35379 Thu Mar 31 00:16:50 -0800 2005 7 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 161602 Made my first foray into the world of faux vegetarian cuisine today. Golden Era has a lot of favorable buzz and I found out it's well deserved. Started with the potstickers - No. 6 -$5.25 - filled with chopped tofu, vegetables & ginger - accompanied by a sprite ginger sauce. The potstickers had a nice chewy skin and were well browned...the filling was a bit creamy & mildy pleasant. the ginger sauce brought it all together. No. 33 - Gourmet Chicken- $7.25 - over broken rice came with a small salad (lettuce & tomato). The soy "chicken" was amazingly good - the texture was eerily chicken like and the spicy lemongrass seasoning was delicious. No. Sp6 was the Spicy Prawn - $9.50 - was our least favorite dish. It was battered mushroom in an onion & ginger sauce. The mushroom didn't hold up to the thick batter and seasonings. The frying was nicely done- crispy and greaseless but the batter was the predominant feature. Our last dish was No. 62 -Eggplant curry Claypot - $8.50. tofu, eggplant and onion in a coconut curry sauce. An excellent dish. The sauce was a good balance of curry, coconut milk & spice. The room was relatively calm and the service competent. Look forward to going back and trying more items. Thu Mar 31 00:16:50 -0800 2005 0 gordon wing 1 161606 I'll bite, why is it "faux" vegetarian? Are you referring to the onion, which would make it non-vegetarian to Chinese Buddhists? And for the record, where is Golden Era? Link: http://www.eatingchinese.org Thu Mar 31 00:27:25 -0800 2005 161602 0 Gary Soup 2 161607 location: 572 O'Farrel near Jones I think this meant faux meats - mock chicken, shrimp, fish, beef, etc... I tried the Vietnamese Crepe a few weeks ago and it was much better than I expected - and with no eggs, how do they do it? Huge, sauce like fish-sauce, mu-shu like fillings and fresh basil, mint, sprouts to dress it up yourself. The tamarind beef and eggplant basil entrees have received good reviews on this board before (actually maybe the reviews for those were from meals at their sister restaurant in Oakland - Golden Lotus. Also related to Stars Veggie in North Berkeley...all devotees of the same buddhist master) Link: http://www.goldeneravegetarian.com/ Thu Mar 31 00:53:46 -0800 2005 161606 0 kimchee 3 161608 So it's Vietnamese, then. I was confused, because Chinese Buddhists don't eat onion (or garlic). Talk about your hair shirt! Link: http://eatingchinese.org Thu Mar 31 01:19:43 -0800 2005 161607 0 Gary Soup 3 161619 thank you, I did mean faux meats .... we were talking about how not all Bhuddists are vegan/vegetarian ..... Golden Era does use onions & garlic....I forgot that Chinese Bhuddists didn't partake of onions & garlic. I seem to remember that in macrobiotic cooking they don't use them either. I saw a family in Hong Kong going out to eat the vegetarian fare at a temple but they snuck in their own bbq pork or some other meat. Thu Mar 31 03:19:38 -0800 2005 161607 0 gordon wing 1 161630 We had an "oakland ChowLunch" at their sister restaurant in Oakland last June (link below). It's run by a religious group, followers of the Supreme Master Ching Hai. Perhaps you can tell something of their beliefs from the name of the website: http://www.godsdirectcontact.org Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/29934#127710 Thu Mar 31 09:56:45 -0800 2005 161602 0 Joel Teller 1 161638 this is one of my favorite places to eat in the city, being a freaky meat luvin' vegetarian and all. the spicy gourmet chicken and pho are my favorites. Aside from the fish dishes (creepily too real - in a bottom-feeding, overly firm-fleshed kind of way) i haven't found anything i didn't like on the menu yet. Tamarind beef, tay ho rolls, steamed buddah bun, it's all good. the "buddhist sect" - cult actually, is headed by the "supreme master ching hai" who has quite an interesting story....freaks my bf out and he's afraid to go there too often. they have many, many affiliated restaurants throughout the us, all run by cult members. good eats. try it. pick up some literature while you're there. Thu Mar 31 11:46:10 -0800 2005 161602 0 rae 1 162439 Master Ching Hai converted me in one bite. We love Golden Era- delicious, cheap, clean, and friendly. What's not to love about a Buddhist master who dresses like a soccer mom, paints bad reproductions of European masters, and cooks a mean batch of soy meat? All hail Master CHing Hai! P.S. The mongolian "chicken" is amazing. Thu Feb 02 15:39:18 -0800 2006 161602 0 Ana