"Sunflower Garden Authentic Vietnamese in the Inner Sunset has been on my list since a Wildseed employee let me know it’s a go-to for plant-based food. has been on my list since an employee of Wildseed let me know it was a go-to for plant-based food. While the restaurant has plenty of options for meat eaters, this vegan spicy hue noodle soup might be the star of the show. Swimming in the enormous bowl of spicy broth, the mighty discs of vegetarian ham, which tasted nothing like ham, more like Tofurkey or fish, do an excellent job of absorbing the oil and spice of the broth and make for succulent and satisfying bites. The other treasures are the wide pillows of deep-fried tofu, thin and chewy like inari skin. The vermicelli noodles are a primo carb base for the tremendous $16 entree, in which the brightness of lemongrass mingles with the subtle umami from mushrooms. With a plentiful fried taro cake for an appetizer, which is not vegan thanks to a bit of egg, I just about passed out working through this bowl of soup. And I’m not really a soup person, certainly not like many in my generation who build entire cottage core-esque identities around various broths and brines. But this emboldening bún bò huế chay has me thinking I’ve been sleeping on scintillating stews for way too long." - Paolo Bicchieri
