one restaurant that all my vegan friends in the bay area constantly rave about is cha-ya vegetarian. the san francisco casual eatery serves up fresh vegan japanese fare that tastes great and is relatively healthy. i went there when i was up in SF and i felt that the restaurant had great potential…you just gotta know what to order. the menu is absolutely huge, daunting, and in some cases unspecific. unfortunately on my visit, i felt i ordered the wrong stuff, and found myself drooling over the food being brought to the other tables. oh well, i guess this just gives me a chance to return to cha-ya, because it seemed like a really great place.

Haru Maki ( Spring Roll) Asparagus, shitake, carrots, long beans silver noodles, and atsuage tofu rolled in rice sheet. Lightly fried and served with sweet and sour sauce (2 rolls cut into 6 pieces). $6.25

we started out with the haru maki spring rolls which were very tasty, but a lot heavier than i expected. the fried tofu and vegetable concoction ended up being the highlight of our meal.

Natto Fermented soy beans sushi roll. $4

we also ordered the fermented soy bean sushi roll, which was decent, but not very flavorful. i don’t think i would order it again.

Soba Salad Soba noodles topped with various seasonal vegetables, sesame-oil vinaigrette dressing. $7

the meal took a turn when they brought out or soba salad dish. the plate of noodles was covered in a mish mash of fruit and vegetables that didn’t seem to go together at all: strawberries, onions, bell peppers, carrots, broccoli, and edamame. seriously who thought of this dish? does that look or sound tasty to you AT ALL?

Cha- Ya Nabe ( Vegan Sukiyaki) Nappa cabbage, spinach, red onion, carrots, mushrooms, kabocha, broccoli, cauliflower, lotus root, zucchini, snap peas, snow peas, silver noodles, and tofu in sukiyaki broth. Served in an iron pot. $8.75

for our entree we ordered the cha-ya nabe, which turned out to be a vegetable soup in a hot pot with tofu and noodles. there was very little tofu in it, and i when ordering, i was expecting it to be more of a noodle dish than a soup. it was good, i just wasn’t prepared for it. we also got the vege-tofu curry soup (pictured below) so we wound up having two soup entrees for dinner on accident. they both kinda tasted the same, and i have to say we were pretty underwhelmed by these dishes.

Vege-Tofu Curry Curry soup topped with tofu, pearl onions, kabocha, celery, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, mushrooms, and sugar snap peas. $8.75

as we were leaving chay-a, completely full of soup, i couldn’t help but notice all the beautiful dishes on other tables that i wish i’d have ordered. colorful sushi rolls, mounds of vegetables, and plates piled high with thick noodles. how did i end up with all the liquid and a strawberry bell pepper salad?! i have friends who went there recently cha-ya recently and had a very similar experience. they ordered tons of things off the menu, and when the food arrived, everything turned out to be fried! just be sure you know what you are ordering when you dine at cha-ya.

ah well, i guess i will just have to go back to san francisco and eat here again to set things right.

cha-ya vegetarian
762 Valencia St
(between 18th St & 19th St)
San Francisco, CA 94110

every time i go to the uk, i try new and wonderful food that i wish i could take back home to los angeles. well guess what? turns out i can!

spicy dumpling noodles (the quarrygirl version): steamed vegetable gyoza, asian vegetables, udon noodles, and miso broth

on a recent trip to london, i felt so out of my element. i was wandering the streets looking for any one of the vegan restaurants i’d so carefully researched online…none of which i was finding. to make matters worse, i was with my ex-vegetarian (now vegan) english husband who was kindly patronizing me as i promised to show him all the “vegan friendly” restaurants i’d bragged about finding in his hometown that he’d failed to notice, because he must have been blind!

2 hours later…no vegan restaurants. he’s late for a meeting…and his stupid american-girl-of-a-wife, who doesn’t even know from which direction the traffic will be crossing, is aimlessly pulling him around the west end looking for a restaurant that understands the difference between vegan (vg) and vegetarian (vo). disaster.

15 minutes left before the lunch window slams shut and my husband has take off, we happen across a little shop called itsu on regent street, and he convinces me to give it a try. completely pwned, i agree, and follow him in and try to make the best of the situation.

and boy am i glad i did!

recipe after the jump…

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