New Vegetarian Restaurant in Ottawa!

We heard the news and had to check it out. Last night we dined at the new Green Earth Vegetarian Cuisine restaurant on Preston. We especially wanted to scope it out before taking the girls there since on one of our recent excursions downtown to the organic pizza place rumoured to have vegan cheese, we walked down Kent in the freezing cold only to learn that it had recently gone belly-up.

Green Earth is a refreshing place - bright in a happy way, with two dining levels. There are no curtains on the front window, so we instinctively wanted to eat near the back. I noticed that most people that came in after us felt the same way. There are two flat screen TVs tuned into SupremeMaster TV, which was an interesting channel piping continuous world peace and vegetarian messages subtitled in at least six languages.

The menu is puzzling. It is mostly Chinese/Asian, but with a section of six different veggie burgers, and burritos, fajitas and tacos, and another section of spaghetti and fettuccine alfredo. "Brushetta" is an appetizer alongside spring rolls and crispy wontons, and if you are so inspired you can order "fresh fries". There are only a couple of items that are not vegan and they are marked on the menu. The word "aulacese" is used several times. Not sure what that means. Internet searches imply that it is a synonym for Vietnamese.

The staff was very friendly and we were promptly served a pot of hot tea. We decided on an appetizer of Crispy Wontons, followed by soup - for me, Hot & Sour Soup and Petey ordered Rainbow Soup. The wontons were tasty, but there wasn't much filling, so we'll pass on those next time. Both of the soups were very good. This is now my go-to place for Hot & Sour Soup - loved it! We ordered dishes called "Three Flavours" and "Asparagus with Crescent" as our entrees. They were served as individual plates with a small pile of brown rice on each plate, so we had to kind of divvy up the plate in order to share both dishes. The "Three Flavours" - pumpkin, eggplant, tofu, onions and sweet basil was reminiscent of a Thai dish and very tasty. "Crescents" was asparagus and vegan prawn made from yam which was garlicky, salty and tasty. The asparagus was fresh and cooked perfectly and I think the prawn are funny. It was supposed to be served with chili sauce but I never saw any of that.

I thought we would be full by the end but we decided to try the vegan cheesecake. It was to die for. Slightly lemony and creamy on a graham cracker crust. Again, a repeat order next time we go there, and we may not be sharing.

It took a while to get our bill and we ended up having to ask for it. I wonder if it is a cultural thing, because I have noticed this at the Barrhaven Vietnamese Restaurant and a few reviews of that restaurant have alluded to this. If you are in a hurry, just ask politely for it or head to the cash.

Ottawa veggies, check it out! Let's keep our local vegetarian restaurants in business.

Green Earth Vegetarian Cuisine
354A Preston St
Ottawa, ON
(613) 56-EARTH
Mon-Sat 11am-9pm
Sun 12pm-8pm

Dinner and a Mystery

Thank you to everyone who left such heart-warming congratulations! We thoroughly enjoyed our week. I didn't do a lot of cooking and we dined out a lot, which isn't all that easy as a vegan sometimes. Mostly I take photos of what I make, but I had to blog about the most spectacular meal of the week, at Sacred Garden on Bank at Riverside. It is a completely vegetarian Thai restaurant. We've been there once before and were impressed, but this time we were totally blown away. I'm just getting used to taking my camera out of the kitchen, and had polished off the amazing Tom Yum Soup before it dawned on me to take a photo of it. The second course was the Green Papaya Salad.



I don't think I'd ever be able to reproduce it since green papayas have eluded me in the grocery store. It was excellent.

For the main course, we had Red Panang Curry.



The menu describes it as a dry curry, and being a lover of juicy things, I was pleasantly surprised that it had a creamy coconut sauce and was absolutely to die for.

We also chose the less exotic Pad Thai, which was really good.



Last, off the specials board, I noticed a dessert advertised as vegan, which I had to order just because the restaurant knew that having a vegan dessert was important. Since we were both full, Pete and I decided to share. It was the very best dessert I have ever had in my life.



Sweet and icy coconut milk surrounded soft fresh coconut slivers and tiny pink tapioca pearls. Pete graciously let me have the last spoonful. Perhaps he saw the crazed look in my eye and became a little frightened.

If you live in Ottawa and are veg*n, or just looking for a fantastic meal, try the Sacred Garden. Maybe the fake shrimp in the soup will freak you out a little, but the food will be exquisite.

On a seasonal note, the local pick-your-own-berries farm opened!



We're thinking that given one week of sunny days, there will be so many ripe strawberries on the plants that you can just sit in one spot and fill a basket.

This mystery vegetable arrived in our CSA box this week.



Does anyone know what it is or what to do with it?