Manna, Lancaster PA

My mom suggested we try Manna while I was in town. We stopped by for a late lunch/early dinner as we had a late breakfast and were the only ones in the place. We ordered and then they brought out some miso soup (which I forgot to photograph and was alright. I am not the biggest miso soup fan so) and some cucumber salad and spiced nuts. Apparently they come with everything. The cucumber salad was light and tasty (I love cucumbers so it was good) and the nuts were warm and spiced well.


Then in my quest to keep trying sushi I ordered an asparagus roll. I used to only be able to eat sushi if the rice were on the outside, but I have now found that I like it with the seaweed on the outside as well. This was sweet and delicious and I loved it. I am going to have to start making more sushi as I never did since I didn't really care for it. It is so simple, but so tasty.


Then I ordered the Pad Kee Mao - rice noodles with onions, carrots, mushrooms, asparagus and snow peas. This was so good. I love Thai food and I love rice noodle dishes and this is one of the best I have ever had. It was a little oily, but so so incredible I didn't really care. The flavors were amazing and I wish we would have been able to get back there again to try more of the dishes. I know the photo doesn't look like a lot of food, but they have these odd bowl plates - the center is a small bowl so it was actually a lot of food.

Overall - Mann had one of the best rice noodle dishes I have ever had. Everything they brought out was really good and I would definitely go back again. Definitely a highlight of my trip to Lancaster, and I wish we would have been able to eat there more than once. If I lived in the area I would go often.

Moonlight Cafe, Seattle WA

We just got back from an amazing trip to Seattle. Our first stop after we got off the plane was Moonlight Cafe. Raymond ordered the Kung Pao Chicken which has a really nice flavor, though I dislike pieces of nut in things like this. I really like the mock meat they use as it is really really tasty.


My friend picked us up from the airport and went to lunch with us. She ordered the General Tso Chicken which had a good flavor, but the mock meat was...odd. Kind of spongy and I didn't really like it that much. The texture was too much for me.


I ordered the Sweet and Sour Spareribs. I had been thinking about this dish on the plane and how tasty it would be. Really I ordered it because of the mock meat used in it is my favorite. I was a little disappointed in this as it was way too sweet, though it was still tasty. I think it might be that I don't eat as many sweets now so I am not used to super sweet and it was almost overpowering.

Overall - I really like Moonlight Cafe even though it is a little grungy.

Coco's Asian, Vienna Austria

We had a mid-day train out of Vienna on our last visit so we decided to grab some lunch at the Westbahnhoff to make sure we had enough time to eat and get on the train. When looking at the options we found Coco's Asian with two items listed as vegan. The first was a peanut vegetables served with white rice. I was kind of iffy when I saw it as it looked...well just not that good. It was however delicious! Kind of sweet which I liked, though Raymond did not, and very creamy. I would definitely go back for this again.



The second dish was tofu champaion - tofu and veggies in a soy sauce of some type. This was also tasty, but not as good as the peanut sauce. The tofu was kind of spongy and soaked up the soy sauce and it made it really salty - too salty for me, though Raymond enjoyed it.

Overall - If you are taking the train out of Vienna and need some food check out Coco's Asian. The food is pretty tasty with vegan options clearly marked.

Xu's Cooking, Vienna Austria

We arrived in Vienna in the evening and headed right to Xu's Cooking for some dinner. It was a Sunday night and we were the only ones in the place. We started with the assortment plate - vegetable balls and rolls, chicken nuggets. The chicken nuggets had a seasoned breading which was tasty, they were firm and meaty and very good. The balls were a dough with peanuts in. Different from what I was expecting, and anything I have had, but they were quite tasty. The peanuts gave it a crunch that was good. The roll had lots of veggies in with a chewy skin (not sure what it was as it didn't seem to be the normal rice paper wrapper) and reminded us of fast food egg rolls in the US. Really greasy, but good. This was also served with a sweet cabbage salad that I loved! It was like pickled cabbage and was delicious and a nice way to cleanse your palate after all the grease.



We also had some steamed dumplings which I love, but cannot find many places here in Berlin. These were tasty and had a strong celery flavor.



And finally we had the crispy chicken and tempura veggies. This was great. The chicken was delicious and the veggies divine.



After we stuffed ourselves silly we asked for the bill and they brought out some non-alcoholic fruit drink which was amazing, as well as a plate of fruit and filo bites. I like that it was oranges and kiwis, and the filo bites had a nutty filling in and were quite tasty. Really it felt like they kept bringing us more things and we were so full we couldn't eat any more! It was delicious though and the people working there were very friendly.

Overall - Definitely check out Xu's Cooking. They have a lunch buffet everyday which is an amazing deal, or you can order from the menu and choose from many delicious options.

Green Garden, Paris France

Green Garden is an Asian restaurant that is all vegan and has plenty of mock meat options. It is quite a bit south of downtown, but easy to get to by subway so out last meal in Paris we went down to eat here. I was hoping it would be amazing like Tien Hiang that was our first meal and end the trip out on a good food note. We started with the ravioli entree. This had veggie meat on top and filled with sprouts and soy. This was alright. Not as good as the ones we had at Tien Hiang, but not horrible either. They didn't have much flavor by themselves and the sauce they came with had an odd flavor that I couldn't place.



We also tried the soya protein Pekinese style. This was crispy on the outside and really chewy spongy on the inside. The sause was sweet and...I just didn't care for the texture very much. It was...I just didn't like it. I wouldn't order it again.



We also tried the Kai Lan rice noodles - rice noodles, mock meat, and greens. Raymond did not like the mock meat at all - he said it had too strong of a flavor. I enjoyed it, much more than the other dishes, it wasn't what I was expecting it to taste like. I couldn't place the flavor but it was not like the chicken like that I was expecting. This dish was just alright. The noodles were a little crisp and it just did not have much flavor overall.



Finally even though we were pretty full we ordered some fried bananas as they are usually delicious. These were..the batter was just way too greasy for me. I love hot bananas so I took off the batter and just at them that way, but it really wasn't that good which made me very sad. I love fried bananas!

Overall - I would not make the trip down to Green Garden again. The food is just alright and you can get much better elsewhere.

Tien Hiang, Paris France

We recently took a trip to Paris and ate at as many places as we could. We arrive at lunchtime so our first stop was Tien Hiang for some food. First up was the Bahn Cuon (Vietnamese ravioli). These had mushrooms and mock meat in them served over bean sprouts in a rice papper wrapper. These were incredibly good. Very light and it felt like I could have eaten a ton of them without getting full. I loved them, and I don't like mushrooms so that is an accomplishment.


We also tried the Skewers with peanut sauce. This came out on a sizzling plate like fajitas and had zucchini, peppers, tofu and mock pork. This was also really good. The photo in the menu did not look that appetizing, but Raymond wanted to try them and it was his birthday so I said okay (the menu picture was an odd orangey color and just look off). I am glad we did! The tofu was crispy, the pork was like ham log which I love, the peppers were caramelized and super tasty, the zucchini was delicious, all in all wonderful.


Finally we tried the beef black pepper stir fry - peppers, ginger, celery, carrot and mock beef. This had a really nice flavor, the sauce was really good with a little but of spice, the mock beef was my favorite mock meats and it really reminded me a lot of Moonlight Cafe in Seattle which is one of my favorite restaurants. I was petty happy to have this as a first meal in Paris.

Overall - Definitely stop here if you are in Paris. The flavors are light but delicious and everything we had was really really good. I wish we would have been able to stop by again before we left, but unfortunately we did not have time.

China-Thai-Imbiss, Berlin Germany

After a long day of bike riding we were really hungry so we stopped at China Thai Imbiss.We started with the mini rolls. These were just fried with not much in them, but they were tasty.


We also tried the green curry. This was just alright and really not the best curry. I could make a better curry than this so I would not recommend it.


We also tried the glass noodles with vegetables. This was amazing! One of my favorite noodle dishes we have had in Berlin. The sauce was really tasty and the noodle delicious. I wish I this were closer to my house as I would eat here for this dish often.

Overall - This was not the best Asian restaurant in Berlin, but the glass noodles were amazing!

Lotus Vegetarian,

From Vegan Gastrobot

After the super disappointing Sunflower restaurant I was a little iffy on trying Lotus Vegetarian. It was close to my friend’s house though and we needed a place to eat the last night of our visit so Lotus Vegetarian it was. We tried the radish cake and it was super good. It was a tad greasy, but in a good way. The flavor was light, but really good unlike some other ones we have had. The plumb sauce that was served with it complimented it well.

From Vegan Gastrobot

We tried the Curry Deluxe – Chunks of soy protein stewed with potato, zucchini, sugar peas, carrots, and cauliflower in a Japanese curry sauce. I love Japanese curry and this did not disappoint – the veggies were crisp, the sauce tasty, the mock meat were sliced and delicious.

From Vegan Gastrobot

We then tried the Vege Beef & Snow Peas – marinated soy beef sautéed with snow peas, carrots, jicama and lotus root in brown sauce. I don’t know that I have ever had lotus root before and it was quite good. This overall was really tasty – the beef was chewy like my favorite mock meats and all of the veggies were crisp.

Overall – if you are in the area and need someplace to eat definitely check out Lotus Vegetarian. It is in a strip mall, but the food is really tasty.

Sunflower, Vienna VA

From Vegan Gastrobot

We spent a few days in Northern Virginia for a friends wedding recently. We arrived in the evening and were super hungry so our first stop was Sunflower Vegetarian Resaturant. We ordered the cold basil roll (Jicama, carrot, lettuce, dry spiced tofu, vegi-ham, basil and rice paper wrapper). This sounded like it would be really good, but...for all of the flavorful sounding ingredients there wasn't much flavor to be had. I really like fresh rolls, and this was good, but not the best.

From Vegan Gastrobot

We also ordered the Ianani Sushi (Stuffed w. brown rice, sesame seeds, crispy bean curd, seacress & shiso condiment served with edemame). I have never had this before since I only just recently ventured into eating sushi, but I really enjoyed this. The tofu skin was chewy and the filling was delicious, a little bit salty a little bit sweet. This was the best thing we ordered here.

From Vegan Gastrobot

We also ordered some Daikon Cake. I keep thinking this is the same thing we ordered in Philadelphia once, but that was a turnip cake which I loved. This had...no flavor. Just mushy greasy not very good. The sauce that came with it was not very good either, but at least it had some flavor.

From Vegan Gastrobot

For our entrees we ordered the Golden Nugget (Marinated yuba (bean curd skin) wrapped with shredded shiitake mushrooms, soy protein and bamboo shoots in house brown sauce. Garnished with sauteed napa cabbage, broccoli, bean thread noodles and carrots). This was interesting. VERY chewy and hard to eat. To cut it into pieces you need to use a fork and knife. The sauce was not that good and the noodles were just not tasty (and I love noodles, but I didn't eat most of them). The broccoli was cooked well and out of the two entrees we ordered I liked this one more. The nuggets were not the worst thing I have ever had, they just were not the best either. I definitely wouldn't order it again.

From Vegan Gastrobot

The second of our two entrees was the Asparagus Roll (Baked stuffed wheat gluten roll with vegi-ham, asparagus in house special sauce and vegan cheese). Raymond picked this one out and wanted to try it as it sounded different. Well it was....it reminded us of those really old cookbooks where they have gross meat dishes and like chicken in jello and such. I have no idea why they would put cheese on this - the special sauce had an odd flavor that I could not figure out. It tasted like a bunch of familiar tastes combined, but not in a good way and I couldn't pin point any of them. The sauce also did not go with cheese at all so it was really disgusting. The roll itself was just like a very chewy wheat gluten piece with a piece of asparagus in the middle. The wheat gluten was not prepared well and was so chewy and the texture was just not good. It did come with some broccoli and a drumstick for some reason and edemame which were all good. I would order the Golden Nuggets any day over this as it was just bad. We did not finish this dish as neither of us liked it.

From Vegan Gastrobot

And finally dessert! Chocolate cake with mousse and glaze (Contain unsweetened chocolate & cocoa). This should have been decent. I mean it is chocolate cake! But it had a very strange flavor that I couldn't put my finger on. The mousse...was not very good. It was not chocolaty and the glaze was some berry and was the strongest flavor, though that wasn't very strong either. Overall skip on the cake. It is...odd. I wish I could pin point what it tasted like....I just can't figure out what the flavor was.

Overall - I would skip Sunflower Vegetarian Restaurant. Most of the food was just not good. The flavors were off...it was just not a place I will go back to ever.