beXnlog

Relief

There are 5 pure* vegetarian Chinese restaurants in Philadelphia, 4 are in Chinatown and 1 is near Rittenhouse Square. Over the past few months be and i have eaten at 4 of them: Cherry Street Vegetarian Restaurant, Singapore Vegetarian, Kingdom of Vegetarians and Su Xing House; the last one is New Harmony Restaurant which we'll try soon enough.

Generally speaking, all the ones we've tried are in the range of "terrible" to "okay" except for Su Xing House. Whew! We were so happy to find actual delicious vegetarian Chinese food in Philly that we've eaten there twice and plan to make it part of our regular restaurant rotation!

1) Cherry Street was the first one we tried and it was pretty terrible. be's dumplings were tough and doughy. I asked for a recommendation and received super deep fried nuggets with a dipping sauce ... i'm not sure what Chinese dish that was supposed to be!

2) Singapore was decent the first time we ate there. The second time, our eggplant was dish was merely alright while our tofu dish was tasty - however it only contained only 4 chunks of tofu! I had asked our waiter if they could make us something with choy sum or Chinese broccoli and they didn't have either! I'd go again but it seems like the type of place where you have to know what's good; just randomly choosing from their extensive menu might turn up duds, or you might hit the jackpot.

3) We ate at Kingdom of Vegetarians twice, once for lunch and once for dim sum. The lunch specials were good, nothing to rave about but they made a few authentic attempts that Cherry and Singapore didn't. The dim sum special was a neverending parade of numerous dishes at $10 per person. You definitely get your money's worth and the dim sum was not bad, although my main criticism was the overabundance of fried items. The dim sum also lacked some of our favorites - no rice flour rolls, no taro balls, no sticky rice - but if you like fried dumplings and good hot & sour soup, check them out.

4) Su Xing House is definitely the star of the 4 we've tried. The first time we ordered tofu and black moss soup, which came out too cornstarchy and with peas & carrot bits - alright but not delicious. We also ordered a tofu and peanuts dish that was quite tasty, with smoked pressed tofu chunks; and sauteed snow pea shoots with an "As You Wish" roll (fried bean curd skin filled with shredded golden mushroom, black mushroom, dried bean curd and Chinese celery) that was awesomely delicious. I love snow pea shoots and the fact they even served them was so key! The second time, my sister Hummersloth was in town so we took her there for her opinion. The 3 of us ordered: winter melon soup with black mushrooms, dried bean curd with spiral seaweed and the aforementioned snow pea shoots and an As You Wish roll.

a) the winter melon with black mushrooms soup was absolutely delicious, perfect for a cold day. The broth was so flavorful, containing a few shreds of ginger, white pepper and little red berries that i don't know the English name for. Most importantly, it wasn't cornstarched-up but made thin and clear like it should be! The black mushrooms were the expensive thick kind, perfectly rehydrated and tender. The winter melon was sliced thin and translucent, so yummy and delicious. We're totally getting this soup all the time!

b) the tofu and seaweed dish contained the same smoked, pressed tofu diced into cubes, served in a very tasty sauce. I loved the tofu and sauce! However, the spiral seaweed was a little too chewy for me although be and Hummersloth Bonesli enjoyed it immensely. be would definitely get the dish again.

c) and again, the snow pea shoots with an As You Wish roll was delicious. I love the contrast of the tender green snow pea shoots with the crispy, mushroomy roll. The roll is sliced into 10 pieces and slightly resembles "mock duck" that some places serve.

I'm totally getting hungry writing about Su Xing House! The waitstaff are really helpful and are good about refilling your jasmine tea. I think the tall woman might be the owner and she's really nice. The cooks are obviously knowledgable and the food is much more authentic if you look for it. My only complaints are minimal: you get a cup of tea instead of a pot, and everyone gets a glass of water and a set of silverware so you have to request chopsticks - but these are not big deals. Let me call them now and see if they're open today!


* In addition to the pure vegetarian places, there are a few that also offer extensive vegetarian menus complete with fake meat: Golden Empress Garden and Hong Kong Cafe are two. We plan to check them out as well!

posted by beXn @ 3:55 PM