A Taste of Asia

I just went to get lunch special Jungle shrimp and got a real junk! With only 5 pre-​frozen shrimps i was charged $ 11 dollars cash, with a 5% discount.
The sauce is basically ketchup mix with hot pepper. Are you kidding me?

My boyfriend and I have eaten here twice and we LOVE it!!! The flavors are incredible, and everything is very reasonably priced (huge portions and very authentic). Their spicy menu is the BOMB. What I’d recommend are the following:
— Sichuan Spicy Stir Fry (amazing flavor & the heat is NO joke!) … The Spicy Ginger Chili Stir Fry is great too
— Drunken Noodles (spicy as well, but the flavor is seriously unbeatable)
— Sichuan Wontons Appetizer (deeelish!!!)
— Beef Rendang (the coconut milk makes this dish very unique, so tasty!)
The Thai iced tea is pretty amazing too :) You can’t go wrong with anything here — we will most definitely be going back!!!

Have been twice now and was impressed both times. The service is great, the owner is super friendly and spends time with you to help you figure out what to get. They were very helpful in terms of figuring out how hot my food should be, since it’s so subjective, and I’m glad I had their guidance. I opted for something from their super hot menu and I’m so glad I did. It was spicy, absolutely, but the flavors were so fantastic that it was entirely edible and enjoyable… if you like spicy… Can’t wait to go back. In fact, we have plans to return in just a couple weeks.
Don’t miss this great find.

This place is not that bad but unfortunately they try to do everything from everywhere and that by definition does not turn out impressively. Might be nicer if they home the exact local among the tastes of Asia that they’d like to focus on.

One of my favorite restaurants, one which we think nothing of driving 40 mins to frequent. Every dish a taste sensation. Owner Steve and his staff are delightful. Two weeks ago I brought a party of 15 – we had Steve order for us… the entire dinner… he had fun – we had fun – and everyone –even those who are not regular Asian food fans – loved it. Can’t wait to do a big party mystery dinner again. BEST way to sample the cuisine is to share a multitude of dishes with a large group. And the bill didn’t break the bank. It’s BYOB so bring a case of your own favorite wines. The table next to us had ten doing the same thing.

My wife and I had dinner at Taste of Asia for the first time this past weekend before attending a nearby Sanctuary Concert. We do not live in the Chatham area. We had the Chinese New Year Tasting Menu.
What a great treat. The food was flavorful, delicious and abundant. The owner Steve was delightful, engaging, and made us feel like regular customers, explaining the meanings of some of the special meanings behind the dishes on the tasting menu .
He was also accommodating of our dietary restrictions (no pork) by substituting a couple of the dishes on the set tasting menu without any problem or complaint. .
The service was seamless. We told them we had to be out by a certain time to see show and they hit that mark precisely.
Overall„ a great experience at Taste of Asia. We can’t wait to return. m

I was brought up on an unusual mixture of traditional English and home-​cooked Chinese food. From an early age we visited the Chinese side of the family in Malaysia and spent many happy meal times at my uncle’s restaurant or eating unidentifiable things from food stalls. I was pleased to discover a Malaysian/​Chinese restaurant in the largely Italian neighbourhood of Chatham, N.J. and looked forward to trying some new dishes.
It was a busy Saturday night with just a couple of tables free in the restaurant. My husband — Lou and I hadn’t booked as we had planned to have dinner at our home but mall shopping and a hike with Layla our dog took longer than expected so when we arrived we were starving. Another couple were already waiting for a table so we waited patiently to be seated. We were starting to get frustrated as no one was acknowledging us, when the owner (a tall, slim man who reminded me of my Gung Gung) said that he was just clearing tables and we’d be seated in a moment.
Sensing I was agitated from lack of food, Lou ordered two ice teas before the hostess had time to leave. I choose from the extensive menu quickly — Vegetable Tom Yum soup followed by Malaysian style vegetable curry with steamed rice whilst Lou ordered Sichuan Wontons and Kampung style stir fry with chicken. I toyed with the idea of ordering crispy noodles with mixed mushrooms, bok choy and soya as well but knew I’d have left overs and as my husband’s Italian mother had cooked that night and we’d turned down the offer of eating with the family, there was no way we could turn up at the house with doggie bags.
Whilst waiting for our food we had a chance to look at the décor of the casual dining restaurant. It was plain but clean — a few green plants dotted around the restaurants and a few splashes of Malaysian fabrics in an otherwise non-​descript restaurant. Sixty of Unilocal reviewers gave the place 4 stars and cost was rated two out of a possible four $ and the owners were clearly aware of the power of media coverage displaying laminated restaurant reviews in the entrance corridor together with their Zagat rating.
After fifteen minutes, the server brought our appetisers. The Tom Yum was hot and spicy but had a film of oil which the server had sloshed down the side of the bowl and clung to the spoon. Although, the mushrooms tasted fresh rather than canned like you find in a lot of Asian restaurants. Despite the baby corn and cabbage not being cut in the usual Chinese way, it was tender and Lou said his dumplings were awesome and loved the sweetened dark soya sauce they were sitting in.
After twenty minutes our server brought our main courses. Served in a clay pot my curry was watery rather than the usual fragrant, rich coconut curries so representative of Malaysian food. It had a good level of spice with three tasty large pieces of fried tofu, aubergine, okra, cabbage and bamboo shoots. The curry was roasting hot and in my eagerness to eat I burnt my mouth on the hot broth. Once satiated, I quickly went off my meal finding the flavours of the curry not intense enough. It was better the first time we visited I thought, although Lou liked his dish, comparing it to ones eaten in Singapore’s Newton Circus.
All in all, I was happy to have eaten something relatively healthy and well balanced. As a vegetarian, I really struggle to find restaurants that serve well balanced vegetarian meals that aren’t fat and carb heavy so Asian restaurants are often the best option although next time I think I’ll try something different.

This is my favorite restaurant in the area. The food is fresh and tasty. The service always impeccable. Prices very reasonable and nice portions. We come here at least 1 – 2 times per week and have always been pleased with our dining experience. I am a vegetarian and they have many vegetarian selections and are always accommodating.

Visited this place after we were tired from shopping in short hills mall… if you are craving for authentic asian food then this place is a must to visit in short hills area… since we are vegetarian the chef personally came to talk to us and noted what kinda spices we like and which curry do we prefer and how can he customize it… felt like the whole dinner was customized to our taste and likes… the waiters were Also very friendly and suggested good dishes…
The dimsums are a must must have here… i hope they dont remove it from the menu…

Great food for the price. The owner is really nice and likes to make sure his guests are happy. Its BYOB which is always a good thing.

A Taste of Asia is actually my favorite restaurant on Earth.
Steve, the owner, is very attentive, warm, and helpful, and is so attuned to keeping the menu authentic and exciting. I love the flavor combinations of mango and ginger. I like to try new entrees every time, and I always expect to be impressed and satiated. I can never decide between the Oriental Fish Soup and the Tomato-​based vegetable shallot soup, except for that time Steve had a tangy, seasonal special soup that highly recommended — these have all set my standard for soup. Other staples of my meal include the Roti Jala, Roti Canai, and the Mango & Sticky Rice when it’s in season.
I have so many wonderful memories at A Taste of Asia, and I look forward to many more.

Delicious, interesting Malaysian food served in large portions from a very expansive menu at reasonable prices – what more could you want? BYO – it has that, too! The owners are very hands on in ensuring good service. Pleasant décor. Easiest parking in the back.
If you ask for spicy, it is very spicy.
Among best dishes are papaya shrimp salad; mee goreng, shredded pork appetizer; fish sambal; beef rendang; and stir fried shrimp with mango and vegetables.

Ironically, my only regret about coming here is my meal. I ordered a vegetable malaysian curry, which was delicious, but the portion was enormous, and since it was in a clay pot, it was far too hot to enjoy. It stayed hot for over 15 minutes which made it difficult to enjoy my meal. I will say that they have very good pad thai, and I would love to come here again to try another dish. The prices are reasonable, and the service is very friendly. I will be returning.

We were looking for something to eat on this stretch of road of Chatham and there were several choices. We ended up with A Taste of Asia. I didn’t have high hopes to begin with because I was skeptical of Malaysian done right in a small town. I was pleasantly surprised, it served pretty average decent food (especially when we got lunch special prices).
For the lunch special, I chose the following dishes:
— Tom yum soup: This is a solid starter, the right contrast of sour and spicy. I did wish there was more content/​innards to this soup thought.
— Peanut noodles: This was an alright dish, nothing special but it was enjoyable to eat. It did seem like it might be simple enough to make at home though.
— Singapore noodles: This dish I was not a fan of. It was soggy and wet, which is contrary to Singapore noodles I’ve had in the past. I like the slightly burnt, stir fried aspect of singapore noodles vs. the soupy aspect.

First and foremost, love the décor in this place. So warm and welcoming. Food is great, very authentic. My favorite dish is their pineapple curry, rich in flavor and the pineapple adds a nice sweet touch to the spice. They’re completely fine with you customizing your meal if there’s anything you don’t like or want to substitute. I also love that they offer spice levels from 1 – 10. I like my food HOT and sometimes telling your waiter «make it spicy» is just not enough. I stick to a 7 here, gives a great kick. Most importantly, staff here is always kind and attentive. The owner is always there to greet you and happy to answer any questions you have. Chat with him on any given day and you’ll be sure to sense his passion for Malaysian cuisine and culture, something that definitely shines through in the food here.

It was all fine, nothing great. Service was very good. The waiter was friendly, refilled water and answered all questions. The food took a while to come out though. We ordered Crispy Shrimp and Crab Dumplings (4 pieces) — they were flavorless. The Fried Squid tasted pretty good but you can see from the pic how small the portion is. The Singapore Vermicelli w/​Shrimp tasted good. We didn’t like the Chilli Fish– it was coated in ginger paste and not very ‘chilli’ tasting, it’s a bit sweet and very gingery, panfried halibut. Some might like it but I found the flavors odd. The Thai Iced Tea was good. Overall, everyone was very nice but the portions are small and the food is kind of blah. Not worth the price.

Very disappointing lunch with business colleagues here in January 2015. The lunch specials come with soup, a cold dish and an entrée for $ 9 – 10. The soups were unanimously declared to be underwhelming, lacking real depth of flavor and the spicy one lacked any sort of true heat. The cold noodles were uninspiring and my shrimp dish was really boring. My colleagues were not thrilled with their food, either, and we all agreed that the next time we crave Asian food for lunch, we will go elsewhere. Service was impersonal and rushed even for this type of lunch special place.

Came here for dinner on new year’s eve. Good thing we made reservations, because the restaurant was pretty busy. Managed to find parking behind the Bank of America (free after 6pm!) Nice décor and attentive staff. BYOB! The waiter came with an ice bucket right away. We went for the fixed price menu (a special for NYE — $ 28 plus tax/​gratuity) which included an appetizer, entrée and dessert.
Appetizer: I ordered the split pea pancakes with potato curry — three small patties with mashed potato curry on top. Reminded me of curry puffs from a thai restaurant. It was a unique dish and pretty good. I did ask for hot sauce because it was a bit dry.
Entrée: I ordered the asian garlic sauce with tofu. the waiter said this dish was supposed to be spicy, but I didn’t think it was! I added more hot sauce but overall I really liked it! It came with vegetarian thai basil rice and sauteed veggies. My date ordered the chicken with three kinds of mushrooms… the mushrooms were delicious!!!
Dessert: Malaysian coconut candy with whipped cream! I enjoyed it. Also came with Jasmine tea — good but needed honey which they did not have unfortunately.
I do agree that the portions are a bit small… but I would like to return to this restaurant to try few more things on the menu! Great experience and the staff was very nice — we sat in the restaurant for about a half hour sipping our tea and were not rushed to leave!

The décor… This is a Mayalsian restaurant in downtown Chatham. Very pretty décor. Light wooden tables with light orange (peach) and light blue patterned table clothes artfully thrown on the tables. Peach colored napkins, wine glasses and water glasses were on the table as I walked in.
This is a BYOB restaurant and they do provide ice buckets for your wine if you bring a bottle. Lots of windows, ceiling fans hanging from the tin ceiling… sort of feel like you are in Southeast Asia… that type of feeling. Very relaxing atmosphere.
The service… our service was excellent. Not too rushed, they let us sit and talk without feeling rushed (we had a late dinner)…
We were presented with menus (they were attractive with wooden covers)…Opening the menu, I right away noticed a wide selection of South Asian dishes (Indian, Thai, Chinese, also gluten free and a vegetarian menu)…
Also I want to mention that the dishes are cooked to your specification regarding the spice/​hotness level… I ordered my Pad Thai medium and honestly I thought it could have used a tad more spice to it.
For my appetizer I choose to order the papaya salad which was a noodle dish with crushed peanuts and some shrimp in it… this had a good spice level to it I thought.
I ordered Pad Thai. This dish had noodles with shrimp and crushed peanuts. My portion was very large and I brought my leftovers home. Actually I think both my appetizer and main entrée were similar except for noodle size and spice level… both were very tasty…
My husband ordered the Citrus beef and although it was good, it was a bit too sweet for his taste.
Also, they offer a Chinese New Year tasting menu which runs from January 31 to February 14 which looked interesting.
I did like this restaurant very much and would like to return.

A great find in Chatham.
Malayasian/​Asian food that is gluten free. My wife and I have been here a few times.
We always start out with the DAGING ISTIMEWA — crispy pork shreds tossed in sweet sesame vinaigrette sauce. We generally fight over who will have more.
For entrée’s we change it up. Some good choices are: Thai Spicy Beef (a great kick on a traditional dish), Pad Thai (a good alternative if you are jonsing carbs and peanuts) and Beef with Hot Peppers (stir fired with scallions to add another layer of flavor).
It’s BYOB so bring a bottle of wine (avoid the liquor store nearby… their staff sucks).
Service is very good here. Only a couple of servers but they are prompt and attentive.
ENJOY!