November 1 is World Vegan Day with many restaurants celebrating the occasion with special offerings for the whole month. To start you off on a green feast adventure, here are 5 restaurants that have come up with creative innovative plant-based dishes that could tempt you to turn to a vegan diet.
SUM MADE (11 Davies Drive, Albany)
Dim sum is a traditional Cantonese-style titbit dining that originated in Southern China, where I am originally from. Famous for things like har gow (shrimp prawn dumplings), char siu bao (BBQ pork steamed buns) and siu mai (steamed pork dumplings).
The dishes come in a wide range of flavours, textures and aromas but for vegans, they would often feel left out as nearly all the offerings will be meat-based.
Sum Made, a modern Chinese restaurant in Albany, which prides itself on serving premium dim sum has come up with an innovative twist to celebrate Vegan Day.
The restaurant’s dim sum chef have curated a special dim sum basket featuring savoury vegan dumplings. The selection in the $13 basket comprises of a black truffle mushroom dumpling, vegan zhiu zhou dumpling, vegan shrimp dumpling and beetroot taro dumpling. The special will run from 1-14 November 2024.
With each dumpling artfully crafted, you’ll taste a blend of flavours that will ignite your senses - no matter what your dietary inclinations are.
TINFENY’S (4 Brown Street, Ponsonby)
Not often do we hear about Cambodian when we talk about food in Auckland. That’s probably because there’s only one true Cambodian restaurant that I can think of - and that’s Tinfeny’s.
Cambodian food often gets overshadowed by cuisines from its more famous neighbours Thailand and Vietnam.
For those of you who tried its national dish, the fish amok, you will know that it is absolutely delicious and one of the best dishes ever created. The fish is covered in a thick coconut sauce seasoned with fish sauce, palm sugar, eggs and a curry paste known as kroeung.
The fish and sauce are steamed inside a banana leaf, giving it a light and fluffy texture.
Vegans can only dream about feasting on this - until now that is. Chef Richny Hy has carefully crafted a vegetarian version using ‘vegan fish’ of her national dish and seriously, it is just as delicious if not better than the real fish version.
SUNFLOWER THAI (6/50 High Street, Auckland CBD)
Sunflower Thai is a restaurant started by chef Nina Nartnue offering a cheap and cheerful vegan twist to traditional Thai dishes.
Offerings include green curry, crispy ‘pork’ belly and even fried ‘chicken’ - so realistic from texture to taste - you won’t believe its not real meat. While I wouldn’t say they tasted exactly like pork and chicken, I was impressed by its juiciness and the satisfyingly crispy crust.
If you’re just a beginner looking to venture into plant-based menu for Vegan Month, this is a good place to start.
I would strongly recommend the vegan hot pot, which comes in a rich and savoury broth that I loved slurping it all up after cooking my steamboat dishes.
WATER DROP CAFE (16 Stancombe Road, Flat Bush)
No you don’t have to be religious or Buddhist to be enjoying the meat-free curry laksa, wonton noodles or Hainanese ‘chicken’ rice.
These are just some of the plant-based versions of the real thing that truly hit the spot.
I love the curry noodles with the crunchy veggies, spongy tofu and creamy spicy broth that creates a delightful combination of textures.
After the meal, you’d also have an opportunity to take a walk around the grounds of the impressive Fo Guang Shan temple.
AJISEN RAMEN (5/7 Kingdon Street, Newmarket, with outlets also in Botany, Henderson and Takapuna)
Now, the thing with ramen is that you would most certainly miss out on having this because most aren’t vegan friendly.
That’s because either the noodles contain egg, and the ramen broth is made from either animal-based stock or dashi, which is fish and is often served topped with sliced pork.
The good news is there’s Ajisen Ramen, which makes its chewy wheat flour noodles in store - 100% no eggs - making them absolutely vegan-friendly.
It has plant-based broth options, which includes the Kakiage Ramen, which comes with vegetable fritter, tamago, scallion and kikurage and the Vegetables Shoyu Ramen.
ABOUT WORLD VEGAN DAY
World Vegan Day was created to mark the 50th anniversary of the UK-based Vegan Society, held on 1 November 1994. This was later extended to become World Vegan Week and now World Vegan Month, celebrated worldwide as a time to shine a light on the vegan movement.
