Valentines Day at Kuan Yin Tea House

Hi guys, last night for Valentines Day we did end up getting to go out. Luckily Marco finished work early, so we got dressed up and headed to China Town in the Valley. Kuan Yin Tea House is a place I have been wanting to try for a while. I never knew about them, until the night I walked past them on my way to Tea Master: Vegetarian Cafe Restaurant. I noticed they were one of the busiest Asian restaurants and considering it’s Vegetarian Food in a city of meat eaters I thought that was saying something.

We had to make our reservation quite early at this place, because they actually shut at 7.30pm. I thought 1 hour would be enough time to eat entree, main and dessert, considering this restaurant is quite small. So when we arrived we were greeted by a nice waitress who showed us to our table. It’s not a fancy place by any means, but it’s clean and there were plenty of pictures of the food on the walls. This really helped us, as the menu didn’t have any explanations or pictures of the dishes. Not all the dishes are vegan, but the ones we ordered were.

For entree we ordered Phantom Chips and Veggie Satay Sticks. The Phantom Chips had were made of mashed taro and pumpkin on the inside and rice paper that had gone crispy from being fried on the outside. I really liked them. Marco did too, but he couldn’t have to much because it was quite sweet, even though he’s the sweet tooth. The Satay Sticks were excellent. The texture was like chicken, the sauce was good and they were cooked evenly all the way through.

Phantom Chips

Veggie Satay Sticks

Then for mains we ordered a Wonton Soup and Veggie Snow Fish Rice. The Soup was good. It had lots of vegetables, 5 wontons, noodles and a nice flavored broth. The Veggie Snow Fish was amazing. It can’t believe it wasn’t fish. The texture, the taste, it was so good. On the side their was sauteed green beans with peanuts, marinated taro, some other vegetables and rice with gomasio.

Wonton Soup

Veggie Snow Fish Rice

Veggie Snow Fish

For the drink we got a Lychee Green Tea with Pearls. For dessert we had the Valentines Dessert. This was a heart shape Rich Chocolate Cake that was all gooey inside, Berry Coulie and Berry Ice cream. This was an excellent end to the meal and for once I got to have dessert. The candle was a strange touch, but it was romantic I suppose.

Lychee Green Tea with Pearls

Vegan Rich Chocolate Cake, Berries Coulie, Vegan Berry Ice cream

I really loved this place and can’t wait to go back. By the look of their blog the chef is trying out new desserts and is getting good reviews from the customers. Next time I want to try their vegan Tiramisu. The cost of the food is also quite cheap, especially compared to the other restaurants around China Town. Only down side is that they close so early. On friday night they do stay open till 8pm. Otherwise it’s a great place for lunch.

By the way sorry about the photos. Once we got our first dish we realised that we had no sim card in the camera. So all the photos are taken from my mobile phone. They definitely don’t do the food justice.