Bambou Asian Tapas + Bar: Not Your Typical Sushi Spot – Greenwich, CT

A few years ago, before we started our blog, we tried Bambou Asian Tapas & Bar in Greenwich and really enjoyed it. Now only minutes away from where we live, we decided to head back and see if things were as good as we remember.

Just looking at the menu, we were excited because of the variety of flavors and choices. The decor, too, is pretty simple and zen…relaxing. So, let’s take you through our meal and show you why Bambou just might be your next stop for unique tapas and creative sushi.

Basket of various fried sweet potatoes

Sweet Potato Tempura Fries with Honey Soy Dip

Awesome plating with a fry basket displaying the fries.  While the outside was crispy, the insides were raw and needed more cooking.  The dip added some sweetness and there was a slight tartness from the soy.  The darker fries were thicker and had a deeper kind of flavor. We probably wouldn’t get this again.

Perfect little dumplings

Veggie Dumplings

We got ours steamed, though you can get them fried if you’d like.  One of the things that we hate most about dumplings is how some Asian restaurants use a super thick, flour-y wrapper on the dumpling so all you taste is starch.  Well, they’ve got it down here at Bambou because they use nice, thin rice paper…just like they should.  Inside the dumpling were big chunks of veggies and the soy vinegar sauce for dipping was a bit tangy. Very good!

Chef’s Special Roll, Crispy Melt Goat Cheese Roll, and Crunchy Wasabi Tuna Roll

Crunchy Wasabi Tuna

Served with black pepper tuna and avocado, topped with spicy tuna, wasabi mayo, and crunched up wasabi peas.  The black pepper hits at the end with a nice finish.  The wasabi crunch adds a great texture.  Don’t worry…it’s not too spicy.

Crispy Melt Goat Cheese Roll

Yeah, Kristien saw those two magical words, “goat cheese,” and was immediately sold.  Salmon, mango, curry, goat cheese, and coconut in a spring roll, wrapped with sushi rice.  This is a big roll and pretty too.  We feel like this kind of creativity in sushi is sorely lacking in Fairfield County, so we were happy to see this type of creative roll here.  The roll itself adds a crunch while the goat cheese adds a nice contrast with its smooth, tangy flavors.  Rounding everything out, the mango tied this entire roll together.

Chef’s Special Roll

Spicy tuna and crunch inside, layered with seared tuna, topped with 7’s spice, and sweet onion salsa.  This roll was again very fresh and full of flavor.  Starting off, the onion salsa on top is great, reminiscent of the flavor of a toasted onion bagel.  There is an amazing aftertaste too that lingers on your tongue.

Creme brulee and ginger/green tea ice cream

Coconut Ginger Crème brûlée with Ginger and Green Tea Ice Cream

While the crème brûlée was on the cold side, it was still very good.  When you dig through, you find ginger and coconut chunks.  Definitely make sure that you scoop down and bring that up with each bite.  The green tea ice cream was good, but we would have liked more punch from the tea…it was pretty subtle and wasn’t strong enough for us.

The plate, the plate, the plate is on fire…

Flaming Tempura Ice Cream

Chamomile honey ice cream, in a light breading, then deep fried.  When the server brings this dessert to your table, watch as he lights it on fire…and it burns, burns burns…the ring of fire, in a ring of fire.  Now, here’s the beautiful thing.  When the fire goes out, you can dig into the dish.  While the breading was nice and crispy on the outside, the ice cream remained (magically) cold and frozen in the middle.  The ice cream itself had a great bite of flavor, but it was mostly from the honey with very little of the chamomile flavor coming through.  Not that we’re complaining because we loved the honey flavor, but after a few spoonfuls, a little balance would have been a nice contrast.

Overall Impressions

We really enjoy the concept and choose your own kind of meal attitude here at Bambou.  While they still do have some of the classic sushi rolls, the chefs here also experiment a bit more and are a little more creative with ingredients and combinations.  Service was good and something else that made us happy was that the prices for bottles of wine weren’t way out of control.  Lastly, we were very happy to see that there was more than the Asian restaurant standard green tea or little cookies offered up for dessert.  There were actual desserts that tempted us enough to try them.  Overall, we enjoyed our meal at Bambou and could definitely see ourselves coming back when we want to dine on the more fun, adventurous, and creative side of Asian food.

Noms:  3.75

Cost:  $$$

Address: 328 Pemberwick Rd
Greenwich, CT

Phone: (203) 531-3322