I’ve always been a fan of oriental dishes — beautiful, visual, spicy, colorful, delicious… what’s not to love? But I’ve always been stuck with the norm: crispy duck, stir fried noodles, etc. So, when I’m fed up with those… where do I turn to? I turn to the Asian Cuisines app for iOS. It cannot be denied that since 2008 we have been hooked on mobile applications: flinging birds at pigs, saving great articles, watching funny cat videos but where does cuisine fit into this genre? To tell the truth, it doesn’t. The Asian Cuisines application wasn’t designed to be played with on the train and it’s certainly not going to entertain you when you are bored — rather, the Asian Cuisines application will help you cook 90 tasty recipes from Thailand, Korea, China and Japan.

Asian Cuisines for iOS is the quintessential recipe guide for oriental dishes from around the world. Jump into one of four countries (hypothetically) and choose to cook either something quick and easy or something more suited for a party. Furthermore, you are also given the ability to filter by vegetarian, low sodium, low fat and high fiber dishes. Suddenly, dozen of new recipes appeared in front of my eyes – from the weird to the wild.

It took just 10 minutes from start to finish to cook fried streaking pork with vegetables and this app really redefines quick and easy. Asian Cuisines was designed for people like you and I, it feels like a touch of magic spinning the lazy Susan and each button press feels engineered in it’s simplest form. Take for example the shopping list and calendar: want to eat something from the application next week? Simply set a calendar reminder. Don’t have the right ingredients? Why not add them to your shopping list. That’s pure magic, this is the future progression of recipe books.

So, I immediately added the fried streaking pork with vegetables to my favorites without even thinking — it’s so effortless that you don’t need to think. Ninety recipes. One down. Eighty-nine to go. I guess that it’s something new to check off of my bucket list.

As with any application, developers need to make money and that’s where the $3.99 charge comes in, but seriously a recipe book with just over 20 recipes can cost $15+. At this price, it’s a bargain. For an additional purchase, you are able to unlock formal dinner recipes in each country and that’s just $0.99 a pop.

Overall, I’m impressed — seriously impressed. If you love oriental dishes and have the time to cook them yourself, do not hesitate to purchase this application. It’s not going to bankrupt you and it’s not going to turn you into a master chef, however, it will change your view on homemade Asian cuisine.

Rating 4/5 Stars

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