There are a half dozen or so Chinese/Asian buffets in Bowling Green, so it’s hard to imagine that this town needs another one. But there isn’t any Chinese restaurant quite like New Century Buffet.

Located off Old Louisville Road near Porter Pike, New Century is recently under new management. With an overly ambitious claim to serve American, Chinese, Japanese and Italian cuisine, this is clearly a restaurant looking to find a niche. So it might seem odd, then, that I was quite eagerly looking forward to eating here. That’s because I knew something about this place that others might not.

The layout and decor of the restaurant is “Chinese buffet standard,” with a half dozen booths, some tables and rows of buffet containing the standards of Americanized Chinese cuisine. For people on the north side of town, this is an easy place for lunch and dinner, which costs $5.99 and $7.99 Mondays through Saturdays, and $7.25 all day Sundays. “To go” buffet is also available by the pound.

I wasn’t there for the buffet, though. Instead I asked for “the menu” that I had heard about in back-alley whispers from a friend, who had heard about it from a friend. At first the owner wanted to give me their standard Chinese restaurant menu featuring eggrolls, kung pao, moo goo gai pan, chicken or beef with cashew nuts, moo shu beef, pork, chicken or shrimp – the usual Chinese comfort food. When I hesitated, the manager finally said, “Oh, you mean the Chinese menu. Are you sure?”

And right there is the reason you should go to the New Century Buffet. As soon as possible. This place has a menu of “real” Chinese dishes, created to satisfy a clientele weary of the same cloned food available at every Chinese restaurant in town. And the food is as tasty as the offerings are unique.

The names of the dishes are in English, the explanations are in Chinese, and the manager waited right there to help us decipher the offerings. After learning that some dishes were unavailable, we settled on the crystal shrimp dumpling and the cucumber meat cake appetizers. The soft, outer tapioca-flour-based wrappers were perfectly steamed, and the springy shrimp mixture inside was delicious. The hollowed-out cucumber in the cucumber meat cake was stuffed with a pork mixture and then cooked. It was excellent.

Settling on a couple of the more than two dozen offerings wasn’t easy. From seafood to chicken to pork and beef dishes, everything sounded amazingly good. The manager cautioned that traditional Chinese food tended to be quite spicy, noting that we could order it mild if we chose.

We ordered the dry-fried beef and the fish filets in chili oil, and asked that they be made authentically Chinese, not mild. First came the beef, which was stir-fried with red chili peppers and sliced jalapenos. A slight dusting of corn starch during the cooking gave it a nice texture, and the tender beef contrasted nicely with the crunchy jalapenos.

The fish filets came as a kind of soup or stew, with Chinese cabbage, ginger, catfish and peppers in the broth. Lots of peppers. This dish was as hot as I had asked, and exquisitely flavored. Poured over rice, the flavors mingled without being too overpowering, and the dish was filling.

I wish I could have eaten more. When I go to a restaurant I like, I tend to order from a subset of all the available dishes. I’ll return to the New Century Buffet until I try everything it has to offer. The food is that good. If you go, be sure to ask for the dishes “mild” if you don’t like spicy food, and be prepared for your dishes to come out one at a time – it is traditional to share a dish among several people in Chinese dining and to eat them in series.

Not that New Century doesn’t have the standard Chinese food one expects, but the additional menu gives me hope. Maybe the New Century Buffet’s authentic dishes will shake up the Asian scene in town by forcing places like Beijing and China One Buffet King to offer traditional food that appeals to people looking for something beyond the usual mundane fare. For now, this is the place to get good, authentic Chinese food in Bowling Green.

— Our anonymous food reviewer gives new restaurants a six-week grace period before reviewing. To comment, contact Managing Editor Mike Alexieff at 783-3235 or via e-mail to malexieff@bgdailynews.com.

NEW CENTURY BUFFET

160 RIVER PLACE AVE. SUITE C

• 746-6733

Hours:11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Friday, 4 p.m.-9 p.m. Saturday, 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday

Cuisine: Chinese

Price range: $5.99 for lunch, $7.99 for dinner Monday through Saturday. $7.25 all day Sunday.

Specialties: Seafood, chicken, pork, beef

Libation situation: None