Mio K.
Yelp
Oh I see you, Vegetarian Restaurant. Vegan restaurants are up in numbers, but they're often clumped in certain areas, may not be very good in their offerings and/or costing so much that I think of just throwing together a vegetable stir fry and calling it an affordable vegan meal. That is not the case here. We have a vegetarian restaurant and market that is so big in its signage that it's very easy to spot in the strip mall and access off of 163rd Street, and it's super great! Vegan Caribbean is a great concept.
I placed an order to pick up food here last night, and I wish I had chosen to eat in the restaurant instead! You see the front counter as soon as you walk in and the eating area, very prettily decorated and lit, to the right of the entrance, past many produce and shelf products. I only stayed for 10 seconds inside, but I could tell the restaurant smelled awesome and the vibe was something I wanted to hang out in.
I got an order of the Bamboo Bites, which are 2 ginger teriyaki and BBQ seitan skewers each, sitting atop a bed of shredded purple cabbage, carrots and spinach. I could barely decide which one I liked better since they were both so tasty! The seitan was tender and was coated well in each sauce. The ginger skewers had a good soy flavor with a slight zest of ginger, and the BBQ skewers were savory and slightly smoky tasting but with less sweetness and heaviness than traditional BBQ sauce (so I loved it).
I took the Vegan Boneless Short Ribs for lunch the next day and was amazed. Their short ribs are shredded seitan doused in vegan (of course) brown sauce over brown rice with peas. The sauce is incredibly flavorful and made everyone around me jealous to smell it. The brown rice and peas were cooked properly, leaving them easy to eat. There were black beans and steamed vegetables on the side. Now when I read "steamed vegetables", I assumed there was going to be maybe 3 unseasoned broccoli florets, like many other places would serve. But no, these had to be chopped cabbage and colored peppers that were also seasoned so well that I wanted more of them.
I'm really glad to have tried the food from here. I'll have to return to eat in the restaurant and have the other good looking dishes on the menu!