fave local vegie restaurants (for soup)

hi all,

philippe suggested we post this a while back and i’m finally getting to it.

others have posted about indian restaurants so here are some non-indian ones:

(1) the vegan Garden Fresh restaurant is minutes from YiY on El Camino by Baskin Robbins. it’s hard to find vegetarian soups (and i love soups) and this is one place that has several – hot & sour, corn chowder, “chicken” curry noodle soup. their food is mostly Chinese and they are SUPER friendly. you don’t even have to order a soup ‘cuz they’ll give you a complimentary cup of corn chowder with any meal.

(2) i always seem to end up at the vegan Bay Leaf Cafe in downtown Palo Alto when they’re closed on Sundays or Mondays. but when you can hit it, it’s yummy and healthy and a cozy environ. this is a good option for vegie soup and salad type meals.

for vegetarian pho noodle soup, Pho Hoa (the main joint in downtown Mountain View) and Zao Noodle in downtown Palo Alto unfortunately both are no longer options. Pho Hoa got rid of their vegie broth recently and Zao Noodle took their vegie noodle soup off their menu about a year ago. (Zao has other yummy vegie options though.)

the closest options i know of now are:

(1) Pho Vi Hoa at the intersection of san antonio and el camino. yummy but with a bit of MSG in the broth.

(2) Tung Kee Noodle House at San Antonio Shopping Center near Trader Joe’s. not as good as Pho Vi Hoa but cheaper. you can request “vegetarian. just water. no chicken broth” and they are able to do it. but you have to be clear about it, especially if English is the second language of the wait person. repeat it twice! you also can’t be too anal ‘cuz they’re fast food enough that there’s no guarantee the spoons and pots aren’t contaminated. sometimes you’ll find a meat bit floating around.

i’d love to know if others have found good options around town.

best,
antonia

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