Dining with Sweet T.
By Terry and Lynne Mays
DACULA – You have to hand it to Gina and
Lewis, owners of the Green Tea Diner in Dacula. They have a perfect, rather exclusive, spot in the rapidly growing city from which to serve their Asian treats. Miles from anything even remotely like it, Green Tea offers a staggering array of Thai, Chinese, and Japanese inspired dishes, sure to lure even the most traditional of diners.
Tucked amidst an Advanced Auto Parts and Papa John’s Pizza is a beautiful open-hearth kitchen, sushi area, and beer and wine bar, staffed by super-attentive, well-versed wait staff who love nothing better than to steer you to the restaurant’s most tasty, most popular dishes. What follows is a description of exactly that.
We started the evening with Coconut Chicken Soup (Tom Kha Gai), a dish that has become a yardstick by which we critique this type of establishment. If the Coconut soup is good, then we have hit pay dirt. The Coconut soup was good!
Next we were treated to a sushi concoction called Ocean’s 13. For those of you who are still sushi-shy or who would like to try, but don’t know what to order to jump in; Ocean’s 13 is the ticket! Made entirely of cooked seafoods – shrimp, crab, and the like – it is topped with thin slices of avocado and a mildly spicy sauce. This is a delicious way to start your meal and a beautiful presentation by the chef.
The Fried Calamari is wonderfully light and crunchy. But the real reason to order it is the sauce that accompanies. Warm, sweet, spicy, perfect glaze will make you want to come back for more.
Ever gone to dinner and wished you could decide between the crab, the mussels, the shrimp, the scallops…? Green Tea has got you covered. The Seafood Lover dish has all these and more, combined with vegetables and a light oyster sauce.
How about some comfort food? For our money, that’s the Walnut Shrimp. Lightly fried shrimp are tossed with crisp broccoli and walnuts that have been coated in a warm brown sugar. The entire mixture is then treated to a bath of sauce made from mayonnaise and tart, sweet orange juice. The aroma is intoxicating; a common theme in the Green Tea Diner.
Fans of Thai noodle dishes should not leave before they try the Pad Thai. Beautiful stir-fry rice stick noodles are tossed with a spicy sauce and served with sliced beef, scrambled egg, scallions, basil, crushed peanuts and a squeeze of lime.
If it’s more traditionally Asian chicken dishes you crave, try both the Basil Chicken and Vegetables (awash in a fragrant fish sauce with green pepper, onion, and mushrooms) or Kung Pao (classic Szechwan spices with veggies, red pepper, peanuts, and those famously small, potent chilies).
For dessert, don’t go home without trying the signature Green Tea Ice Cream – cool, creamy, with more than a hint of its title ingredient – it’s the perfect topper to a perfect evening.
Green Tea has a wide, varied collection of beers and wine from which to choose and will happily help you combine your dinner with the perfect beverage.
Dacula can count itself very, very fortunate to be the second home of Green Tea Diner. The first location, opened in Flowery Branch four years ago has done remarkably well; a third is being planned for Hamilton Mill.
Open for lunch and dinner every day of the week and welcoming of take out and delivery customers as well, Green Tea will make you wonder why you ever subjected yourself to lesser quality restaurants. Healthy, refreshing, soothing meals served in a comfortable environment; it’s how Dacula does authentic Asian.
Green Tea Diner
250 Winder Highway
Dacula, GA 30019
770-277-7099
