Back in New York City, all kinds of dining experiences were available everywhere. It was a given that even within my relatively smaller neighborhood of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, that one could find a delicious Asian food-related establishment on any block on 3rd or 5th avenue; you could get Hibachi, Chinese, Thai, Japanese, and so on, by walking less than a mile from wherever you might reside.

Things are very different, food-wise, in small town Vermont. While there are many great restaurants here in Bennington (as well as in relatively nearby towns such as Manchester and Brattleboro) , Asian establishments are few and far between. Luckily, one of these rarities happens to be Fuji Hibachi & Asian Bistro, a restaurant with a most excellent ratio of taste to pricing and a great variety of delicious options.

I had only heard of this place’s existence because of my coworkers – many of them have taken advantage of the amazing lunch special during a professional learning day and I still need to try this myself – you can get a combination of 2 or 3 rolls, sushi, sashimi, a bento box, or some kind of Thai noodle, with many of these options available for under $10. After hearing only good things, of course my husband and I had to try it for ourselves.

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During my first visit to Fuji this past August, I went all out: I ordered a plum wine (if there’s wine with the name of a fruit preceding it on a menu, I’m pretty much sold every time), a salad with the most perfectly flavored ginger dressing, pad thai, and a vanilla mochi. Both my husband and myself were highly impressed by the ginger dressing – nothing ginger-related has ever compared for him. As for the pad thai, I was less than impressed. I ordered the shrimp type and while there was a sizable amount of actual shrimps in the dish, the flavor was weirdly sweet. It tasted like there was a thin veneer of sugar over everything and the noodles were a bit gummy. I had a few bites of my husband’s extravagant sushi platter and knew I had made a mistake; his meal was fantastic. I did get over my jealousy when the main courses were done and I indulged myself with vanilla mochi. The plating was beautiful, with ribbons of chocolate sauce embellishing the preciously sweet creation on the plate. It was an A+ dessert, would definitely consume again! Overall, I was pleased with the experience but made it a point that I’d avoid the Thai foods and focus on sushi the next time.

Good news – there has been a next time! My husband and I returned in early November – we were out and about and he needed to eat something quickly due to a health condition when, what luck, we happened to be right near Fuji. This time I kept it simpler. I forgot about my goal to avoid the Thai foods and ordered the chicken satay as a starter – fortunately, this was great, with a really rich peanut sauce. Then I finally got my sushi, in roll form. My mouth is still watering thinking about the Bennington Roll, one of the Chef’s Special Rolls, which contains salmon, eel, crab, avocado, cream cheese, spicy mayo, and caviar on top. The amount of savory items all crammed into one little circle of rice doesn’t sound like it should work so well, but it absolutely does. Every bite is an adventure.

Though I’ve only been two times, I’ve been generally impressed with the food at Fuji. The service is decent and there’s an efficiency with how the food is prepared and delivered. It’s generally not crowded and there’s a great variety of food to choose from. You can enjoy a wine or beer with your meal and if you have more than a half hour to grab your lunch on a general weekday (as I surely wish I did) , you can get a great deal. As long as you avoid the pad thai, you’re golden.

Freshly Vermont rating: four out of five stars. ★★★★☆