Life | 4/2/08

Media Credit: Patrick Smith [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Patrick Smith [Click to enlarge]

It may be out of the way for most Towson students, but New No Da Ji, located by Johns Hopkins University at 2501 N. Charles St., is well worth the trip. Eighteen dollars ($12 before 3:30), not including drinks and tip, gets visitors access to a pretty awesome Asian buffet.

The atmosphere of the place gives a bad first impression. Cheesy green carpet and odd white walls line the place. A flat-panel television by the bar may be screening MTV, which one would think would be a no-no for an Asian restaurant.

Upon walking in, you're greeted and led to a table with the standard chopsticks and napkin. Ignore Western sensibilities here. While forks and knives are available, there's truly only one way to eat most of the stuff on the menu.

The buffet is relatively small, at least smaller than most places. I am a vegetarian, so I can't comment on most of the stuff in trays by the door. I didn't know what it was, so I didn't eat it. Ergo, vegetarians (or people with food allergies), ask first. The only labeled tray is kimchi, which the restaurant touts kimchi as a healthy addition to your meal, which it is. It's also tasty, and everybody should try some.

The real fun, however, is to be had further down the line with the

Japanese staples: rice, miso soup, tempura, and sushi. This is what will keep you coming back for more.

First: the sushi. Any restaurant promising bottomless sushi ought to win the Nobel Prize. It's quite good sushi too, certainly better and fresher than the stuff in the University Union Susquehanna. For the less adventurous, California rolls are in plentiful supply, as are more exotic choices like eel rolls and Philadelphia rolls.

The tempura is OK. Some of the vegetable tempura seems a tad too thinly battered, but it's still decent.

No Da Ji then takes it one step further with sushi tempura. Yes, that's right. Sushi. Tempura. And it's really good. While it's a sure fire route to a heart attack, at least you won't go down hungry.

My issues aside, a trip to No Da Ji is a pretty good way to burn $18 a head on dinner, especially considering that's less than a typical total bill at similar non-buffet restaurants (I'm looking at you, Kyodai).

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