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Tonkotsu ramen

By Nina King | Photograpy by Christopher DeVargas

Catch up with friends at Silk Road Asian Bistro

If you’re looking for charm, you will find it at Benihana Village in the Westgate Las Vegas. This area not only hosts Japanese favorite Benihana, but is also home to the intimate sushi bar Rikki Tiki Sushi and restaurant Silk Road Asian Bistro.

This lovely dining spot is conveniently located down a corridor near the valet entrance to Westgate, but once you enter the casino fades away. Silk Road is itself an intimate venue, with red lanterns casting a golden glow and floating over the main dining room, a bar to one side, and the entrance to Benihana on the other. Dark wooden fences, carved posts, bridges, platforms, towering trees and ramps all lead down to a garden area that has a koi pond. It creates a casual, fun atmosphere that, honestly, has a bit of Disney-esque ambience. (There’s even an illuminated sign

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Bento box special spelling out “Benihana.”) And that feeling makes sense, because the village has been there for much of the resort’s history and retains that throwback feel.

As you descend, each level has only two or three tables, which creates a private atmosphere. For large groups, there’s even a traditional round wooden table. Across from Benihana, you’ll spy Rikki Tiki Sushi in the (seeming) distance. It’s really an ideal environment to sip tea and catch up with an old friend.

Silk Road features primarily Chinese dishes, but also includes a sampling of other Pan-Asian cuisines. For instance, you can get a classic spring roll on the appetizer menu, hot and perfect for a quick dip in chili oil, but you’ll also find Cantonese pork buns, pork pot stickers and shrimp tempura. You’ll find traditional hot and sour soup, but also tonkotsu ramen with chashu (braised pork belly), wood ear mushrooms, sprouts and green onion.

You can also add on protein if you wish.

There are plenty of solid Chinese dishes here, too, from stir-fried shrimp and scallops in X.O. sauce, that spicy Southern China condiment, to Hong Kong-style pan-fried noodles and a lighter Singapore noodles in curry sauce.

A fun option here is to get the bento box special; although it doesn’t have any Japanese menu items, it does let you sample a variety

Pork pot stickers

of items. Choose a half-size entrée of orange chicken, General Tso’s chicken, kung pao chicken, salt-and-pepper chicken or pan-fried baby bok choy.

Or you may prefer to order several dishes, like the classic asparagus with black bean sauce, and let everyone share. And of course, there is always dessert to look forward to—either mango or coconut sorbet cake, which will leave you refreshed. And green tea ice cream has a delicate flavor to end the meal.

Singapore noodles

WITH SPECIAL GUEST COLIN CLOUD

LIMITLESS