Go Veggo for Vu Lan

Viet Chay Restaurant serves vegetarian food and will give out free Vu Lan CDs today and tomorrow - Photo: Hoa Minh

Vegetarianism is growing in popularity around the world because of animal rights concerns and better health awareness. It’s low in fat and rich in vitamins and fiber. There are lots of restaurants that sell Vegetarian food especially in Vietnam during the Vu Lan Festival, a Buddhist holiday held on the 14th and 15th of the seventh lunar month. So we thought it would nice to look around and see where the most delicious food is available.First there is a family restaurant called San May  at 252/43 Cao Thang Street, District 10, HCMC. The sign shows a sky full of clouds but seen looking down from a mountaintop. The restaurant has a cosy design, paintings of lotuses on the walls, calligraphy, and wooden tables. The range is wide and the prices reasonable. For example, goi cuon or raw vegetable spring rolls are only VND5,000 each, diep cuon or raw flat cabbage spring rolls are VND8,000 each and soups like seaweed soup and sour bamboo sprout soup are just VND30,000-VND35,000. Other appetizers include lotus root salad and San May mushroom salad only VND30,000-35,000. Some of the popular main dishes are stir-fried baby corn and mushroom, baby jack-fruit cooked with coconut juice, mushroom curry, and San May mixed rice at VND35,000. Customers can try San May hot pots for two at VND110,000 and VND130,000 for four people. The restaurant has a delicious che buffet with 20 kinds on the 1st, 14th, 15th, and 30th of each lunar month at VND20,000 a ticket. The restaurant also has free wifi, motorbike parking and home delivery anywhere in the city.

Next, we visited Viet Chay Restaurant, known as one of the cleanest restaurants in HCMC. The restaurant is beside Vinh Nghiem Pagoda at 339 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street in HCMC’s District 3. It is decked out in timber and decorated with rattan lanterns and calligraphy. Zen music helps customers get relaxed after work. The restaurant has made some additions to its menu since last year. The new dishes include four-season salad, raw flat cabbage spring rolls, Macau tofu, stir-fried bok-choy with mushroom, mixed spinach, carrot and seaweed, deep fried Vietnamese noodle, and Thai curry between VND35,000 and VND45,000 a dish. You will get one free music VCD or DVD about the Vu Lan Festival, a pen, and a rose if  you come for the buffet on Monday and Tuesday during the festival. Buffet parties are often held on the 1st and 15th of the lunar months. Tickets for the parties are VND100,000 for adults and VND60,000 for children below 9. Beverages include a special kind of beer without alcohol imported from Germany for VND30,000. The restaurant opens from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. for breakfast at VND20,000-VND25,000 until 9:30 p.m. 

Our last stop was Seoul Garden at 208 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street. The restaurant opens from 11:00 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. serving special vegetarian buffets on Monday and Tuesday for Vu Lan. Meals include spring rolls, soup, various kinds of sushi, Thai curry, Dong Co Ngu Sac or five-color dish and fried rice with special sauce. Lunch tickets cost VND199,000 for adults and VND99,000 for children; VND239,000 for adults and VND119,000 for children in the evening. A Seoul Garden specialty are the 18 kinds of che.

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