Fusion--French Asian in Flemington

[zoe b]

Fusion has just opened--read an article (not a review) about it in the local rag and it sounded worth trying out--the owners are Indian, the chef from Nepal--and I thought it might be sophisticated food.

It's very pretty--a big shady porch out front -- a wooden victorian that's been redone, and I think also has offices and condos.

The inside is all dark wood and the walls were dark cinnamon with some subdued gold notes--we ate outside so I just peeked in the window.

Nice black iron tables, orange cloth napkins, fancy silverware and rectangular white plates, wait staff in vests and bow ties--all signs that they are going for an upscale ambience.

The first sign that this maybe wasn't to be was the huge Sysco truck that blocked the whole parking lot so that we had to find parking on the street.

I said to myself that all restaurants need their basic staples and why not get them from Sysco? Right?

The lunch menu is prix fixe--$12 for soup and entree. There must be more than 30 choices--all varieties of asian--chinese, thai,--there was even American chop suey which could be a retro fun thing--didn't order it so i don't know if it is.

The soups were corn and hot and sour--I asked the waiter what was in the corn soup, he said, "It's corn soup".

We both got this--it was not a good choice--the broth was the bright yellow of Campbell's chicken noodle, the soup was bland--a kind of egg drop soup--no interesting seasonings whatsoever. My local Chinese restaurant's egg drop soup is much better.

I got smoked duck breast on greens, the hub got grilled tuna on greens. Both had about 1/2 tsp of dressing--we had to ask for more. The dressing was bland, again--I'm sure it was out of a bottle--maybe labelled gourmet something, but of no distinction whatsoever.

The greens were the standard spring mix out of a bag--my salad had some grape tomatoes, a sliver of avocado and a fan of cucumber, the hub's had edamame instead of the avocado.

There were no herbs, no garlic, no shallots, no ginger, no contrast of texture and flavor--nothing.

My duck--all 4 slices of it -looked weird--like cold cuts, and it tasted like pastrami--I would guess it's something that comes sealed in plastic, ready to serve.

The waiter asked my husband if he wanted his tuna medium rare and he said yes--we wondered later what they would have done in the kitchen if he asked for well done as the tuna also most likely came sealed in plastic, ready to plate--it had no flavor at all, and the texture was cottony.

It sounds weird to complain about portion size after trashing the food, but I'm only 5'2", and not a huge eater, and i was not full after my meal--the hub was ready to go to the Mexican restaurant(Viva Mexico) he'd wanted to go to in the first place for lunch! A nice basket of rolls would have cheered us up ....

so nothing French OR Asian happening here--and no translation of subtle Indian cuisine into a new arena--quelle dommage!!

Zoe

[Jeff L]

Hope it'n not related to this place in Morrisville, PA which I've heard real good things about:

http://www.concertofusion.com/index.html

[zoe b]

I don't think so, but maybe someone else knows whether or not there's a connection. Z

[nizza]

Interesting, we have friends that live down there and they have been there twice and really like it. In fact, that is where they plan to take us the next time we go down to see them.

Fusion On Main

We all love the food at Viva Mexico. It seems the link in your message goes to Amazon.com.

Here is the link for Viva Mexico

[zoe b]

nizza said--

We all love the food at Viva Mexico. It seems the link in your message goes to Amazon.com.

I didn't put that link in--it appeared on its own--is there something I should do to get rid of it?

and let me know what you think when you go there--maybe we should have ordered one of the stir fries or curries--but there was no care put into the salads so I can't imagine anything else being good.

And yeah, Viva Mexico is the greatest--makes me feel like I'm on vacation when we go there!

[aaronwcpa]

I am not certain but I am willing to venture a guess that this place is no relation to Concerto Fusion in Morrisville. Concerto is a little costly for Morriville but it is aimed at the surrounding area, NJ state emploees in Trenton, just across the river, and the affluent Yardley area. The same people own Charming Garden, not far from Oxford Valley Mall.