How have I missed this place for so long? Anytime we are on the skytrain between New Westminster Station and Columbia Station, I could look out the window and see V Cafe, Vegan Vietnamese Cuisine! So obviously, someone needs to pay more attention. And why is it that Vietnamese food lends itself so much to vegan cuisine? No doubt the strong Buddhist tradition in Vietnam is a large part of it. Since a Bodhisattva strives to cultivate compassion, likely many would start with vegetarianism and then move on to veganism when the cruelty of the dairy and egg industries becomes apparent to them.
Located at the corner of Carnarvon and Eighth, it could hardly be closer to New Westminster Station. That being said, although I am now 6 weeks into my new knee, I am still a little shy about serious walking and even transit. Also, we usually park at Scott Road Station and transit into town so there would be little advantage to using transit to just cross the river. So we drove here from Aldergrove.
There were a couple of things that we were quite excited about and the first was Pho. This vegan version was quite substantial and the broth was deeply flavourful. There were lots of goodies including fish balls, sausage in addition to some tofu and veggies! Very nice!
We ordered a Vegan Lemongrass Chicken Rice Plate which was also very good. The lemongrass chicken was the star of course, saucy and flavourful, but there was a second 'meat' which we think was the ginger chicken. It was more subtlety flavoured but we enjoyed it as well. Like most Vietnamese plates this one came with a colourful and crispy salad,
We ordered both of these dishes as combos one of which came with Spring Rolls which were filled with veggies and tofu and was accompanied by the expected dipping sauce.
The other came with Lemongrass Chicken Salad Rolls and an excellent peanut dipping sauce. We seemed to end up with the lemongrass chicken a lot which we don't regret. That's not to say that there aren't other choices. There are a lot of combo options here and it would be crazy to pass them up.
The Bahn Mi is the second thing we were quite excited about. They have quite a few options and for some reason, we landed on lemongrass chicken yet again. This was a pretty good sandwich including quite good bread which is always one of the keys to great Bahn Mi. It was crunchy on the outside and pillowy on the inside as ordered! A nice selection of crunchy veggies in addition to the chicken and we were happy!
The menu at V is fairly extensive and note that not every single item is vegan, It is kind of the opposite of the omnivorous place that has one plant-based item for your vegan friend. They have one meat item so your carnivore friend will not die of protein deficiency. There are still a lot of things that we would like to try and again...right across from the skytrain station! The staff were friendly and accommodating. It was a little chilly but they had just opened so that is probably why.
Food 4 1/2 out of 5
Vegan Options 5 out of 5
Comfort 4 out of 5
Service 4 out of 5
Value 4 1/2 out of 5
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