Water Moon in Rye, NY is a #FusionAsian restaurant or in #PeilinCorbanese‘ speak – a bastardized Asian food restaurant. I rarely go to fusion Asian restaurants unless I am desperate or needing comfort. Today was neither. I was there because a new friend changed the reservation at the last minute and thought this would be a better restaurant to try out. Guess what? It was not too bad for a fusion Asian restaurant and for Americanized Asian food. It clearly has the syndrome of “wanting to be everything to everyone;” the restaurant has a menu that is a mile long covering many popular countries in Asia.
Since Asians from the various Asian countries are “hardly distinguishable” from one another, it makes perfect sense to serve dishes from Thailand, Vietnam, China, and Japan all in one fusion Asian restaurant. It makes perfect sense that people would always ask me “where I am from” simply because I look Asian. People like to guess that I am Filipino, Thai, Chinese, or any other Asian countries they are familiar with. Better yet, many think that Thailand and Taiwan are the same country. I like to tell them that I am Italian – just look at my last name. They usually give me a puzzled look. Then, I take pity on them and succumbed to the stereotype of being a New Yorker to either educate the idiots and the bigots or flip them the bird.
Vietnamese Salad: Nappa with Tamarind peanut dressing. Refreshing but the Nappa could be julienned instead.
Crispy Red Snapper: with baby Shanghai green. The red snapper was crispy on the outside and soft and tender on the inside, exactly how it should be. This was the best of the night.
Roasted Peking Duck. I had high hopes for this dish because the chefs look like they are from northern China. It was just average. FYI – Peking or Beijing or 北京 is in Northern China.
Just in case you didn’t know, this is how you put the roasted duck and the veggies together in a bun. Sometimes, it’s not a bun but a thin rice sheet that you wrap. I tend to prefer the sheets.
The best part of dinner was the red snapper and running into a work friend. Would I return? Nah – even when Water Moon was voted the best Asian restaurant in the Westchester County from 2004-2010. It was fine as a bastardized Asian restaurant but this is where I draw the line. When it comes to Asian food, I am authentically Asian and not such a commoner.
Any hole in the wall restaurant in Chinatown or Flushing will be much better than this posh restaurant in Rye, NY. But then you wouldn’t have such a pretty bathroom! Here is a toast to all the idiots and bigots out there. Without you, none of these fusion Asian restaurants would survive.
This experience took place at
Water Moon Sushi Bar & Asian Bistro
66 Purchase St,
Rye, NY 10580
Peilin Corbanese 