The man surprised me by selecting an entree outside of his standard order of spring rolls. The 5 Spice Loh-Bak Rolls ($7.50) contained a subtly spiced taro mince filling wrapped in crispy bean curd skin. These tasty parcels got us off to a good start.
Curry puffs are always hard for us to resist and these large ones ($7.50) happened to be a fantastic choice this time. The mixed vegetable filling was blended with a perfect amount of curry spices and the sweet sticky dipping sauce was a nice condiment.
Penang Curry ($19.50) was a mild-medium spiced coconut based curry containing mock chicken chunks, tofu and potato cubes. It wasn't quite as spicy as we were led to believe yet it was still thoroughly enjoyable.
The King Do Pork Chop Hot Plate ($21.90) was a tangy sizzling hot plate piled high with a large assortment of vegetables and soy-based mock meat slices hiding underneath. This was the most realistic mock meat I have ever eaten but I actually found the flavour and texture a little disturbing as it was too close to my omnivorous recollections. The man and young man adored this and declared it their pick of the night.
Penang Rendang ($18.50) was too intriguing for me to pass up as we all love rendang and I was interested to try this version made with a variety of mushrooms. In addition to the coconut based curry sauce, it was full of grated coconut which made the coconut flavours too intense for my liking. It probably wasn't the wisest menu choice given we had already selected another coconut based curry.
The staff at Ren Dao were incredibly attentive throughout the evening and extremely helpful with making menu suggestions when the young man and I were stalling. The serving sizes were very generous, we could have easily done without one of the mains and this would have been sufficient food for the three of us. The staff offered to package up the leftovers which we happily enjoyed for lunch the next day. I'm keen to head back to Ren Dao as there are many more dishes I would like to try.
Where's the beef are the only other veg*n bloggers that have written about Ren Dao to date. Ren Dao was also mentioned by Brianna in her Southside staples article in the Planet VeGMeL zine.
Ren Dao Vegetarian Asian Cuisine
275 Glenhuntly Road, Elsternwick
9523 0150
Lunch Monday to Friday
Dinner Monday to Saturday
Closed Sundays
BYO Beer and Wine
It's a great restaurant, isn't it? Next time I visit I might have to over-order and arrange for lunch to take home too. :-)
ReplyDeleteWe were impressed with the restaurant and I'm keen to go back as there were so many more things I would have liked to try. It's wonderful that they are so accommodating about the leftovers too as we would have been so wasteful otherwise.
DeleteThat hot plate looks divine - and it sounds like you had a great night all up. Places that package up leftovers always get bonus points too, it is so nice when staff think it's no trouble to do!
ReplyDeleteThe hot plate was impressive with the amount of vegetables that were included and the sauce was lovely too. I loved being able to take home leftovers and wish that more places would offer this.
DeleteWow - those spring rolls look really fun, nice and different to the usual ones! Interesting that it had taro in - I've only had one run in with taro when I made it at home, and it really wasn't nice. I bet it was a lot better in the hands of someone who knew what they were doing! I know what you mean about meat analogues that are a bit too close to the real thing - I know it shouldn't bother me, but sometimes it really does!
ReplyDeleteI think it was my first taro experience, I don't recall eating it previously. It might be time to play around with it at home one day. I haven't been that disturbed with meat analogues before but pork (as I recall it) is such a strong flavour and this one was a little close for comfort.
Deletesounds interesting - I am not a fan of mock meat because it often reminds me too much of meat so I was interested to hear that you have your limits too with mock meat - but a place with lots to choose from is great if a little overwhelming
ReplyDeleteI can understand people not being fans of mock meat, sometimes it can be a little too close for comfort. The great thing about Ren Dao was that there were plenty of tofu, veg and mushroom dishes so you could easily avoid the mock meat if you aren't a fan.
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