Fake Duck

Posted on 2007/01/25 06:03:44 (January 2007).

[Monday 22nd January]
So I was in to my second week in California, and my third week in the new job. Not really a lot to report though.

In the evening I fancied a curry, so went for a walk to an Indian restaurant near my hotel which I'd spotted on a previous foray. To my disappointment it was closed though, so I reverted to plan B - a vegetarian Chinese restaurant I had noticed the previous day en route to the Italian place.

I'm sorry to say it, but it was really bad. I started off with a kind of Chinese gyoza (dumpling type thing) which were stodgy and tastless. For the main course I was intrigued by the vegetarian duck on the menu. It was apparently made with yuba (the outer skin of tofu) and shiitake. The texture wasn't too bad, but the taste was really bland, and the sauce it was in did nothing for it. It was accompanied by some dull vegetables and dried out brown rice. A real disappointment. I shudder to think of all the meat eaters who agree to go along with a vegetarian friend to a place like this, and have a meal like that as their only experience of vegetarian food.

I trudged back to the hotel afterwards feeling dissatisfied and a bit miserable.

Well remembering the great Fake Tonkatsu of Rholan must have added some tragedy to the whole experience! :)

Posted by Lox at 2007/01/25 08:27:48.

Yes that was very much on my mind!

Even though Japan has barely any vegetarian food, when you do find it, it generally seems to be made to the same standards as the non-vegetarian food in Japan - and food standards there seem to be generally quite high.

In California it seems the motto is "quantity rather than quality". Come to think of it that was largely true in Seattle as well.

Posted by John at 2007/01/25 17:25:35.

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