Craving the exotic flavors of the Orient, but don’t feel like flying thousands of miles to China?
Now Oxford area residents can hop on M-24 and within a matter of minutes enjoy an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet featuring more than 80 items that change daily.
The place ? Empire Wok Chinese Restaurant, located at 1350 S. Lapeer Road in the Oxford Mills Shopping Center.
Owned by the Zhu family, the restaurant features a New York Style Chinese Buffet.
Frank Zhu, one of the owners and manager of the Oxford location, said the ‘New York Style? is also known as ‘American style,? which is different from ‘traditional? Chinese food.
The difference is in the recipes and preparation.
Zhu said in ‘traditional? Chinese cuisine, the same dish can taste different each time it’s prepared depending on the chef’s personal interpretation of the recipe, which can lead to changes in the ingredients used.
But in ‘New York? or ‘American style? Chinese fare, no matter who’s preparing the food, each chef follows the same recipe so the dishes retain the consistency customers desire.
‘All the restaurants follow the samle recipes,? Zhu said.
Maintaining consistency is important to a family restaurant with four other locations ? one in Lapeer, one in Burton and two in Kalamazoo.
The Burton location was voted ‘Best Chinese Restaurant? and ‘Best Restaurant Over All? for 1998 by the Burton Chamber of Commerce after polling newspaper readers. In that same poll, the Burton location was named a ‘customer-recommended five-star restaurant.?
It was customer demand that dictated another location be opened in Oxford, Zhu said.
Zhu said the family opened a restaurant in Lapeer in 2000 because of the large number of residents from that area who ate at the Burton location, which opened in 1998.
?(The customers) said why don’t you open one in Lapeer, so we did,? he said.
Once established in Lapeer, Oxford customers eating there requested a location closer to home.
‘So, we opened one here,? Zhu said.
Empire Wok offers seating for more than 200 patrons and features economically-priced lunch and dinner buffets.
The buffets include appetizers, soup, fresh vetegables, salad bar, fresh fruit, rice, Lo Mein, pork, beef, snow crab, mussels, shrimp, salmon, dessert, fortune cookies and more.
Customers can choose from more than 80 buffet items that change on a daily basis.
A private dining area may be reserved for banquets, family gatherings, company parties or business meetings.
Those wishing to enjoy Empire Wok from the comforts of their own home can order from a large take-out menu containing 121 items, 15 chef’s specials, 20 combination platters and 25 lunch specials.
Zhu said his family prides its restaurants on their cleanliness and the healthiness of the food.
All the restaurants use 100 percent vegetable oil in their cooking. In addition, all the skin and fat is cut off all the meat and only the freshest vegetables are used.
Empire Wok’s lunch buffet is open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The dinner buffet is open from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Fore more information call (248) 969-3388 or (248) 969-1633.