Yauatcha!

Every so often my friend N and I are patted on the head by our husbands and told, sorry love, we've made other plans- but you wouldn't like it anyway! We know immediately they're about to indulge in some awful non-veg culinary celebration of epic proportions. (St. John's was first, this time was Terrior; veggies, these are two restaurants to avoid at all costs - even the vegetables are non-veg).


This time we decided to have our own fun and went to Yauatcha. What a fun name, if difficult to spell. N, knowing my obsession with dim sum and all things dim sum related, chose well. I dropped the hubby off at Charing Cross and walked the short trip across Theatreland (aka Shaftsbury Ave) to the restaurant. After almost sneaking in through the back by mistake, we made our way in  the front entrance and downstairs to our seats. The dim blue lighting was sleek and cozy and once we descended to the low seats, we were quite comfortable. The restaurant was packed, but the tables were far enough apart that we had elbow room - and could still peek at other diners' selections! The cocktails were a nice start - refreshing and not too sweet (though it helps that I make it a point to avoid liqueurs). On the table were bitings of pickled cucumber with two chilli sauces. One of these - the chilli oil - has fish sauce, which the waitress replaced with fresh chopped chillies that we doused in soy sauce.

Then, on to the exciting part: the dumplings. Yauatcha has an extensive selection of vegetarian dumplings, allowing us to try only half despite over-ordering.

The first to arrive were winter melon dumplings, lovingly shaped and coloured as carrots, complete with little leafy tops! The flavour was just as impressive. The filling ingredients went together so well, all the way to the fresh leafy top. The pastry was perfectly steamed, not too gooey or stiff.  This was my favourite dish of the night. This dish alone was well worth the trip.

The next dish was the fried sweet potato dumpling. The filling was good and the wrapping was crispy, but the taste of the filling was overshadowed by the multitude of wrapping layers. Eating this made me somewhat nostalgic for my mom's thin Indian fried snacks.

Three-style mushroom cheung fun came next, freshly doused with sauce by the waitress and cut at the table. Not too slimy (enough stickiness that we could pick it up with chopsticks without it falling apart)  - well cooked with a strong shitaake taste, though lukewarm as cheung fun often is. Some of the mushrooms were tough and chewy and there could have been more filling, but overall I was happy.

Pan-fried Shanghai vegetable dumplings came next. Good standard dumplings but with a surprisingly sweet sauce with hints of date, fig and cinnamon, reminding me of Christmas mince pies. (N wasn't convinced on the mince pie comparison, but she did agree it was unusual). I generally shy away from sweet sauces, but I can see how people might appreciate the variety it brings.

To freshen up the meal, we ordered a red-and-green salad with cooked cherry tomatoes and cucumbers. The tomatoes were juicy and it was a refreshing break.

We ordered one last plate of mushroom-based steamed dumplings. There were funny doughy balls perched on top which N liked but I could've done without. The filling was nice- nothing exceptional but good solid veggie dumplings.

For the main, we ordered salt-and-pepper tofu for N, claypot dau dau for me and stir fried mangetout, sugar snap peas, edamame and carrots to share.

The salt-and-pepper tofu was crunchy but greasy. It was covered in very appetisingly crunchy crumble and colourful bits of chillies- unfortunately they were just for show and weren't very spicy.

I know it's not everyone's cup of tea but I really enjoyed the claypot dau dau. It had tofu, edamame, peanuts and that funny processed tofu that's meant to look like meat. The fake meat was chewy (though airy - probably pretty low on the healthiness scale), the tofu was soft, I always love edamame in any dish, and the sauce was full and tasty. My favourite part, surprisingly, was the peanuts. They were the big, juicy, mushy type I've had in India that's meant to be boiled in salty water and eaten as a snack, or added to daal. It's a full, homey dish that's comforting on a cold, rainy day - the Chinese equivalent of a hearty stew.

The fullness of these two dishes was well-balanced by the fresh stir fry. The mangetout and sugar snap peas were bright and crisp and seemed to almost cancel out the heavy food we'd eaten.

Although we had absolutely no room for dessert, we did have a quick peek at the menu - and the cakes delivered to neighboring tables. Yauatcha is known for its extensive tea selection, which you can peek at by the entrance. It's cakes (non-vegan) looked amazing - apparently you can buy a nice box to take away, if you have dinner guests to impress at home. It also has an exotic fruit plate on the menu as a healthier (and vegan) option.

Overall, I enjoyed the meal. Only two dishes really stood out to me- the winter vegetable dumplings and the clay pot dau dau. The rest were somewhat forgettable but nevertheless good, well-cooked fillers.

Thank you, N, for the lovely suggestion and the fab company. I can eat dim sum all day every day and I will certainly be back to Yauatcha, particularly for those carrots... not the real ones, the dumplings in disguise!

Taste: 7.5/10
Veggie Selection: 10/10
Cost: £50/person including one cocktail, no dessert, and lots of food
http://www.yauatcha.com/
15 Broadwick Street
London W1F 0DL
020 7494 8888

Le Cafe Anglais

The name says it all... pretentious English food trying to rival the snobbery of the French. At least, that's always been my impression. I thought this is definitely one to avoid- what chance is there that the one obligatory veggie dish they must have will be vegan?

Surprisingly, I was wrong! Now, there's not much selection even for a vegetarian, and a few dishes had to be tweaked to vegan-ify them, but the most important bit, the veggie main dish, was perfect as-is. The menu seems to change seasonally, but this means no matter when you go there's a good chance you'll get a good meal.

(btw- I've added brief summaries & pics of the hubby's dishes as well, for those non-veggies who might drag you there.)

The the meal was the icing on the cake for the hubby's birthday. We had already been to Bodean's that weekend (there's a reason it's a birthday 'treat' for him- the veggieburger's so greasy it's on the verge of deep-fried) and his favourite Chinese restaurant all the way up in Mill Hill (Hee's for those who want to make the trek) but we thought one last really nice meal with a bottle of wine would be a great way to finish the weekend.

The hubby called ahead and was nonchalantly assured they could do a vegan meal. We snuck around to the special entrance on the south end of Whiteley's (don't be tricked by the signs for it on the mall's 2nd floor), checked in our coats and went up the lift to enter a vast room with huge antique windows. Apparently on weekdays it's packed, but this Sunday evening there were only four tables occupied (one by a family whose children must have discriminating tastes! ...or the parents were tired of McD's.)

Placed on the table were bread, butter and baby radishes - with olive oil upon request. The bread was mostly air and crunchy crust and the olive oil wasn't strong or tasty, but the radishes were refreshing, and not bitingly strong as radishes can be. The waiter was friendly and helped us select a nice dry, full white wine.

On to the first course. There were two vegetarian options: a mediterranean aubergine dish and "Salisfy fritters" which the waiter described as a vegetable somewhat similar to artichoke. I got the aubergine first, without the yogurt. The aubergine was very soft, slipping off the skin and melting in my mouth, but it was very oily and the aubergine itself had very little taste. The tomato sauce on top was lovely - very sweet with a nice acidic edge. It would have been better with one more twist, maybe some spice, but overall it was still nice.

Meanwhile the hubby had an uncharacteristic parmesan custard with anchovy toast. The anchovy was a tiny layer of paste (you can see it if you squint) between two pieces of toast pressed down to create an illusion of just one thin sliver of bread. Apparently it was umami-tastic, as one can imagine with two famously umami-filled ingredients. A big hit.

The second course was less exciting. The fritters usually come with a side of mayonnaise, which the chef replaced with a 'salsa verde,' a leafy puree of parsley and mint. Salsify, to me, seemed like crunchy baby endives - nice texture but without a distinctive flavour. Overall the fritters themselves didn't have much taste, other than the deep-fry oil, and were better off without the salsa; the hot fritters and cold salsa were distractingly discordant and best left on their own. Of course I give them credit for the improv since the dish was made to be paired with mayo which is a warmer, creamier taste and would've complimented it better.



I'm not quite sure what the hubby had for his second course, some sort of pate, but it wasn't anything to sing about.

Now for the main course: White asparagus with spinach and blood orange. When it arrived, I'd forgotten about the blood orange and assumed they were tomatoes of some sort. The citric sweetness of the cooked orange segments took me by surprise in the best possible way. It brightened up the tender asparagus tremendously, the taste interrupted occasionally by a spicy grain of black pepper.  Each vegetable (and fruit) was well-cooked, neither over- nor under-done. This time the general oiliness of the dish (a theme of the night's dinner) was more than overcome by the great, fresh mix of flavours. Seriously, the sweet blood orange makes this dish.

The hubby had some roast chicken. Great presentation in a long wok-like metal bowl, but apparently the gravy got cold by the second helping. Oops. The dish was so un-vegan I'll skip the picture here.

With all three courses in our bellies, we skipped dessert, but they did have a selection of sorbets and fruits. The Cox's apples, Williams pears and unidentified varieties of mango and pineapple just didn't seem that appetising knowing that we had a box full of the most phenomenal mangoes, Alphonso mangoes, at home.

Take-home messages: 1) Le Cafe Anglais is nowhere near as un-vegan-friendly as I thought. It takes good care of its vegetables, cooking them just right and pairing them well. It'll never be a destination restaurant for vegans, but if you go you will get a good meal and may be pleasantly surprised as I was. 2) Go to your nearest Indian store while the season's still on and buy yourself a box of Alphonso mangoes. You don't know mangoes until you've tried Aphoos. You won't regret it, unless you count never being able to eat normal grocery store mangoes ever again a regret. The season only lasts until May so enjoy it now while you can!

Taste: 6/10
Veggie Selection: 2/10
Cost: £40 each for 3 courses, not including wine
http://www.lecafeanglais.co.uk/
8 Porchester Gardens
London W2 4DB
020 7221 1415

Super moist, chocolatey chocolate cake (or cupcakes!)

Chocolate cake or cupcakes (originally cake, so it makes an odd 13 big cupcakes or lots of mini ones)

These are incredibly moist, fantastically chocolatey cupcakes/cake (especially with the frosting) but the surprising thing is that they're also really easy! No whipping and folding like normal cakes, just a bit of measuring, mixing w/a spoon and pouring into moulds, and bingo, there you are!


Ingredients:

Dry-
* 2.5 cups flour
* HEAPING 1/3 cup cocoa
* 1.5 cups sugar
* 3/4 tsp salt
* 1.5 Tbsp baking soda (I usually add a bit more to ensure it rises well)
* my addition: zest of 2 oranges (leave a bit for the frosting)

Wet-
* 7 Tbsp oil (a bit more makes it more moist!)
* 1.5 Tbsp white vinegar (yes, vinegar- but it all reacts away, so there's no lingering taste!)
* 2 tsp vanilla
* 1.5 cups cold water

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. (Sifting helps break up the cocoa & flour). Make three wells in the mixture, one larger than the others. In separate wells pour in the oil, vinegar and vanilla. Pour the water over the top and mix thoroughly. (Don't worry if it bubbles a bit, that's just the vinegar & baking soda doing its thing... and that's what helps it rise to be fluffy! Don't be shy about mixing the bubbles out either, lots more will form.)


Pour into non-stick cake pan or fill cupcake wells 2/3 full and bake in a medium oven (350 F, about 175 - 200 C) for about 20 min, until a skewer comes out clean. Let cool.

Frosting:
Melt 1-2 bars of chocolate (mix 70% and 85%) with soy cream (Alpro cream, or Silk soymilk both work, but not Alpro soymilk) in a double boiler (keep temp below 55C) with 1 tsp of vanilla, and any other flavourings (more orange zest or extracts). The more cream/soymilk you add, the softer the frosting will be. Make sure it doesn't get too hot or the chocolate will cook & get a weird texture! Frost cool cake/cupcakes.

Re: choice of diary-free chocolates... In the UK, Green & Blacks recently added milk onto all of their ingredient labels due to higher than acceptable levels of milk cross-contamination. If you're not fussed about that, G&B's dark chocolate is yummy (though word on the street is that they're opening up a fully dairy-free factory soon!) Otherwise, Plamil has fully dairy-free vegan chocolate bars that work well for this. I used half dark and half 'milk-type' chocolate, one bar of each. They're at Planet Organic, Whole Foods or online. In the US, last I checked Ghiradelli's semi-sweet and double-chocolate chocolate chips were vegan. 

Happy baking!

Quick recommendations

Full reviews & pics to come over time, but for now here are some of my faves...


* Taqueria - Mexican in Notting Hill (no Tex-Mex b.s.) - I crave this after any long trip away, even to the US
* Pho - Vietnamese just north of Oxford St, or in Westfield - with vegetarian pho! (noodle soup w/fresh herbs)
* Pearl Liang - Chinese in Paddington - super yummy dim sum, including several veggie options!
* Beity or Al-Waha for casual or formal Lebanese, both always fresh (with super spicy fresh chillis on request)
* Wahaca - Covent Garden or Westfield. Not a huge vegan selection (especially disappointed the huitlacoche mushrooms were pre-mixed w/cheese) but a rocking tortilla soup and yummy salads
* Falafel King - if you have the willpower to bypass the Portobello Road Market stands, it's just as the name says: just falafels, freshly made... and on the way back through the market, treat yourself to vegan churros (just bypass the choc sauce)
* for a quick bite: Wagamama or Nando's - good standard food (now that Nando's has portobellos... wasn't a big fan of the veggie or bean burgers!)
* Sakura - super rude waiters but yummy Japanese food - def try the aubergine
* For a very special occasion, Nobu - try the silken tofu dish and the grilled asparagus
* Alisan - way out in Wembley, but lots of veggie dimsum options
* E&O - haven't been there often, but enjoyed it every time. It helps to go w/ppl you can share with.
* former favorite restaurant: Ba Shan... until they took all the veggie dumplings off the menu!!! I'd appreciate if ppl other than myself would call and harass them to put them back on! Spicy Szechuan-chilli-sauce-doused dumplings! sigh- I miss them.

Where it all began...

I haven't always been a foodie, as afternoons parked in front of the TV as a teenager gobbling junk food proves. However, I could always smell from the front door the day my parents' garden tomatoes and coriander replaced dull grocery store varieties, and munched my way through freshly grown sugar snap peas, delicate string beans, sunflower seeds (hung upside down and raining from the garage roof) and wild strawberries every summer. Growing up in the Mid-West, USA, sweetcorn season was always a highlight, paired with the standard butter & salt or sprinkled with chilli powder for a kick.

Speaking of kicks... who could forget Kamdar Palace's super spicy samosas, the Aurora Temple's famous tamarind rice, my mom's legendary spicy tamarind sauce (vethalkuzhambu), or my dad's crispy masala dosai? Leaving all of this for university was a shock and I realised why so many people hated vegetables... the only seasonings they used were salt and pepper, on canned & frozen veggies! I craved my mom's potatoes with curry-leaf chutney, and finally proved to meat-loving roomies that veggies can be tasty, even without chilli. Later I found some veg(an) friends who gave me the confidence to turn vegan & introduced me to some super tasty dishes, from crispy tofu w/spring onion & coriander (which I still miss) to vegan chocolate pie and cake.

My love for food continues here in the UK, where I aptly married into a family famous for its love for chillies and its knowledge of what fruits & veggies are in season from which countries around the world at any given time. 

Since the hubby's an omnivore, I get jealous at times when some restaurants have loads to choose from for him and a boring plate of steamed veggies (if that) for me... but I'm redeemed by the fact that when we travel, half of the time my food, with all his limitations, is better than his!

One thing I've always been a bit uncomfortable with is the omnipresence of meat & dairy in "gourmet" foods- how can I consider myself a foodie when I can only eat a tiny percentage of good food in the world? But the hubby helped me realise it's more about how much you love that food than how much of it you can eat! 

His hope: I can share a bit about tasty vegan food with other foodies who don't like to be limited to veggie restaurants.... and more importantly that when I go into a restaurant armed with a big fancy camera, we'll get better service! Cheers to that!

p.s.- Being a vegan foodie often means you've gotta be self-sufficient and make your own goodies, so I'll be posting some of my favourite recipes too!