Restaurant: Zen Gardens

I used to be a card-carrying vegetarian. The card was from the University of Western Ontario's Purple Veggie club. The card was, appropriately enough, purple and offered a 15% discount at, inter alia, Zen Gardens. Much like Simon's Wok the focus is on fake meat dishes. Simon's Wok has, I think, better food but Zen Gardens is a far more elegant restaurant.

Normally, I'm not a huge fan of restaurant elegance but I needed to find a place for a big family dinner in London and I thought it would fit the bill. The restaurant is not licensed, but has a wide variety of teas. The tea was excellent and was stored on top of candles to keep it hot. We started with an order of dumplings and then ordered for the table.

We had two different fried rices: one curried and with avocado. The Curried Fried Rice had a solid curry flavour, very different than everything else on the menu. While it was somewhat unusual, I liked the Avocado Fried Rice though several of my aunts loved it. Kung Po Soy Chicken were chewy and tasty and came with a nice medley of vegetables. The Schezuan Style Spicy Tofu were good, but not as spicy as the title might imply. There were also other dishes not displayed in the photo above. The Lo Han Chai Chow Mien had the right mix between crunchy and savoury and I am informed that the Spicy Eggplant was good (don't care for that vegetable myself). Finally, there was the Veggie Fish with Black Bean Sauce which was beautiful enough for its own picture:

I can't really remember what fish tastes like, but the meat eaters and the pescatarians at the table said this tasted like fish. It seemed so realistic I half expected to find fake bones. I liked it, but not as much as some of the other food.

I realize it's been a while since I've posted an actual recipe; hopefully now that I'm settled in and the traveling has paused I'll return the blog to its roots.

Zen Gardens Vegetarian Restaurant
344 Dundas St., London