Forbidden City serves scratch-made meals and so much more

In a back dining room adjacent to Forbidden City’s full bar, a group of the restaurant’s staff sat around a long marble table hand-stuffing pork dumplings. They worked quickly, filling and pressing the dough into perfect half-moons before adding each one to an enormous baking sheet. When that sheet was full, a worker whisked it away, replacing it with a fresh one.

In order to keep the restaurant’s all-you-can-eat buffet offerings stacked and steaming, Forbidden City’s crew stayed busy — and the pork dumplings accounted for just a small fraction of the huge variety of dishes. Other traditional Asian eats included steamed buns, pepper squid and sushi.

At Forbidden City’s sushi station, two more of the restaurant’s crew members worked diligently to replenish its huge variety of fresh rolls. Some of Forbidden City’s food bars, however, required less prep. For example, the make-your-own salad bar featured rows of simply tossed, cool ingredients: lettuce, sliced veggies, croutons, shredded cheese, bacon bits and dressings galore.

On the opposite end of the food spectrum, there was Forbidden City’s bar that showcased easily prepared fried foods: egg rolls, wontons, corn nuggets, fries, chicken wings and even doughnuts.

Indeed, hot-from-the-oven, handmade foods are divine, but there is much to be said for dropping a basket of wontons into the deep-fryer. And at Forbidden City, you never have to choose between the two.