The brochure card for Roots, the new breakfast, lunch, and dinner restaurant at the Windsor Green Shopping Center, reads: “Asian Heritage Food with a Contemporary Influence.” Eating at Roots on a Sunday brunch afternoon, the restaurant’s incorporation of the prevailing farm-to-table trend was everywhere, with hardwood paneling, faux-chalkboard menus, and mason jar water glasses. Images of bucolic American farm life are prominently displayed on the wall to the left upon entering: large sepia pictures of a barn, a tractor, and apple baskets.
A chalkboard explains that the owners, restaurateurs Tiffany Liu and Tom Chu, are from Taipei and Shengyang, China. Roots, spelled in all lower case letters, combines Asian cooking with “modern and untraditional influences.”
Liu and Chu operate the well established Elements Asia restaurant on Quakerbridge Road in Lawrenceville. While the bulk of Roots’ offerings are similar to Elements, a variety of Chinese, Japanese, and other Asian-style dishes, Roots offers quite a few menu items, including a dim sum section, that a Chinese person may recognize from their breakfast table. There is also a full coffee selection to choose from.
I was hoping to try a “Jian Bing,” typically an unassuming Chinese pancake that Roots has restyled as an “Asian Style Crepe with a French Twist.” Similar to the popular Jammin’ Crepes on Nassau, Jian Bing can be ordered with sweet or savory toppings, but when I ask for the Hazel Nutella I am informed there are no Jian Bing after 1 p.m. Halfway around the world my grandma nods approvingly — it would be a little late in the day to eat Jian Bing.
Luckily there is a lot to choose from. The menu features vegetable starters, a variety of sushi rolls and stir fry noodles (choice of chicken, beef, shrimp, bean curd, and vegetable), soup noodles, and several dim sum dishes. Organic juices, coffee and tea (organic and fair trade) are available.
Eying the shiny new espresso machine, my friend orders a regular coffee ($2.29). In brunch mode, we then order steamed shrimp dumplings ($4.29), soup dumplings ($4.49), dim sum staples, and an order of beef pot stickers ($3.29). To cleanse the palate between bites, I also order house-made kimchi ($2.99) from the “greens” appetizer menu. We order a noodle soup, roots ramen ($11.99), as a shared entree.
After paying at the register we are given a number and pick a table as calming electronic instrumentals play in the background.
The coffee is delivered first, and soon after the shrimp and soup dumplings, three pieces an order, are served in their steamer baskets, with a bowl of vinegar. The pot stickers, also three pieces, are served soon after.
Quickly finishing our three dim sum dishes, while sampling the mild kimchi between bites, we then turn to the big bowl of roots ramen. Four pieces of pork belly, Chinese broccoli, and a soft egg float beside chewy, yellow ramen noodles in a rich pork broth.
It was a solid meal, and I had another cup of coffee for the road. A return trip may be in order to sample the Jian Bing. Roots has been operating on limited hours since mid-February and on March 9 it will be open seven days a week 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., offering brunch, lunch, dinner, and take-out.
Roots, 3495 Route 1, West Windsor. Daily 10: a.m. to 9:30 p.m. 609-799-8858. www.rootsprinceton.com.
