This vegan restaurant is unusually situated. It dominates the bookstore that shares the space. The menu choices are limited, but adequate. I had the large Yogi Bowl. It was quite good. The Choco-laddu dessert was delicous. It was like a brownie, but tasted nutty. All in, it was a very good place for vegans.
Pros: Vegan, peacefulI'm newly attempting a vegan lifestyle, and went to Radiance today for a late lunch. I am a big guy, but I got the small yogi bowl and it was perfect. The service was very friendly. The chef explained the ingredients to me and I could tell he loves what he does. I could not believe how delicious it was! I'll be going back, that's for sure.
Pros: Nice staff, Amazing food!Nice setting in a spiritual book store (Open Secret). Most delicious food ever eaten! All preparations are cooked with love and affection that you can feel and taste. Everything is organic, fresh and healthy. You can find little creative vegetable surprises on your salad that is made with an incredibly tasty salad dressing. It is difficult to say what I like most: the soup, the vegetable curry with grains, the salad, or the desserts. I can only recommend the amazing chocolate laddus!!!
Pros: Most delicious food, healthy, fresh and organic, Very friendly staffRadiance Cuisine is a unique, high quality, mom and pop restaurant located in "The Open Secret" new age bookstore. With the except of one dessert (which has a vegan version discussed below), the food is vegan, gluten-free, organic, and fresh and locally sourced. Every day that they're open, they serve a soup, a salad, a grain, and a vegetable dish. One can order a large Radiance Plate with all four of these items, a Small Radiance plate with all four of these items in smaller quantity, or a large or small Yogi Bowl (all these items except the salad). Or these items can be ordered ala carte. The large Radiance Plate IMO is huge, and most people other than large, hungry guys or teenage boys, will probably do best with the small Radiance Plate.
My husband and I had the Radiance Plates twice, and both times they were delicious! The combination of excellent cooking with quality ingredients is outstanding. One night our soup (yellow lentil dal vegetable) was out of this world, one of the best soups I've ever eaten. The salad dressings are restaurant-made as well--both nights delicious--one of them lemon tahini. One night the grain was brown rice and the other, quinoa with cashew, each served with a tasty fresh vegetable stew with a yellow curry sauce. My husband ordered the optional spicy hot, fresh, chutney with his meals, and enjoyed that quite a bit.
The reason this restaurant is technically considered "vegetarian" and not "vegan" is that one of the two dessert selections, the choco-laddu has a version made with butter, however, there is also a vegan version. The description of choco-laddu on the menu makes it difficult to visualize. The vegan one looks, feels, and tastes like piece of peanut-butter fudge, that is sweet, but not too sweet. Except that there's no peanut-butter in the dessert--the "peanut butter" taste comes from garbanzo flour. My husband and I both loved this unique dessert! Also, we enjoyed the coconut tapioca pudding dessert topped with fresh organic strawberries from the farmers' market. I would have preferred it a bit thicker, but it was delicious none-the-less.
The only issues I see with this restaurant have to do with variety, as the food quality is outstanding. For example, with only one main dish served, if someone has a food allergy that appears in one of these dishes (for example, tomatoes) and it happens to appear in one of four meal components, then one will have to make due with an ala carte "meal" that might
Pros: Delicious Food, Fresh, Organic, Local
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(Continued) ...that might just be salad and grain, or soup, salad, and grain. To avoid this sort of disappointment, one might want to call first to see what the meal is. I would be wonderful if they would post their daily meal selection on their web page. With only two desserts to choose from, as delicious as they are, it's conceivable that a regular would want to have additional dessert choices. The couple might want to consider having a "dessert du jour" in addition to the two they have, so they can take advantage of seasonal fresh fruits from the farmers' market and make them into to pies, etc.
If you are ever in San Rafael on a Wed., Thurs., Fri. or Sat. between 12 noon and 7 pm, I highly recommend you visit Radiance Cuisine!