Restaurant Review | Zen Buddha, Vegan Chinese Cuisine in London

A couple of weeks ago we planned to meet up with our friends, Anna & Henry, at the Zen Buddha in Edgware, London. They recommended this place as one of the best places to try out vegan fare, especially mock-meat Chinese dishes.

In the last few years, the demand for vegan food has considerably increased with people opting for healthier alternatives to meat. Zen Buddha was founded with the hope that all living beings on the planet could co-exist in peace, with love and harmony. As such everything at the restaurant is made with wholesome vegan ingredients with their menu being Asian inspired.

Our friends with whom we were visiting Zen Buddha are Chinese and shared information on how classic meat-based Chinese dishes were replicated for vegans/vegetarians by replacing the meat with vegetables, soybeans or tofu. Tofu is made by coagulating soy milk and pressing the curds into solid white blocks. Also known as bean curd, tofu comes in varying degrees of softness with each variety being suitable for a particular dish.

The menu at Zen Buddha is varied and offers a lot of choices. We started off with a selection of starters which included Crispy Seaweed and Crispy Veggie Chicken. The crispy seaweed was perfectly deep-fried and seasoned very well. The crispy chicken had the perfect crust and a flavourful & tender soybean centre. It was beautifully flavoured and Anna said that the vegan dish's taste and texture were indistinguishable from the original meat version.

The vegan Prawn Crackers, as expected, did not contain any prawns but had the same texture and crunch as the prawn ones and were served with a trio of tasty sauces/dips.

We then tried the Veggie Crispy Duck which was served with pancakes, spring onions and cucumber. Anna explained to us the manner of eating the crispy duck. So, we had to take a pancake, add a slice of the crispy duck to it, coat it with hoisin sauce, add some cucumber & spring onion and then roll up the pancake and eat it with our hands. It was delicious!

Our next dish was the Veggie Pork which was served with a trio of sauces. Although this was also made from soybean like the other dishes, we could make out the difference in texture and taste. It was aromatic, smoky, a bit savoury and replicated the original dish, according to our friends who are familiar with the meat version.

The Satay Veggie Chicken was also delicious. The stir-fried veggie chicken was served with pepper and onion in a flavourful satay sauce.

The Spicy Szechuan Veggie Prawn also got full marks from all of us. Stir-fried veggie prawn was served with pepper and onion in a spicy Szechuan sauce. The soybean had been shaped to resemble prawns and was spicy & tangy and packed with strong flavours. It complemented the Singapore Noodles perfectly. 

The Singapore Noodles are stir-fried rice noodles served with veggie chicken, pepper, bean sprouts and spring onion.

We also tried the Pad Thai Ho Fun which was Thai-style noodles fried with veggie chicken, pepper, bean sprouts, spring onion and finely chopped cashew nuts. Delicious!

The highlight of the evening was the Sizzling Black Pepper Veggie Fish. The veggie fish (made with soybean and even had a faux fish skin made out of seaweed) was served with pepper and onion in a black pepper sauce. It was served on a sizzling platter and both the presentation and flavours were excellent. Anna confirmed that it had a consistency, taste and texture similar to the meat it was supposed to mimic.

Overall, we loved all the food we tried. Great food and great ambience although the service could be improved.

Whether you are in the process of making a transition to a plant-based diet or are a vegetarian looking for wholesome and delicious Chinese food, Zen Buddha is a great place to visit. Check them out at https://www.zen-buddha.co.uk/