E & W Chinese Buffet

I travel often with my husband when he is doing his circuit of library visits, which means I get to see a lot of small towns in the southern Alberta region.  Today, it was Trochu and Three Hills that we were set to visit.  Both of these little towns have great libraries, by the way.  If you're in Trochu, you should stop and shop for shoes, and stop at the dollar store downtown, where the librarian in town assures me that the coffees on offer are truly stellar.

Some towns are better than others when it comes to lunchtime offerings.  As a matter of fact, some towns that have libraries don't have a restaurant at all - or even a gas station for that matter!  But the Trochu and Three Hills area has several, and on this particular day my husband was in the mood for Chinese food, so we stopped at E and W, which provides a lunchtime buffet of Chinese and Western food.  More accurately, to my view, what it provides is Westernized Chinese food.

 You'll find it located at 1011 2 st. N, with this lovely mural on the building facing the parking lot. Inside, you seat yourself and can order from the menu if you'd prefer not to sample the buffet offerings.  Still, when you're new to a restaurant, I find that it's often best to try the buffet, so you can choose a little bit of everything just in case the thing you order turns out not to be what you're looking for.

To a certain extent, that was the case here.  Most of the food on the buffet is deep fried and slathered in thick sauces, which isn't always the tastiest, and definitely isn't the healthiest option.  The wonton soup did turn out to be a surprising, light, and delicious start to the meal, chock full of dumplings and green onions in a flavourful broth.  I often find wonton soup to be far too salty, but this was just right.

As for the food, it was a mixed bag.  The onion rings were wonderful, if a bit oily, but perennial favourites of ours such as the sweet and sour pork and ginger beef were vastly disappointing, both soggy and lacking in flavour.  On the other hand, the chicken and asparagus and the steamed vegetables were both delicious.

My Plate

We both found that the noodles had been sitting under the heat lamps a little too long.  My husband sampled the chow mein and I tried the shanghai fat noodles, but we were both disappointed in the results. They had that stale, stiff taste that happens in these situations, though to be fair, the woman working the front register did offer to make a fresh batch of chow mein for my husband, when she noted his dissatisfaction with it.

My Husband's Plate

The buffet contains a small salad bar (with two types of chopped lettuce, a few bottles of dressing on ice, potato salad, orange slices and cookies) and a heated area with the basics of a Chinese menu, as well as two soup offerings.  Soft drinks are from cans, not from a fountain, and refills are not free.  In addition, the drinks were served warm, and with no ice.  I'd recommend requesting either a glass of ice or just ordering ice water instead of getting a soft drink.

Still, it's an inexpensive lunch; buffet and one drink for one person is $11.50 at the register, so if you are looking for a quiet, quick lunch that will have you in and out as fast as possible, this is a good option for the area.  Because of the quality, it only garners a three star rating.