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  • 5
  • The Best Veggie Chinese in the area

This review is taken from my DC Area review Web site, http://larasvegi-table.com. This is a new kid in the Veggie restaurant sandbox. So far, this newbie has remained relatively undiscovered. This concerns me, since decent veggie restaurants are hard to come by. I think part of the problem has been the location out in Chantilly. Location aside, this is becoming my favorite veggie Chinese food (stealing the crown from Chopsticks House in Sterling). There food seems fresher, and made with love. My 1st test for a place of this nature is the spring rolls. Any Chinese restaurant that does not have decent spring rolls (Not their inferior cousin, the egg roll) is not worth their salt. Lotus' spring rolls are superb. The veggies inside are crisp and obviously not the kind of rolls bought from the frozen food section. A lot of restaurants these days have bland rolls where the veggies all blend together and are over-cooked. Lotus is of the caliber that makes theirs by hand, the veggies are not cooked within an inch of their life. Each one stands out and compliments the whole at the same time. What surprised me most was the inclusion of hot and sour soup on their menu. Typically made with beef broth, it is often shunned on veggie menus. The few times I have tried vegetarian version, they just did not taste like the soup I remember from my carnivorous days. I decided to give Lotus' version a try. I honestly could not tell the difference. They had found the perfect veggie recipe to mimic the soup I used to love to eat. The wonton soup is also fantastic. In the entrée department, I have had the General Tso Surprise, Manchurian Palate, Cashew "Chicken," and Singapore Rice Noodle. If you have eaten at Sunflower, you have probably eaten their General Tso Surprise. In my humble opinion, Lotus' is a superior product. I enjoy the sauce and texture of the soy protein much more. This is a perfect dish for veggie beginners, or carnivores being dragged to a veggie restaurant against their will. The Manchurian Palate is almost the same thing, with the slight change in the sauce, and the use of steamed cauliflower instead of broccoli. This dish was very delicious, but not quite as good as its sister dish. The sauce has a little less sweetness to it. That seems to be the only difference in these two dishes. If given the choice, I would go with the General Tso every time. Everything I have had there has been superb.


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