Posted by Peter Liu in asian, restaurant review, vegetarian on July 17, 2007 at 2:07 pm

Lotus Pond Vegetarian Restaurant
3838 Midland Avenue
416-412-3140
Dinner for two with all taxes and tip: $40

When I first went to Lotus Pond I was told the restaurant had been around since I first landed in this country, almost twenty years ago, and to me that’s time immemorial. Learning the restaurant was wholly vegetarian was an even bigger excitement. That’s why I groaned inwardly upon seeing the place; it looked unassuming from the front entrance and even more forlorn on the inside. There were only a few regulars eating at the time, and judging by the way they acted and how they got along with the restaurant staff, it also seemed like the restaurant was quite dependent on them to survive.

Lotus Pond looks like your average Chinese restaurant. There are the tables covered in standard white linen, ornate high-backed dark-brown wooden chairs, and random pieces of Asian art near the front desk and on the walls. Essentially, Lotus Pond gives off the same kind of atmosphere one would expect to find going out for dim sum. I was more surprised later on to see dim sum on the takeout menu as opposed to the actual menu itself, which was filled with items back-to-back, single-spaced for 8 whopping pages.

The dishes offered in the menu all had faux meat in them, and this is the where the appeal of the restaurant lies. The majority of the dishes are classic Chinese favourites, ranging from soup, to congee, to rice and noodles, among others. At first we looked through the menu searching for items that seemed hard to duplicate as vegetarian dishes. Items like the Fried Mock Escargot with Black Bean Sauce ($9.99), the Stir-Fried Rice with Salty Fish and Chicken ($7.99), or the Deep-Fried Mock Oyster ($8.99), all sounded like a challenge to replicate as vegetarian dishes.

My Mother and I finally settled on a set dinner for two ($22.50), which consisted of Spring Rolls (2 pcs), a plate of assorted Gluten, Mock Shark Fin Soup, and Stir-Fried Vegetables with Seafood and Cashew Nuts. Service was good throughout, though at times the regulars kept chatting up the restaurant staff, lagging things a little.

The Gluten and the Mock Shark Fin Soup came first. The soup was piping hot, but the most distinct flavour I picked up right away was,surprisingly, the white pepper. The broth was thick and the soup was filled with shitake and enoki mushrooms, black fungus, bean threads, and bamboo fungus. The plate of assorted gluten was just that. The various pieces of gluten weren’t arrayed in any special fashion, and the pieces at the bottom were cold and soggy. The presentation turned me off to the rest of the dish; it was mediocre and I was looking forward to whatever came next.

The spring rolls were bigger than I thought they would be, stuffed with lettuce, carrot, mushrooms and bean threads. They were served with a vinegar-based condiment, and I had to admit the spring rolls were a bit bland without dipping into the sauce. Then the stir-fried vegetable and seafood dish came at last. It was nice and tasty, despite the oily appearance. The vegetables were cooked nicely, and the mock seafood turned out to be these flat brown pieces that tasted a bit like abalone. A complimentary dessert was served afterwards; sweetened green-bean soup that was typical fare for any Chinese restaurant.

Disappointingly the meal wasn’t very good, though the highlights of the set meal were clearly the stir-fried vegetables and the shark fin soup. Lotus Pond has a good reputation for being an amazing vegetarian restaurant; amateur reviews I sought out had good words for the place and spoke highly of the food. Unfortunately the place looks dilapidated and the Lotus Pond’s location could be a bit better, but for a restaurant that’s grown up with me? I can only wish for Lotus Pond's continued success.