Chinese Vegetarian Lunch at Happy Veggie Garden 寛心園 in Rowland Heights, CA
There a few Chinese vegetarian restaurants around the Los Angeles area, and all of them are in the San Gabriel Valley. Only a couple of them offer an All You Can Eat option, and they are priced under $20.00 per person, and ironically, both restaurants have “Happy” in its name: Happy Family in Monterey Park, and this place. While this option is available at Happy Family everyday, it’s not the case here at Happy Veggie Garden. Our server told us that this option is only available weekdays, not weekends. However, that was not made clear on the All You Can Eat menu. After an inquiry, the restaurant made an exception this time.
ALL YOU CAN EAT MENU – Only specifies that this is unavailable only on holidays, but apparently, it is not available on weekends as well.
MENU COVER – I like these menu books that provide you with pages and pages of color photographs of the dishes they serve.
Hot tea is available here, and they offer 4 different types to choose from. Pricing for a small pot is $3.50, and a large pot is $7.50. We ordered the Wenshan tea, which is from Taiwan. All 4 teas are from the green tea family, and Wenshan is a rather mild and smooth tasting tea.
When the teapot arrives, a timer is placed next to it. When the timer runs out of sand (about 3 minutes), then the tea is ready for drinking.
This is not a buffet. You have to order off the menu, usually allowing person to order up to 2 or 3 selections at a time. To get the best experience and the ability to try everything on the menu, it’s best to go with 5 or more people. I was with a group of 7, and we could only get through two-thirds of the menu. While everything we tried were delicious, some of the dishes are prepared with similar ingredients and similar sauces. So, some dishes will end up tasting similar but with different ingredient combinations. At the end of the meal, a traditional Cantonese dessert is served: sliced oranges. And if you’re wondering, yes, they do offer brown rice as an option with your meal.
KUNG PAO SHRIMP
SHREDDED TOFU WITH PORK
SHRIMP AND TOFU WITH BROCCOLI
SAUTEED GREEN PEAS (BEANS)
SEAWEED WITH BASIL
STIR FRY EGGPLANT
BUDDHA’S FEAST
FISH IN BLACK PEPPER SAUCE
STIR FRIED CABBAGE WITH TOFU SKIN
KIDNEY WITH BASIL
DEEP FRIED TOFU
GENERAL TSO’S CHICKEN
SAUSAGE IN HOT POT
FRIED BREAD (MAN TOU)
