Yes, I love Loving Hut. Case in point, dinner tonight. Delicious, satisfying, light and happy food!
Won Ton Soup
Earlier posts about Loving Hut: Loving Hut opens in Kennesaw and Loving Hut.
Tag: tofu (page 2 of 3)
The world of Twitter got me in touch with the lovely Sucheta Rawal from Go Eat Give, an innovative website/blog that combines three great passions of people – food, travel and service. We met for lunch at Fresh To Order. Despite it being Friday lunch hour, we got seats easily. If it wasn’t for the rain, we would have sat on the patio.
The conversation was illuminating, the food was nice too! The online menu didn’t show many vegetarian options (probably just one) but Sucheta pointed me to some others in the menu handout. She picked the Club Salad that combined mixed greens, toasted almonds, tomatoes, cucumbers, avocados, cheese, golden raisins and cranberries. The salad usually includes bacon but Sucheta asked for seared tofu instead. She mentioned that she orders it often; so I am guessing that it’s a good pick. I picked the Soup + Salad combination that included Wild Mushroom Soup and Tomato Mozzarella Sandwich (fresh mozzarella, roasted peppers, whole leaf basil, tomatoes, balsamic vinaigrette).
The soup was wonderful! I am happy that it was a half portion; eating an entire bowl would have probably weighed me down all day long. Mushrooms are heavy to digest. In fact, they are regarded as Tamasic in nature; they can aggravate all three Dosha imbalances, I have heard. In any case, mushrooms are an occasional indulgence for me. I don’t cook with them and hardly ever order them when we eat out. I have to admit, even with half a bowl, my tummy felt unusually heavy post-lunch. Not sure if it was the cream (assuming the soup contained cream) or the mushrooms themselves… But I thoroughly enjoyed the soup. The sandwich was nice as well. There was a generous stuffing of roasted red peppers in there, and the whole leaf basil added a fresh flavor to the sandwich. Neither was the balsamic vinaigrette too strong, and the fresh mozzarella tied all the tastes together with its creaminess.
At the cafeteria at my older workplace, the menu used to feature Roasted Red Pepper and Mozzarella Sandwich with Balsamic Vinaigrette. It used to be my favorite lunch option those days.
I can see myself going to F2O again, if only to sample the salad Sucheta ordered – it looked delicious!
Fresh To Order
1260 Cumberland Mall
Atlanta GA 30339
678-564-1400
World Peace Cafe sits on a little street, a minute or so away from Roswell Road. The instant you enter the cafe, the quiet envelops you in a loving embrace. There is a quiet hum of cheerful activity that permeates the expansive space with colored lamps and plants and the meditating Buddha who sits quietly between the plants. Colored teapots line the shelves behind the counter and paintings of Oriental women line the tall walls. Sunlight streams in through the multiple windows and you can see the quiet street below.
What did we get?
A pot of Raspberry-Ginger Tea, a plate of vegan Cranberry-Orange Pancakes and a plate of Tofu Scramble.
The pancakes were fairly good. They had the perfect level of sweetness, and didn’t weigh me down all day long (as most pancakes are wont to do). Syrup and maple syrup were part of the table condiments. The server asked me if I wanted honey. Guess I should have said yes. But the maple syrup went just fine with these pancakes. The orange-cranberry combo lent a faint sourness to the pancakes but all in all, it was a great pick. P’s Tofu Scramble was quite nice. I sampled just a bit off his plate. I am not too fond of potato wedges first thing in the morning (fried!) but I think it went well with the tofu scramble. This dish can be super-Indianized by the addition of cumin, cilantro leaves, slices of tomato, roasted peanuts… Yum.
These were the only two non-egg dishes on the breakfast menu. Every other item on the menu included eggs in some form. Hope that changes in the near future. The tea was wonderful! Mild and warm, it didn’t have excess sharpness (ginger) or sourness (raspberry). Just perfect.
A long time back, we’d visited this place for lunch and ordered their unique burgers. Innovative flavors, attractively presented, delicious sides… Mmm, it is time for a second trip, this time for lunch.
World Peace Cafe
220 Hammond Drive, Suite 302
Sandy Springs, Atlanta GA 30328
404-256-2100
Thai House (Roswell, GA) is a place I have visited multiple times before. I enjoy the food there. They have a separate menu section for vegetarians, the decor is nice, and they have some interesting menu items.
This time’s visit was a little different, though. The servers were terribly rushed. I think there were just two of them serving a bunch of tables. The food was fairly okay this time but I thought I’d write about the place anyway since I have visited so many times and liked the food every time.
So what did we order? We began with a soup, the Vegan Coconut Tofu Soup, to be precise.
It was wonderful! A great combination of light coconut milk, lime juice and lemon grass, it came with tofu, baby corn, water chestnuts and carrots. I love the hot pot presentation too. A great refreshing start to the meal, as cliched as it sounds!
For the entree, we ordered Basil Sue-Yi and Vegetable Fried Rice. I didn’t explain about the Sue-Yi, did I? Ok, Thai House offers a couple of variations of Tofu namely Sue-Yi and Sue-Gai. As per the menu online, Sue-Yi is essentially made from seaweed, ginger, salt, soy bean, soybean fiber & vegetable oil. Similarly, Sue-Gai is made from soy bean, vegetable fiber, flour, soy sauce & vegetable oil. I have ordered both of them in multiple dishes and enjoyed the tastes thoroughly.
Very tasty indeed. The flavors were bright without being too strong, and the vegetables retained their crunch. Thankfully, there was none of that overwhelming taste-scent of garlic drowning all other flavors.
The Vegetable Fried Rice was a disappointment. Ok, let me rephrase. What they got for us afterward was disappointing. When they first brought it, we noticed flecks of fried egg scattered all over. So we sent it back. The version they sent us the second time tasted dull. Hardly any flavors in there; some crisp broccoli florets and some tofu, possibly? I wouldn’t recommend ordering this one.
Did we have dessert? If you know me, you’d know that I always give dessert a chance. So we went ahead and got Bananas in Coconut Milk. Maybe that isn’t the exact name of the dish.
Our server explained that these banana fritters were deep fried in a rice batter containing coconut milk, then drizzled with sugar and honey. I LOVED them. I must mention, this is a HUGE dessert. As much as I would have loved polishing the plate clean, I had to regretfully admit that I couldn’t. This dessert can be shared by 3-4 people. Can I say it again how much I liked this one? There was something almost Indian-tasting about this one. Probably the taste of rice and coconut milk.
Not a very satisfying visit but I’ll go another time, for sure.
Thai House
1227 Alpharetta Street
Roswell, GA 30075
770-993-1688
www.thaihouseroswell.com