Lucky Buddha - CLOSED

Overview

There are Buddhas, everywhere. Buddha the painting's laughing at you, Buddha the statue's reclining, another Buddha statue's zenly observing the other Buddhas' conduct. Yet despite this very obvious homage to the restaurant's namesake, the Buddhaness of the space does not detract from the experience. They're more just nice visual fodder for when looking at the food or your dining partner is proving too humdrum.

Not that you'll be looking away from that food of yours. Or focusing on much else. Put together by Malaysian, Korean and Filipino chefs, Lucky Buddha's sharing menu falls squarely into the definition of Asian fusion. The combination of regional inspiration is seamless. On this occasion we tried the Drunken Chicken - chicken marinated overnight in a Sichuan pepper and tahini dressing lying on a bed of greens ($18), and the raw tuna - rare seared with a side of wakame salad, avocado and dollops of wasabi($16).

The tuna was perfection. Fresh, decently sized and decently priced. The chicken was a decent little chicken, but maybe just a little bit too intoxicated. Our only regret from the experience is that we didn't also sample that beautiful raw King Salmon ($16) which arrived promptly for the diners next door just as we had finished our mains. Alas, another time.