Lucky Creation

11/09/09

Five stars vegetarian Chinese in San Francisco Chinatown

by Em LC at Citysearch

I have many friends who are Chinese medicine practitioners and vegan lovers. If you don't speak Mandarin or a local dialect, and especially if you're not of Asian descent, you'll need to state clearly what you are hoping for. It's okay to ask for green veggies off the menu or ask for no oil, no salt, no pepper in the soups and so on. A lot of us locals like this place because of particular dishes or because we really want to eat well and feel good. I'm a very picky eater (over 60), and I've worked as a professional cook. I can practically live on the soups and ask for soups without salt or pepper. I like the greens and ask for them without oil. If you're here from out of town in the summer, they'll try to give you what they think a mid-westerner wants in terms of flavor. Even locals sometimes don't get it. Food is medicine to Chinese people, or their own comfort food. Let them know you'll pay well for something that's really special and not just for the tourist trade. All of the prices are incredibly low and reasonable, so make it clear. Of course, the staff will eat non-menu items. I did when I ran restaurants. So go the extra step and make it clear you want something special, what ever that is for you.

• Pros: Soups, vegies, speak Chinese or ask for no oil or spice
• Cons: Can be crowded

08/19/08

Delux faux meat

by missgwen61 at Citysearch

I am one of those vegetarians who adore good faux meat, and this is the place to get it right here. That gluten in brown sauce that they have up in the front that you can buy by the pound? Buy it by the pound- it is soooo good.. I have often fantasized about begging these people to write a cookbook, so that I can learn to do some of this stuff at home.

My favorite restaurant in the world.

01/20/08

Overrated

by rowriver at Citysearch

We were disappointed. Despite the reviews on this site, we found the food to be unimaginative and bland. Service was indifferent at best. I don't care about ambience, which is good because this place had none. But I expected more in the food and the taste. The "signature" taro fish dish was unusual but not particularly tasty. We followed the server's advice on a spicy dish, which turned out to also be quite bland and unremarkable. The "gluten sampler" consisted of COLD gluten globs with various sauces, the only one of which that was any good was the sweet and sour. Overall, a disappointing outcome for a highly rated restaurant. Hence our conclusion:

OVERRATED!

• Pros: Relatively cheap, although not as much as was claimed on this site
• Cons: Unremarkable, bland food; no service worth mentioning