veggie tales @ graces court cuisine

For godfather's 60th. We went vegan. Chinese style vegan. This was after Jumbo for me. I wasn't half perturbed. My tummy was still full of crabby happiness. For mum however, this was probably her third attempt at an actual vegan set menu. She said she'd rather die than be a cow eating grass. Quotable quote. The first two were the ones at Lantau Island. We actually really loved those. For the fact that vegan just meant lots of veggies. Not mock meats. But today, we were in for a real treat! Or mock treat as it turns out. Hello mockies!

Round 1. deluxe platter. A bunch of fried stuff. I think I like the deep fried yam a lot! And calamari made from bean curds. The cocktail sausages that tasted like the real deal and a crowd pleaser of sesame chicken.

Soup's up. Too much starch but otherwise all my favourite ingredients. Strands of golden mushroom, thinly sliced black mushrooms, bean strips and pumpkin for that lovely rich golden color. Was a rather bland soup that required the usual suspects for a thick soup (庚) pepper, black vinegar and in this case, it needed a dash of soy sauce and chilli padi for that extra boost of flavour.

The lemon chicken's saving grace was the spice crackers. How's that for an awesome side kick! Really. It was just thick cuts of bean/gluten layers? The sickly sweet lemon sauce made it all the worse for taste. No seconds for sure.

Finally, the normal greens. This was an instant hit. Made it feel -less- vegan. If that could be possible in an entirely vegan nine course event. The sweet and sour ham was dampened by the sauce. Literally. Coming with such a rich and vibrant color, artificial colorings must have been used. Liberally. The ham was akin to the one in the sausage. Very real and pretty tasty. The sliced pineapple sandwiched between was a good accompaniment to the salty slices of ham. But the sauce. Oh why the sauce.

We wondered how they were going to serve a 'steamed promfret' and now we know. It deserved a YUM! award for our vegan experience. Tender slices that had a taste resembling fish (yes i know that was the entire point of the dish) and silky rounds of tofu served in a dish of preserved vegetable soup chock full of mushrooms, slices of tomatos and ginger slices. Helps to digest all that oil and gluten from before.

There was a stir fried ee-fu noodles that were badly fried looking like overcooked maggi mee, served lump style. If looks could kill, i was murdered on the spot.

And what was dessert? Yam paste with gingko nut. I had already left- for a wedding I didn't remembered till I received calls. Sigh. That's for another day. Anyway, mum says I didn't miss anything. Which speaks for itself I suppose.

Still preferring the real thing of course. But it was an experience for my family and it wasn't the worst we had prepared ourselves for. We had our favourite dishes. Mostly the actual mushroom broccoli greens and the steamed fish in preserved vegetable soup that was a very special twist on a steamed promfret. :)

Food aside, we're glad to have been part of their celebration. We usually only meet once a year at chinese new year but hey, the occasion came up and our one big family met for the second time in a year. It's always nice to be in the company of friends and family. <3

If you'd like a vegan experience more than just your packet takeout of vegetarian noodles from the hawker centres, I suppose this would be one restaurant that you should try. I don't know about healthy but they had dishes that were a treat to the sight and some actually tasting pretty. umm. -real-.

I'm not a convert but I've learnt to appreciate it that much more. :)