The convenience of having South Coast Plaza local is amazing, the convenience of having nice restaurants inside of the mall are even better. The last time I had a review at the mall was for Din Tai Fung. AnQi is another great option that South Coast Plaza has to offer. Known for the garlic noodles from their original highly acclaimed restaurant in Beverly Hills is Crustacean.
We started off with their truffles fries, accompanied by a trio of dipping sauces. I know, I know, but who doesn’t love French fries, it’s a weakness with instant gratification. The fries were double fried perfectly, soft and creamy inside, yet that bite crisp bite on the outside. Sauces were ketchup, a cilantro aioli, and a garlic aioli. The garlic aioli with a little mixture of the ketchup was my favorite combo. We then had the Peking Roasted Chicken, now I’ve always eaten Peking roasted duck, but never chicken so I thought why not give this a try.
I typically do not order chicken at restaurants fyi, unless it’s fried chicken. The plating was beautiful, on a large plate came chicken with a beautiful caramelized skin that was extremely crispy, Brussel sprouts, potato puree, almonds, charred corn, and a beautiful balsamic glaze. This dish was most definitely my favorite of the night, the chicken was crispy, yet moist still. All of the flavors really complimented one another. Corn and Brussel sprouts were both charred so well, and the potato puree was so silky yet so flavorful.
A dish I would most definitely order again and portions on this one were very generous. Once again the An family is known for their crab and garlic noodles, this time I decided to go with the garlic noodles with beef. A bowl filled with noodles, covered in garlic. I would suggest some Sriracha, it complements the flavors really well as the beef had a sweeter flavor to it. The beef came a side plate, three skewers of a grilled satay style beef with a little sweeter flavor accompanied by some house made pickles. I like that their garlic noodles are not overly rich compared to most places which is either dripping in butter or oil, a definite must try. I typically don’t make it as far as dessert, but they had a Vietnamese banana fritter on their menu I just had to try.
Lightly battered pieces of banana tempura style, that came with a banana caramel which I might add was delicious, Tahitian vanilla bean ice cream, frosting and some fruit. The fritters were cooked very well as it was not heavy nor oily whatsoever. The vanilla bean ice cream was delicious and complimented the fritter very well as the caramel gave that perfect hint of sweetness the dish was missing. I would highly recommend ordering this dish as I pretty much cleaned the plate. Overall experience was great; our server was on top of his game and extremely attentive during our whole experience. Would most definitely come back and give other items a try.
Restaurant – AnQi by House of An
Location – 3333 Bristol Street, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 by Bloomingdales
Contact – 714.557.5679
Cuisine – Asian Fusion, Vietnamese