It’s been a long time since I was inside the building that VIP Asian Cuisine occupies on Odana Road. I never went to Little Manhattan, Tres Amigos or any of the nightclubs. In fact, I think the last time for me was when a Chinese buffet was there, though I can’t remember its name.
The point of this trip down memory lane was that the moment you walk inside VIP Asian Cuisine, you don’t think anything else could have been in the beautifully remodeled space. A large sushi bar resides in the center, surrounded by tables, a private dining room, even more seating in a side room, tearooms (in which you sit on pillows at a low table) and a full-service bar, all basking in a nightclub glow.
It will likely take you a while to get through the separate Japanese and Chinese menus, each of which is chocked full of items from the more familiar (e.g. Kung Pao chicken, crispy duck and chicken teriyaki) to the less familiar (e.g. stir-fried frog, braised pork feet and lamb and sauerkraut noodle soup). There’s also a sushi menu, so let’s start there.
I wanted to order the Love Boat ($60), which has 10 pieces of sushi, 18 pieces of sashimi, a California roll and a special roll of the day, but I didn’t have enough people willing to share this with me. Instead, I selected the On Fire roll ($13.95), savoring its crunchy spicy salmon that contrasted well with the black pepper tuna inside. I have my eye on several other rolls, so I’m looking forward to future visits.
It sounds silly, but I was impressed with the Gyoza (six for $6), as they were packed with a tasty pork mixture that contained hardly any vegetable filler. Another hit on the appetizer list was the spring roll (two for $4), which was all veggies in a knock-out crispy shell. I actually ate it as part of the Salmon teriyaki bento box ($10), a steal that also includes soup or salad, rice and a four-piece California roll. And lest I forget to mention, the salmon was super flavorful.
Surprisingly bland but still delicious was Mao’s braised pork belly ($12.95), which sits atop baby bok choy and shiitake mushrooms. I think the broth could have been a bit stronger, but I would still order this dish again.
I didn’t have any dessert, though the Oreo Tempura (six for $4) sounded tempting. Instead, I enjoyed a bottle of Ozeki Nigori ($11) from the large cocktail menu.
VIP Asian Cuisine is open every day for lunch and dinner.
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See more photos in our VIP Asian Cuisine Flickr album.
Sometimes a name can be deceiving. When I heard 
You can pick the ingredients you want to make a bowl of noodle soup or a mixed grill plate. I’m a big fan of pho, and that’s what I obviously chose. The broth was so good that I avoided adding Sriracha to it, like I normally would with pho. I would have eaten a second bowl if I wasn’t saving room for the rest of the buffet.
Shabu-shabu is another term for a Chinese hot pot. It’s like fondue, but instead of a pot of cheese, it’s a pot of boiling water; and instead of dipping bread, you put in meat and vegetables. That’s the obvious specialty at the newly opened 
For appetizers, I tried the fried taro cake ($6.99), except instead of a fried turnip cake found on most dim sum menus, Soga serves a sweet cake. I’ve eaten it before, though I forget the name, but it’s definitely not a taro cake, so be warned.
