Posted by SaabKen on 5/30/04; 11:05:19 PM
From the Restaurants dept.
[ROLAND's NOTE: This sounds great, Ken, great catch. We'll have to check this one out soon, baby willing!]
As a timely follow-up to Roland's post on Organic
and seasonal ingredients + Bishop's
style service + authenticity = Chinese restaurant nirvana", we ventured
to OM Vegetarian Restuarant on Cambie at 19th last night.
The large, bright dining room was colourful and inviting, as was the
staff. The menu boasts a variety of lactovegetarian (dairy but no
eggs) dishes, both Chinese and non-Chinese. So in addition to many
fresh vegetable and/or soy and tofu-based Chinese dishes (many with a
spicy Szechuan inclination), you will also find a list of veggie
burgers and sandwiches (clubhouse, monte cristo etc) and even veggie
nachos. Something for everyone, eh ?
The four of us ordered a creamy smooth butternut squash soup to start
that had chunks of very convincing veggie smoked ham, followed by an
appetizer/first course of fried tofu and squid with salt and chilis.
The veggie squid looked and tasted 90% like the real thing, hard to do
when you think about the firm, almost-rubbery texture of squid.
Apparently it's made from taro starch. Excellent. Another very nice
dish was stir-fried eggplant and tofu in chili sauce. Two of us were
surprised as we expected this dish to be like the traditional Szechuan
recipe with minced pork, lots of garlic and chilis in a brown sauce.
OM's version resembled more of a sweet & sour approach, still very
good but it was just not self explanatory in the menu. Good idea to
double check each dish with the wait staff before you order.The hit of the evening was
the Ahan vegetables (item D1), a large platter comprised of gai lan,
carrots, baby corn, napa cabbage, lots of Chinese mushrooms and "wood
fungus", very popular in Northern Chinese regional cuisine. We fought
for every last morsel !
To finish off dinner we tried two pieces of strawberry cheesecake (one
with pineapple bits, the other without). These contained milk and
cheese but no eggs. Very convincingly like the real thing.
Not only were we (including two finicky Chinese parents) very pleased to find a great vegetarian Chinese restaurant alternative to Bo Kong, we also highly enjoyed OM's open, contemporary atmosphere, and that their recipes were very easy on grease and salt
- a welcomed departure from many Chinese restaurants and their recipes.
The staff informed us they make most of their own soy and tofu-based
ingredients in-house. Everything is made from the freshest ingredients
possible.
Total tab for a soup and rice for four, three dishes and two slices of cheesecake was just under $50. We'll be back soon.
OM Vegetarian Restaurant
3466 Cambie (across from Choices)
604-873-6868
Bon appetit
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