Enlightened Cuisine

The Crown complex is somewhere I usually try to avoid like the plague and have only had the displeasure of attending on a few rare occasions. When the man mentioned taking our son to see the last Harry Potter movie there, I agreed straight away as this would be my chance to introduce us to a nearby restaurant I had been wanting to go to for so long - Enlightened Cuisine.

Enlightened Cuisine is a popular and well renowned Chinese vegetarian restaurant that specialises in mock meat meals as well as a variety of tofu and vegetable based dishes. The man and I were very impressed when we sampled a selection of their dishes at World Vegan Day last year and ever since I had wanted the chance to choose from their full range of meals.

Rendang love extends throughout the three of us as our son made us proud and settled upon this as his choice almost straight away. The man and I were in debate mode for quite some time. My initial thought had been to order a tofu or vegetable dish so we weren't just eating mock meat. The man thought that if we were taking the rare opportunity to go to a mock meat restaurant we shouldn't be choosing tofu or vegies as we already eat them on a regular basis. We eventually put ourselves on the spot, ordered without final consultation and ended up with two Kung Po's between us; chicken and lamb. 

Apologies for the poor quality phone pics throughout this post...

The Beef Rendang was served with potatoes, the sauce was nicely spiced and the mock meat full of flavour. Our son is not vegan nor vegetarian but declared this to taste better than meat. From memory the rendang at Loving Hut had a slightly superior sauce (although I can't put my finger on why or how it was different) but their mock meat slices were not as nice as the chunks that Enlightened Cuisine use.

The Kung Po lamb was also delicious with a wonderful spicy sauce that was full of whole chillies and thankfully, a good selection of vegetables. The Kung Po chicken was a bit different to the lamb as it was served in a nest of fried potatoes and topped with cashews. It also contained a large amount of whole chillies and the same selection of vegies but the sauce was much sweeter and lighter in colour than the Kung Po lamb sauce. Of these two dishes, we all preferred the lamb over the chicken.

The service on the night was prompt and attentive and the meal was deemed to be a success in all of our eyes. Now that we have finally made it to Enlightened Cuisine, I'm sure we will visit again to sample more of the extensive menu as my boys do love their mock meat!

Enlightened Cuisine has been reviewed in the past by many bloggers but more recently by Where's the Beef,  Vegetarian Life Australia, vegan about town and easy as vegan pie.

Enlightened Cuisine
113 Queensbridge Road, Southbank
Phone: 9686 9188
Web: www.ecuisine.com.au