So what is your intrepid food blogger’s favorite meal in the world?

Vegetarian duck with curry sauce from Asian Garden in Morgantown, West Virginia. Yeah, you read that right. I’m by no means a vegetarian, but gosh darnit, the stuff just tastes good.

So what is “vegetarian duck?” It’s basically sheets of dried soy milk layered together to form a kind of faux meat that looks a lot like duck. And while it doesn’t really taste like duck, it’s sweet and nutty, with a wonderfully firm texture. Stir-fried with broccoli, carrots and baby corn, it’s then sauced with a mix of spicy red curry and coconut milk — what I consider to be one of the greatest flavor combinations ever devised by humans.

Oh! Instead of the normal steamed or fried rice you’re used to eating with Asian dishes, you can order curry fried rice at Asian Garden — fried rice, as you might imagine, with an ethereal, not-at-all-greasy texture, scented with yellow curry spices. Highly recommended.

Asian Garden is located in a small strip mall plaza on University Avenue in Morgantown’s Suncrest Area. Don’t let the humble decor and cheap plastic plates fool you — they feature an extensive menu of Chinese, Thai and Malaysian dishes (the chef / owner is Malaysian, as is the dish reviewed here). Even the thought of their numerous vegetarian offerings causes the mouth of this dedicated carnivore to water. And unlike the grub served at so many lesser Asian joints, all of the food at Asian Garden is decidedly not greasy — even the fried food, like sesame chicken.

If you’re in or traveling though Morgantown, Asian Garden is a must. A few meals like this, and you’ll understand why some of us turn our noses at other places.

If you go: Asian Garden, 3109 University Avenue, Morgantown (in the Suncrest Area). (304) 599-1888. Closed Sundays.

– By Josh Saul

This entry was posted on Monday, October 30th, 2006 at 3:58 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.