Far East Restaurant - St Anthony

We are from Vancouver, BC, where there are many authentic Chinese restaurants, and we are pretty adventurous diners, so truthfully, when we walked into the Far East restaurant here in St. Anthony, we figured we would be getting "Canadian" Chinese food. We were wrong (in a good way)!We ordered the "Happy Family Meal" for 2 (it's on the 2nd page of the menu). It comes with chicken fried rice, deep-fried wontons and spring rolls, and your choice of 2 dishes from a list of about 20 options. We chose the Mongolian Beef and the Curry Chicken (neither of these choices were available in the buffet).The Mongolian Beef arrived on a sizzling platter, served over a bed of sautéed onions (I know it sounds weird but trust me, it works). The beef was tender and tossed in a light orange sauce. Yum!The Curry Chicken is chunks of sautéed chicken breast, served with tender-crisp stir-fried veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, onions and carrots), and tossed in a light, yellow curry sauce. The veggies were still crisp and the curry sauce was just the right combination of spice and heat. Yum!Both dishes were delicious, and the portions were generous. After a long drive from Deer Lake, we were both very hungry, but we still had leftovers (I think you could probably feed 3 people with the dinner for 2). We did not try the buffet so I can't comment on that except to say that it's all-you-can-eat, and it looked like it had a selection of typical items you'd expect to find at a Chinese food buffet in a small town (chicken balls, fried rice, etc).Our server was very nice, attentive, and answered all our questions about the menu. (I wish I had gotten her name!) We are staying in St. Anthony for 2 nights, and I'm pretty sure we will be back for dinner tomorrow.

So, here's the thing: fresh veggies are not part of traditional NL cuisine. But they ARE part of Chinese cuisine. Which means that when you finally get tired of all that deep-fried stuff, a Canadian/Chinese place means you will get veggies if you order correctly. This place had "chow mein" with freshly chopped cabbage and carrots, and canned baby corn and mushrooms. The won ton soup had 4 decent wontons, some bbq pork and more cabbage in a bland broth. The soo guy chicken was pretty typical. The only thing I cannot recommend is the spring rolls. It tasted rancid and off - not sure what was in it, but yuck. All in all, you'll get a full belly for a good price, and VEGGIES!

We were looking for a break from seafood and wanted some well prepared vegetables. Looked at the buffet and were not impressed. We ordered off the menu. The wonton soup was so-so, but also had sauteed vegetables which were fine--not over-cooked. Enjoyed a stir fried rice and a chicken dish. These were quite good. Would go back.

Came at the end of the night and ordered fried rice, chicken with noodles, Orange chicken and broccoli beef. Dishes were well received by my 4 kids (all under 10 yrs old). Pleasant and fast. Get the hot oil if you want spicier.

No better or worse than most newfoundland chinese restaurants. Good value, five of us ate our fill for $50.