Gentle Gourmet Cafe, Paris France

 
On our first night in Paris it was Raymond's birthday so I wanted to take him out for a nice dinner. I chose Gentle Gourmet Cafe as we had stayed there when it was a bed and breakfast and the food was amazing. While waiting for the first course they brought out some pre-dinner treats. These were a tapenade roll which was alright, and a sausage roll which was really tasty. It almost tasted like field roast in a lovely pastry. 
 
I had a pumpkin apple soup to start with apple croutons. This was had very light flavors but I really enjoyed it. I think the apple mellowed out the pumpkin flavor but it was still a little sweet and tasty.   
 
Raymond has the mushroom rolls to start and they were...well I could not eat them as it was way too much mushroom (which I don't like), but Raymond enjoyed them. He said they were really fatty and he thought it was supposed to be like foi gras. The vinaigrette on the salad was delicious though.   
 
I let Raymond pick the mains and he chose the tart fillet - potatoes sliced thin and layered with vegan cheese, smoked tofu (to be like ham) and caramelized onions. This was really creamy, the cheese was amazing and the tofu did give it a hamey flavor and I absolutely loved it. I wish they would have served more of it as it was in quite a small dish with a tiny bit of salad on the side (without the delicious dressing that was on the mushroom rolls salad). I still loved it and it was one of the better things I have eaten, I just with I would have gotten a larger portion.   

The second main was Temple Cajun - Breaded Tempeh rounds with Cajun spices served over rice and greens. This was... disappointing. The Tempeh was good, but the breadcrumbs just tasted like my standard and like I make in my kitchen at home so..nothing fancy about it. The most disappointing thing however was that it was served on a large pile of rice that had no flavor. I am sure they put something in it, but it just tasted like nothing and it was most of the dish so....it was not good. Raymond thought the greens were tasty, but again I felt they lacked flavor. Overall very disappointed in this dish.  

 
For dessert I had the creme brulee - I always order this if it an option as I rarely see vegan versions of it. This is the first that is actually like the non-vegan version. The sugar on top cracked nicely and was amazing, the creme underneath was really tasty. Raymond said it looked like cottage cheese, but it tastes much better than it looks.   
 
He ordered the chocolate mousse. This was a huge amount of food. This was really chocolatey and coconuty and was too much for me. I am not a big coconut fan so it was too strong of a flavor for me, but Raymond really enjoyed it. I think it was the best part of the meal for him. 
 Overall - We both enjoyed the food, but it was not as amazing as most of the fancy restaurants we have been to. I think we both were expecting exception food, but we got good food. The people who run the place are incredibly nice - the b&b owners daughter came by our table to say hi and talk to us about the b&b and the restaurant and stuff. I wish all of the food was amazing so I could write that it is incredible, but it was good. I think that the people being so nice made us want to go back again and again. If you are in the area stop by for one of their sandwiches or a croissant or other baked goods or maybe just a nice cup of tea.

Bamboo Garden, Seattle, WA

From Vegan Gastrobot

Every year the Wed night before US Thanksgiving we go to Bamboo Garden for our first Thanksgiving dinner.  It is always the same menu and it is always way too much food. It starts with a cup of corn chowder which we love. It is kind of like pudding, but tastes delcious. Then you get this giant plate of food - turkey, their version of stuffing (chopped up veggies in a light gravy with some croutons), yams with an orange glaze, steamed brocolli and a chicken pastry. All of it is good, and we always take at least half of it home. It also comes with a slice of apple pie - not the best pie, but it comes with the meal and I never have room for it so it too comes home with us. Definitely check it out as it is pretty tasty, and if you go Wednesday night not as crowded as on Thanksgiving day.

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.

Hungry Tiger Too, Portland OR

After a night of drinking with friends and staying out late we woke late and had a nice greasy breakfast at Hungry Tiger Too. Well really I guess it was more like brunch since it was closer to lunch, but it was still tasty. They have an entire vegan menu full of delicious sounding things so it was hard to choose. I wanted to try their cheese sauce so something with that was first up - the Belly Rocker Burger - Tempeh bacon, house made cheese sauce, lettuce, tomato and red onion with thousand island dressing. Delicious! Served with sweet potato fries which I love. Just what I wanted, and the cheese sauce I really liked. It was not overpowering and had a nice flavor.


We also ordered the corn dog basket with tots. These were greasy deliciousness, though the hot dog was tasty it was not my all time favorite. The corn bread batter was good and really I don't find corndogs very many places so I was happy with them.

Overall - Hungry Tiger Too was great for a greasy brunch. Next time I want to go back and sample their breakfast options and some of their drinks which sounded really tasty. 

Paradox Cafe, Portland OR

On a visit to Portland OR we stopped by Paradox cafe for a late lunch. I ordered the meatball sandwich - a grilled garlic hoagie topped with our homemade meatballs cooked with mushrooms, onions and peppers smothered in marinara sauce. This was by far the best vegan meatball sandwich I have had. I used to love them when I ate meat and this is the only one I have found that is similar. The meatballs were big (there are 3 of them on the roll and they are hard to eat as a sandwich - I used a fork and knife). Delicious! I loved it.


Raymond ordered the firehouse burger - Guacamole, jalapenos, caramelized onions and pepper. This was good, and Raymond really enjoyed it.


Since we didn't know how huge the sandwiches would be we also ordered some paradox potatoes - potatoes with almond gravy. This was just alright. The gravy was not the best I have had, but it wasn't the worst either.

Overall - I would definitely stop by Paradox again. The meatball sandwich was the best I have had. Definitely stop by. 

Green Earth Vegetarian, Toronto ON, Canada

For first lunch on our second day in Toronto we stopped by Green Earth Vegetarian. There were so many options it was hard to choose what to eat. We decided on some Crispy Nuggets - fried chik'un nuggets served with sweet chili sauce. These were nice and chewy and good chicken nuggets.

We then tried an order of the summer rolls - Soy ham, tofu, jicama, and carrot rolled in thin rice paper, served with peanut sauce. These were alright. I love summer rolls and I expected these to have a lot of flavor, but they didn't. They were good, but not as good as I had imagined they would be. The peanut sauce however was really tasty. 

We also tried a quesadilla de vegetables - grilled eggplant, zucchini, and vegan cheese, wrapped in wheat tortilla and served with pico de gallo and guacamole. This was good, the vegetables were cooked well and the cheese was not overpowering. 

And finally we tried the vermicelli with grilled veggie teriyako and golden rolls - rice noodles with textured vegetable protein and golden rolls served with Aulacese vinaigrette and shredded lettuce, mints and cucumber. This was probably my favorite thing we ordered here. The golden rolls were tasty, but the teriyaki with the rice noodles was delicious! I would definitely go back and order this again. 

Overall - everything here was good, but I wasn't blown away by how amazing any one thing was. I would go back if I were in the area, but it wouldn't be a must stop.

Post in the Market, Seattle WA

We had a coupon for Post in the Market so we went to check it out on Saturday night. They did not have many vegan options, really this pizza was the only non-side dish they had it sounded tasty - hummus and tomato pizza. I really enjoy non-tomato sauce based pizzas so I had high hopes for this one. Unfortunately it was just....not as good as I wanted it to be. The dough was tasty, the tomatoes were good, though the slices were a little big for my tastes. The hummus just wasn't very good, it didn't have a lot of flavor and there was way too much of it on the pizza so it drowned out anything else. I was really disappointed as I really wanted to like it.


We also had a basket of fries which were really good. Nice and crispy on the outside just the way I like them.


And a basket of sweet potato fries. These were also tasty, though I think I liked the normal fries better. So we had a french fry dinner which is not the best for you, but the pizza was just not very appetizing.

Overall - I would not go back here unless I wanted to just get drinks and meet up with some friends. The pizza is expensive for what you get ($9) and just does not taste that good.