East Buffet and Restaurant at 42-07 Main Street in Flushing's Chinatown section is what I would term an "authentic" Chinese restaurant, as witnessed by the fact that, at a recent lunch, my companion and I were the only Occidentals in evidence.

You enter the establishment on the bustling ground floor, where, in addition to the reception station, there is a steamtable with takeout foods and a kitchen where Chinese style barbecue is being cooked and displayed.

The restaurant is located upstairs and presents a pleasing and surprising contrast to the crowded and downscale entrance area below.

The restaurant, attractively decorated in red, with white tablecloths, is emphatically not downscale, and for this type of restaurant has prices to match. For adults, the cost of the buffet ranges from $11.99 for lunch on a weekday to $26.99 for dinner on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We found the seating comfortable and the tables to be reasonably well spaced. The buffet itself, which features, at a guess, over 100 items, is appealingly laid out away from the tables on three center islands and several flanking counters.

Many of the dishes have identifying signs and most of the rest can be guessed. In addition to the food that was already laid out, there was a carving station for Peking Duck.

I started with a very good version of Congee with Preserved Duck Egg and Pork, which was heavy with solids. A Fish Maws with Corn Soup, however, was no more interesting than a plain corn soup would have been.

I then sampled some dim sum. For reasons of time and stomach capacity, I did not try most of the dumplings, buns and rolls. There was half a fried soft-shell crab left, which was good, but we had arrived towards the latter part of the lunch service and the supply was not replenished. Fried baby squid and head-on fried shrimp were both satisfactory, as was a dish of tender unsauced tripe. Some stewed chicken feet were flavorful and falling-apart soft.

Plates of other dishes yielded a mixed bag. In general, fried foods did not come off well due to excessive greasiness. On the other hand, Frog with Chives was skillfully cooked and very enjoyable. I tried, and also liked, Pigs Internal Organs, which reportedly actually consisted of stomach and ears (but there may have been some misunderstanding due to the limited English of some of the staff), but they were admittedly chewy and crunchy. I also savored Chinese Prickly Ash Chicken Paws.

Some of the vegetable dishes were also successful. I liked the plain Young Soy Beans, a spice-coated large bean, and the baby bok choy with muchrooms and wished I had time and room for more.

The desserts that most attracted me were three sweet soups. Two were bean soups and were typical, i.e., lots of beans and a sweetness that was moderate by Western standards. The third, coconut soup, was also only mildly sugary and was filled with assorted solids, of which the most identifiable were quail eggs.

My previous comment about authenticity has to be tempered by the fact that the buffet also offered quite a few American style desserts, including chocolates, tartlets and pastries, and there was even some sushi for those so inclined.

As late arrivals, we received mild pressure from the otherwise pleasant staff to finish up when the stated closing hour for lunch (3:30 PM) was reached, although we lingered until 4:00 PM under increasing duress. The check, as was foretold by a sign at the door, included a 15% gratuity, as well as tax based on the food cost and the gratuity.

One fortunate aspect of still being around at 4:00 PM was that we were able to see the signs being put up for the dinner buffet beginning at 5:00 PM.
Among the more interesting selections were Seafood Bisque with Shark Fin and preparations of snails, sea cucumber, oxtails, frogs and abalone, indicating that another visit could be equally rewarding without becoming repetitious.