11 January 2012

How to eat Healthy Vegan at a Chinese Restaurant

If you can't find a Chinese restaurant you are likely in outer space, but don't expect that to be a valid excuse for long because the Chinese are planning a space station and moon & mars colonization.

Eating at a Chinese restaurant couldn't be easier aside from 99% of the menu is crap.  To adapt to the American/Western customer they took up FRYING EVERYTHING, they'll even deep fry and then stir fry...  Not to worry, a steamed bowl of rice, rice noodles, steamed veggies, soy sauce, orange sauce, and sweet and sour sauce can always be procured with no oil!  Occasionally you'll even find a steam bun, which are delectable! 

Chinese are especially accommodating and are happy to eliminate anything from a dish because it costs $.  If I don't eat my mushroom, they'll say "next time say no mushrooms"  It all adds up and with billions of mouths to feed waste not want not!

Here are some pics from our recent outing to Vegetable Delight in Grenada Hills, CA.

Steamed Buns!  These are one of my favorite foods in the entire world.  They are oil free, low fat, just a mixed veggie slaw (or sometimes beans) wrapped in a light flour bun and steamed to perfection!  (make sure the stuff on the inside is oil-free, too!)
 This is our goto Chinese Restaurant dish.  We eat rice all the time so rice and veggies isn't anything worth going out for, but when you get a rice noodle and veggies combined with an Orange Sauce (also oil-free) then you're talking!  You can get this made for you at ANY Chinese restaurant in the world (that is not a chain).  Its easy to do at home, as well.
 WHAT IS THAT???  It looks like a cake?  Yep!  This was a TOTAL SCORE!  Its an OIL-FREE Green TEA ADUKI Bean cake!  The fat is Tofu, which we normally don't eat too much of, but this was pure heaven!
 Check out the awesome ingredients for yourself!  These are made by a Japanese chef who frequents this Chinese restaurant - go figure?!
 Typical Chinese Restaurant interior... don't be afraid, but sit as far away from the kitchen as possible or you'll smell like grease.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Have you guys ever been to Take a Bao? There is one in Century City and one in Studio City. They have really awesome steamed buns there. I think you'd like it.

Lex said...

Never heard of it, thank you so much for the comment! I'm going there ASAP!!! I live for steamed buns!

quarrygirl said...

i really need to try this place. i heard they have an all vegan sushi bar on saturday nights?!

Lex said...

I wonder if its the same chef as Shojin? They advertise a Japanese Chef and Chinese Chef. Its not worth going out of your way to, but if you are in the area and hungry its great.

Thomas said...

Dang... Wish I could have found one of these when I passed through LA last fall. I just wound up hitting the Wendy's in Grapevine for the baked potatoes...

Anonymous said...

I usually like reading this blog because I am a low fat vegan in the LA area but I couldn't help but bristle a bit at the this post. I understand this is a food blog and not one that's oriented towards social justice in any respect really but I think that it would be nice if vegans could show the respect they have to towards animals towards all PEOPLE too. It's a common stereotype that Chinese people are cheap...why can't you say that the people who work at the restaurant are accommodating and leave it at that, why do you have to assume that they want to save every penny they can? And even in the case of the comment the waiter supposedly made to you, you should clarify it was that instance or that restaurant instead of generalizing that Chinese restaurants are all accomodating (which isn't even necessarily true) and it's only for the above stereotypical reason. And you take it even further by saying that they're cheap because of the billions of Chinese mouths to feed...somehow I don't think that Chinese restaurant workers in LA blink back tears every time they have to discard uneaten mushrooms just because there are a lot of Chinese people in the world.

I could say other things about your mention of China trying to colonize the moon and mars, the shitty advice that you should stay away from the kitchen, but it's all basically in the same vein. I'm only critiquing because I wish this blog would focus on the food and healthy living which what people come for, not for bland, recycled stereotypical generalizations about other people.

Lex said...

I see frugality as a compliment, you inferred cheap. The items you think I am saying as negative are compliments. Read the news, China has an extensive space program bent on moon colonization. I highly admire the Chinese people and have studied the Chinese language since age 8 and extensively lived there. One in every four people on this planet is Chinese, get over it and enjoy what they have to offer, I sure do. I usually don't post Anonymous comments, but since yours is so off putting to my lifelong devotion to the Chinese people and culture I am letting this drop of internet negativity into my life.

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