheerless. The area where the restaurant is located is pretty neat. If you walk around there, you will have fun even only window-shopping. And the restaurant district on upper Queen Anne is close by Safeway. That is why the restaurant's location is pretty good. You can take the number 3, 4 and 13 bus from downtown or SPU to go there. Moreover, the number 3 and 4 bus stop is in front of it. The restaurant's condition is perfect; however we are not sure you will find it as comfortable as your favorite restaurant.

Charge for Green Tea

Chinoise Café has a wide menu, but the prices are not as reasonable as we expected. The restaurant is a little more luxurious than the ordinary café. The menu is Japanese, Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese, and also you may order sushi at your table or a sushi counter. Perhaps sushi is believed to be representative of Japanese cuisine, though we do not frequently have it. In Japan usually a restaurant with a sushi counter is more expensive so sushi is a special dish.

We ordered three Japanese dishes and one Thai. They were: Take Combo ($11.95), 3 pieces of nigiri sushi, cucumber roll, California roll and salad, and Sushi Bento ($11.95), 5 pieces of nigiri sushi, yellow tail and scallions roll are both the chef’s choice of fresh nigiri. These are with miso soup and from the lunch menu. The prices are almost the same as in Japan. The Teriyaki Chicken ($8.65), grilled chicken with teriyaki sauce, and Buddhist Tofu Fry ($8.50), braised tofu and vegetables in Thai basil cilantro garlic sauce, served with rice, salad and miso soup, were only so-so; therefore, we felt these are overpriced. We were surprised to be charged for Green Tea (¢75). Even though the cost is insignificant, we have never paid for green tea at restaurants in Japan. Chinoise Café has many oriental dishes which we were curious about. Over all, the prices were comparable to prices in Japan; however, the particular dishes we tried were less satisfying than we had anticipated.

The atmosphere of Chinoise Cafe is respectable. It is a smallish building, painted bright brown, with a wide window that gives us a sunny image. When we entered the restaurant, we saw a wide-open kitchen enclosed with the sushi bar, and two Chinese chefs in there. They gave us an expectation of delicious foods. We could see the spirited cooking movement, hear the sound of searing something with a big fry pan, and also smell a delicious burnt scent. After we sat down on the table, we noticed that we got a restful feeling, and it was caused by wooden furniture placed all over the floor, and many Asian paintings and penmanship hung on the wall. Sometimes this kind of Asian restaurant is noisy. There are some customers who talk so loudly and the restaurant plays noisy Asian music. But Chinoise Cafe was not noisy. There were no customers talking so loudly, and they were playing smooth easy listening music. So we could talk calmly with each other. We think the atmosphere of Chinoise Cafe looks casual, and it does not put on airs.

All in all, we have no other choice to say that the lunch of Chinoise Cafe is uninteresting. The food was not hot, and the tastes had little striking character. But we think the atmosphere is acceptable, especially for an adult couple who want to talk sweetly with each other. This time we did not try to have dinner at Chinoise Cafe. So we want to recommend you to try not to have lunch, but dinner, at Chinoise Cafe.

Chinoise Cafe