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2016-08-11
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Grassroots pantry is one of those places that caters to the magical thinking of the wealthy-but-clueless. Y'know, the people who think that "gluten sensitivity" (not celiac disease), "superfood", and "juice cleanse" are real things, and not just marketing labels for stuff that has no magical power. GP strives "to create food that heals" (emphasis original), though they don't say exactly what they're trying to heal you of, and there aren't any warnings about the side effects you might experience,
But that's the price you pay for vegetarian food in Hong Kong: either you go to the Buddhist place, where there's no booze, or you got to places like this. Hey, the food can still be good.
Unfortunately, the food isn't all that good at GP. It's not terrible. It's just pricey and mediocre at best.
Pan-fried gyoza, "Almond Dan Dan Dressing. Szechuan Peppercorn Vinaigrette" $68. The dumplings were a little floppy. They weren't really shaped like gyoza, and they weren't all that crispy from the pan frying. Still, the filling was reasonably good, and the dressings were judiciously applied and pleasingly subtle, that is, not overwhelming in the least. You can get an entire meal of veggie dumplings in this town for what we paid for these three, but they were alright.Food score: B-
Healing score: F
Lotus root 'meatball', "Garam Masala. Home-Roasted Marinara. Tree nut Cheese Pecorino" $78. They give you a 2-page glossary with the menu so you can figure out what the menu items are supposed to be. Most dishes have more post-nominal letters than an insecure IT professional's business card. For example, this one is V.GF.BF, which I assume means "venomous; gently fascist; boils funny." I didn't read the glossary.The dish comes with two 'meatballs', but we talked them into giving us a third-- didn't check how much they charged us . The best way to think of this is that it's like falafel-- crispy on the outside, and then kind of a grainy interior. But the interior is made of lotus root, so it's crunchier and juicier than falafel. It's an interesting dish, but I don't think I prefer it to either falafel (the thing it's most like) or vegetarian arancini (the thing that looking at it, I most wished it was).
Food Score: B-
Healing Score: F
Fried free-range egg on kimchi pancake, "Sriracha Cashew Mayo. Nori Salad (GF.BF.NF)" $118. How do you ruin a kimchi pancake? I mean, seriously, the best kimchi pancakes I've had are fantastic: crisp and fluffy and kimchi-infused and spicy... they just make you want to stuff the whole thing down your gullet. The worst ones I've had were still pretty good. Well, until now:
No kimchi flavor. No crispness. The texture of a soggy veggie burger. Even if you squint and turn your head it doesn't come close to resembling a kimchi pancake. Food Score: D
Healing Score: F
Vietnamese yellow curry, "Grilled Kiffir Tempeh. Lemongrass. New Potatoes. Eggplant. Coconut Milk. Steamed Short Grain Brown Rice (V.GF.BF.NF)" $138.The curry was pretty disappointing. The sauce was really thin and just ran out under the rice, and it didn't have very much flavor. The amount was kinda small and there weren't too many veggies, plus the eggplant I got was completely soggy. I mean, eggplants be soggy, I know, but this was a little next-level. Also, does anyone actually like tempeh?
Food Score: C-
Healing Score: F
An ethnic plate (yes, that is what it is called), "Dal Makhani. Scrambled Tofu. Crushed Kasoori Methi Aloo. Moroccan Carrot Salad. Pap-en-vleis in Berbere Spice. Pickled Kohlrabi & Wild Arugula. Teff Injera (V.GF.BF.NF)." I'll be breif. Dal makhani is good because it's creamy; this was too dry. Scrambled tofu, boring. Methi aloo, don't remember that part. Carrots: fine, a few overcooked. Pap-en-vleis is meat and maize porridge, I have no idea what that means in the context of a vegetarian restaurant. Salad was fine. The injera wasn't really sour enough.
Food score: C-
Healing Score: F
In the end, the food hadn't healed me. I guess I only had a few mosquito bites, a couple of pimples, a scratch or two, some razor bumps, a hangnail, a touch of imposter syndrome, and maybe a little gas, but alas! I'm still pretty much the same now as before. So at least in its stated, primary mission, the restaurant is a failure.
Luckily, I didn't go there for medical treatment, I went for food. Unfortunately, the food isn't that great. It's not terrible. But for lots of the food here, you can pretty easily get much better, equally vegetarian, versions elsewhere. Veggie dumplings? Fast, easy, cheap, and delicious, all over town. Veggie kimchi pancake? Wherever Korean food is sold-- pretty much guaranteed to be better than here. Veggie curry? Most Thai places make a fairly good one. Sure, it's hard to find those things all under the same roof, but notice what happens when you do: Grassroots Pantry is jack of all cuisines, master of none.
If you don't believe in the magic, there's really no reason to come here. But I guess if you don't believe in the magic, you probably already knew that.
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