Om Vegetarian Restaurant - Nouveau Chinese Vegetarian

[ROLAND's NOTE: This sounds great, Ken, great catch. We'll have to check this one out soon, baby willing!]

As a timely follow-up to Roland's post on Organic and seasonal ingredients + Bishop's style service + authenticity = Chinese restaurant nirvana", we ventured to OM Vegetarian Restuarant on Cambie at 19th last night.

The large, bright dining room was colourful and inviting, as was the staff.  The menu boasts a variety of lactovegetarian (dairy but no eggs) dishes, both Chinese and non-Chinese. So in addition to many fresh vegetable and/or soy and tofu-based Chinese dishes (many with a spicy Szechuan inclination), you will also find a list of veggie burgers and sandwiches (clubhouse, monte cristo etc) and even veggie nachos. Something for everyone, eh ?

The four of us ordered a creamy smooth butternut squash soup to start that had chunks of very convincing veggie smoked ham, followed by an appetizer/first course of fried tofu and squid with salt and chilis. The veggie squid looked and tasted 90% like the real thing, hard to do when you think about the firm, almost-rubbery texture of squid. Apparently it's made from taro starch. Excellent. Another very nice dish was stir-fried eggplant and tofu in chili sauce. Two of us were surprised as we expected this dish to be like the traditional Szechuan recipe with minced pork, lots of garlic and chilis in a brown sauce. OM's version resembled more of a sweet & sour approach, still very good but it was just not self explanatory in the menu. Good idea to double check each dish with the wait staff before you order.The hit of the evening was the Ahan vegetables (item D1), a large platter comprised of gai lan, carrots, baby corn, napa cabbage, lots of Chinese mushrooms and "wood fungus", very popular in Northern Chinese regional cuisine. We fought for every last morsel !

To finish off dinner we tried two pieces of strawberry cheesecake (one with pineapple bits, the other without).  These contained milk and cheese but no eggs. Very convincingly like the real thing.

Not only were we (including two finicky Chinese parents) very pleased to find a  great vegetarian Chinese restaurant alternative to Bo Kong, we also highly enjoyed OM's open, contemporary atmosphere, and that their recipes were very easy on grease and salt - a welcomed departure from many Chinese restaurants and their recipes. The staff informed us they make most of their own soy and tofu-based ingredients in-house. Everything is made from the freshest ingredients possible.

Total tab for a soup and rice for four, three dishes and two slices of cheesecake was just under $50.  We'll be back soon.

OM Vegetarian Restaurant
3466 Cambie (across from Choices)
604-873-6868

Bon appetit

Contributed by SaabKen