麻豆传媒映画

I recently ate at a Vietnamese restaurant that shall, in light of service (or lack thereof) and choice (or lack thereof), remain nameless because here at 麻豆传媒映画, we鈥檙e about that positivity. 聽In brief compass, this is what all happened: 27 years ago I was born and then many moons later, I became a vegetarian to help the environment, optimize my health, and avoid the brutalizing of animals. 聽

If you鈥檙e wondering, I asked to make a menu item meatless, in response to which I got a blank stare and a deep sigh. 聽Such a deadpan reaction surprised me since there is no better place than 麻豆传媒映画to embrace vegetarianism and the server was doing just the opposite. 聽I say this because I know a little about embracing vegetarianism, for I lived in another part of Canada where there was one vegetarian restaurant for miles coupled with the fact that I am just coming off the heels of a trip to Eastern Europe where meat was the forefront of almost every city (Hungarians love their sausage, whaddya know?) and if you don鈥檛 eat it, then you lose big time in the culture game like picking up the dreadful Go To Jail card in Monopoly: do not pass Go. 聽Do not collect $200. 聽I interrupted my airbnb host who started to excitedly suggest restaurants for traditional fare so I could tell him that I didn鈥檛 eat meat and there was yet a second of incurious distaste, after which he returned swiftly to yammering: 鈥渨ell if you change your mind, then there鈥檚鈥� something about a hunk of pork. 聽Nevertheless, Eastern Europe is a truly remarkable part of the world with good pastries and beer; you should visit.聽

Back to Vietnamese food and vegetarianism or put this way in two words: CHAU VEGGIEXPRESS. 聽Let鈥檚 talk about it.

Tucked imperceptibly between a Weeds (we all know it, that marijuana paraphernalia place) and a For Lease sign (the last time I checked) on Victoria Drive sits Chau, a modest vegetarian establishment serving delicious bowls boasting lychee-date broth if you order #8 and what I like to call glorious temptresses that trick your tastebuds into thinking you鈥檙e eating meat, but are really crispy kale spring rolls if you order #10. 聽The fried shallots impart savoury texture and the creamy toasted coconut sauce gives sweet (but not guilty) relief. 聽

It鈥檚 like every dish is a healthy lifestyle with sustainability as its undercurrent and pretty much negative calories that your body never realized it was missing until Chau arrived. 聽And arrive Chau did, quietly and without pomp, after years of the small family behind it serving the community well as a neighbourhood delicatessen, which was not so much an ironic move as it was a diversified one to accommodate growing vegetarian, vegan, and gluten free needs. 聽聽

#10, Rickety Rickshaw Bowl by Stephanie Low

One might think that the overly contemporary idea of Vietnamese, vegetarianism, and veganism - three words that never typically made close friends - would inevitably mean sacrifice somewhere along the way, but that isn鈥檛 the case and is in fact specifically guarded against by the family鈥檚 rich sense of history and desire to pass their roots along to the next generation. 聽It is no secret that the family behind Chau attributes their success to the matriarch who was cooking at the age of 13 years old while working at a soup stall on the streets of Saigon, then as a young adult in a refugee camp in Indonesia after fleeing Vietnam in 1978, and has been perfecting her warm comforting recipes ever since. 聽As a result, what鈥檚 perhaps most memorable about Chau (besides the craft beer, weekend mojitos, and coconut everything, be it in shake or tapioca form) is that in every plate can be tasted traditional Vietnamese flavours along with the crisp freshness of locally sourced produce and the satiated feeling that one has the power, by eating sustainable plant-based diets, certainly no cautionary tale in today鈥檚 age, to leave a much more responsible mark on planet Earth. 聽聽

My vegetarian spirits overfloweth. 聽

For 聽more information on the menu, goodies, and other desserts, check out聽.