Thursday night was food night. A bunch of us trooped out to Baldwin Street, an area reminiscent of Malate, and chose to eat at Vegetarian Haven. Going in, I had this ridiculous vision of a giraffe munching and regurgitating on leaves. No matter. I was hungry after a full day’s work and getting by on a slice of cake. I was quite resigned to start with carrot sticks and hopefully, a tasty dip. Perusing the menu, there was quite a selection of food. Was I having visual hallucinations? I read the words steak, chicken, ham, salmon, prawn, turkey and burgers. No I wasn’t. A friend was verbalizing her surprise too. On closer inspection, all those words were in quotation marks. Aahhh….I wondered how these simulated meats would measure up to my carnivorous palate. We gamely ordered fried King “Prawn” for starters and when it was brought out, it was met with “oohh’s and ahhh’s”. Visually no doubt it was prawn, complete with the tail. The taste? Definitely prawn. The only thing off was the texture but still quite a delight to eat. Appetizers consumed, I carefully chose my entrée. I wondered about having “steak” which actually is made of seitan, the vegetarian wheat meat. Or perhaps tempeh, a type of cultured soybean. My eyes spotted the Portobello Mushroom Medley Burger (I love fungi!) but I decided for the “Seafood” with purple rice in clay pot. “Seafood” referred to more “prawns” and “salmon”. The meal promised to have bits of “ham” too and of course, tofu and mushrooms. I excitedly opened up the lid of the stylized and glazed palayok set before me and took a whiff of the mouthwatering aroma that excited my senses. Had this been a blindfolded taste test, I would have been fooled. I rose from the dinner table satiated. Vegetarian food is certainly a revelation. Did this make me a convert? I wasn’t that fooled. I am having good old crispy bacon in the morning….
No comments:
Post a Comment