Vegetarian diners in Nepal are used to being handed a menu with three options on it. Chinese cooking should never produce that problem: Buddhist monastic cooking has shaped Chinese cuisine for well over a thousand years, and entire regional traditions are built on tofu, mushrooms, gluten and greens.
Our menu carries 29 vegetable main dishes and 19 vegetable snacks. That is 48 dishes — more than most restaurants offer in total.
Where to start
Mapo Tofu at Rs. 480 is the one to order first. Silken tofu in a sauce of fermented broad-bean paste, chilli and Sichuan peppercorn — numbing, savoury and deeply meaty-tasting despite containing no meat. Ask for it without the optional minced pork and it remains completely vegetarian.
Braised Eggplant at Rs. 530 is the other pillar. Eggplant is fried until it collapses, then braised in soy, garlic and a little sugar until it turns silky. Even people who claim not to like aubergine finish this one.
For texture, Dry-Fried Green Beans at Rs. 400 are blistered hard in the wok until the skins wrinkle, then tossed with garlic. Tiger Skin peppers at Rs. 399 get the same treatment.
Greens done properly
The Cantonese approach to vegetables is restraint: high heat, garlic, a splash of stock, nothing else. Broccoli in Oyster Sauce at Rs. 499, Water Spinach at Rs. 330 and Seasonal Vegetables in Oyster Sauce at Rs. 399 all follow that logic. Note that oyster sauce is not vegetarian — ask and we will cook these with a mushroom-based sauce instead.
Cold starters
The vegetable snacks section is worth reading properly. Smashed cucumber with garlic at Rs. 380, cold black fungus at Rs. 499, three-vegetable shreds at Rs. 340 and tomato with sugar at Rs. 280 are all served cold and all designed to open a meal rather than fill it.
Building a vegetarian table
For four people: Mapo Tofu, Braised Eggplant, one green in garlic, one cold starter, and rice. Add Vegetable Fried Rice at Rs. 315 or Vegetable Fried Noodles at Rs. 315 if the table is hungry.
Hot pot also works well vegetarian — the chicken broth is not suitable, but tell us in advance and we will discuss options. Tofu, mushrooms, lotus root, cabbage, kelp and noodles are all on the add-in list.
Every dish above is on our menu page with current prices.