Garden Wok, along with it’s sister restaurant Vegetable Delight, are two vegan Chinese places in the area I’d heard and read much about but not yet had the chance to try. My chance finally arrived to visit Garden Wok in Reseda (Vegetable Delight is in Granda Hills), and my only regret is not having tried this place sooner.
As an appetizer I had the Lettuce Wraps: “Fresh lettuce heads filled with minced fresh mushrooms, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, soy chicken and dried tofu stir-fried in delicious hosin sauce”. These were so tasty, the lettuce was perfectly crisp, the filling excellently flavored… the sauce was both bold and subtle at the same time, not too salty. This tasted and felt very “meaty” with delightful crunch from the bamboo and water chestnuts. Non-vegetarians would be hard pressed to miss the meat in this one.
For the main course I had the Garden Three Ingredients: “Combination of veggie-chicken, veggie-beef and veggie-shrimp stir-fried to perfection in a delicious ginger-soy sauce with broccoli, carrots, zucchini and mushrooms”.
Again, this was awesome. I loved the flavor (I love anything ginger flavored actually) and all the faux meats where delicious and convincing. I believe the soy shrimp they use here is not entirely vegan (it contains whey), and this is stated clearly on the menu so you can make your choices carefully.
What I liked best about these dishes as that they were very light and healthy, not overly heavy and greasy like a lot of Chinese food tends to be. Good stuff, I can’t wait to go back and try more.
I’ve been to Vegetable Delight, but never to Garden Wok, despite the fact that I drive past it on the way to yoga every Wednesday. There’s a Vegan Meetup at Veg. Delight coming up in July. Interested?