When you are in a new town, one of the best ways to get to meet new people and try new places to eat has to be Meet Up groups. On my previous visits to San Francisco I relied on the tried and trusted method of talking to strangers to make new friends. In the past this has unearthed some treasured friends. This time though, after spending the summer flitting from one Meet Up groups to another in the UK (all kinds of people meet for all sorts of activities - wearing just your pants/underwear on the tube being the strangest…no, I didn’t partake), I thought I’d make life simple and sign up for some vegan events.
The Bay Area Vegans and Vegetarians were meeting at Cha -Ya. Located in the hip Mission District @ 726 Valencia, I’d walked past it many times before but never went in. I was always lured by the promise of more rambunctious flavours of Latin America or hearty American fayre. The time had come.
I stuffed my feet into plastic shopping bags before zipping them into my boots to help ‘waterproof’ my vegan boots and headed off into the rain. It was early lunch time so the place was empty apart from, whom I gathered was the group, seated around a long table. The waitress was already taking orders so I quickly chose two dishes that looked the most interesting.
Shira Ae - veggies with tofu, tahini dressing. I enjoyed the flavours and the texture of the lotus root. But the tofu was not floating my boat, it had the texture of tough skin (??!!).
Deep fried Portabello mushrooms with Atsuage Tofu and a kiwi sauce. The sauce had just the right amount of acidity to cut through the oily mushrooms.
Such a hurry was I to eat and with the happy knowledge that the menu was 100% vegan, I didn’t even think (duh!) that the batter would not be gluten free. I think my brain was temporarily sodden by the linking days of rain!
I didn’t think the dishes I chose were earth shatteringly good but my Meet Up friends all were excitedly rating at the top of their own personal VEGAN charts.
I would go there again. Order something different next time. The staff were quick and courteous but their English is not the best and my Japanese stops at Konnichiwa, and some sort of easy way to remember #1-10 (something about itchy knees? obviously it didn’t stick) and that’s on a good day! It was nice to meet up with some Bay Area vegans.
You can view the menu here. They only accept cash.
| happy Bay Area vegans |
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