Harvest Buffet, revisited

I spoke of Harvest Buffet months upon months ago when we decided to hold my mother’s 60th birthday party there.  My family has been going to this place for years now- I’m not sure how we found it, perhaps back in the days of Harvest putting coupons in the Chinese newspaper- and though I go way more rarely than my sister and her brood, I do enjoy it.  And recently, I had the chance to go again for a party.

I wasn’t going to take pictures and do another review, but I was surprised and pleased to notice that they fancied up some of their items and felt that was worth another post.

From the salad station: your standard jellyfish, pickled carrots and radish, a chunk of “Asian smoked salmon” hiding behind the bowl-thing (which was very dry and tastless, actually), and some seaweed salad.  The interesting items: the little clear bowl was labeled “Salmon Skin Salad” and while it held great potential, it fell way short; the skin was too salty and the dark sauce on top made it worse.  The salad itself, match stick cucumbers, carrots, and bean sprouts, was really refreshing and light, I liked that part, even with the unnecessary ginger-carrot dressing. 

The mussel with cucumber… I forget what they named it, it was a funny name like “Exciting Mussel Salad” or some such, but this was pretty good, though a lot spicier than I’d expected (which is to say, spicy at all). 

The little dish on the bottom right is octopus, some furikake sprinkled on top, and crab meat underneath.  Good, though not mindbogglingly wonderful.

And last but NOT least, the other little dish?  Tuna tartare-ish but so much better- ikura (salmon roe, big fish eggs bursting with salty seawater, I love it), diced raw tuna, avocado, and a drizzle of a soy-mirin mixture (it was sweeter than just straight soy sauce).  I ate about 3 of these little dishes and insisted my mother, who doesn’t eat raw fish, have at least one; she also enjoyed it greatly. 

My sushi plate.  My brother-in-law came over and kept telling me that he gave me props for eating this whole plate.  Har,har- my family can eat, so can he, and he knows this!  Anyway, I don’t remember all of the various types here, but from the bottom right and going counterclockwise, it looks like
Salmon + avocado
California + tuna
Eel + cucumber
Sashimi roll (that’s what they called it) with scallop (!) and some other stuff
and the rest, a bunch of random rolls.  They have more than just these, but I only take what I think/know I’ll like, so I skipped out on the fluke, saba (Spanish Mackerel), yellowtail, etc. 

Yummy.  As before, highly recommended.  Seriously good stuff here- they even have Peking Duck!

Happy eating!!!