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Yuan Fu, Vegan Chinese in Rockville


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We pulled into the parking lot at Joe's Noodle House at about 6:45 on Saturday night and the doorway was packed with peeps. So we headed back up the Pike towards home keeping our eyes open for restaurants we've been curious to try.

Yuan Fu is an interesting little restaurant. The owners were obviously used to a lot of questions about the menu and spoke pretty good English. The staff were all very friendly, and the restaurant seemed cleaner than your average hole in the wall Chinese joint in Rockville.

Now the odd thing is that the menu looks just like the one at that average hole in the wall Chinese joint. All the usual suspects were there: general tso's chicken, szechuan beef, peking duck, etc., etc. But the meat is replaced with tofu, tempeh, or gluten. For kicks, I had the peking "duck" which was made with strips of tofu skin. It wasn't bad-- though I'm a sucker for those pancakes, the scallions and the sauce. We also tried the "pork" with dried bean curd which was essentially tofu with tofu. It had a spicy kick, but not much else going for it.

I believe this was my first strictly vegetarian Chinese restaurant experience and all things considered I enjoyed it. I guess I just wish they'd drop the fake meat strategy and just go for some solid vegetarian cooking. For example, my wife tried ordering some simple stir-fried greens, and they told us all they had was broccoli. Then a few minutes later came back to apologize for not even having that! A lot of the dishes I saw come out of the kitchen seemed light on vegetables, but there was plenty of tofu to go around. I don't know, it just seemed a little weird to me.

Anyway, if you're one of those poor vegetarian souls, you could do a lot worse I'm sure.

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I believe this was my first strictly vegetarian Chinese restaurant experience and all things considered I enjoyed it. I guess I just wish they'd drop the fake meat strategy and just go for some solid vegetarian cooking. For example, my wife tried ordering some simple stir-fried greens, and they told us all they had was broccoli. Then a few minutes later came back to apologize for not even having that! A lot of the dishes I saw come out of the kitchen seemed light on vegetables, but there was plenty of tofu to go around. I don't know, it just seemed a little weird to me.

Well I think this has a lot to do with traditional Buddhist vegetarian cuisine. So there is actually a tradition of using tofu to imitate meats, not just eating vegetables. There are some places that do a very good job of imitating meat, it just sounds like this might not be the best example.

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...I just wish they'd drop the fake meat strategy and just go for some solid vegetarian cooking...

This describes my one and only meal at Yuan Fu many years ago.

FYI - if the wait at Joe's is too long, the kabob place in the same shopping center (Yekta Kabobi) is quite good, as is the adjacent mini-market.

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At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I really appreciate Yuan Fu as one of the few places I don't have to worry about my reflux issue. Being a buddhist vegetarian eatery means they cook without the aromatics, so no shallots, chives, leeks, scallions, onions, or garlic of any sort can be found here.

That is why my mom always asks to be taken here when in town and here was where we landed late Wednesday evening.

The little man enjoyed a nice bowl of Wonton soup ($2.50), with 2 wontons in a rich, clear, mushroom-based vegetarian broth, to start out with. Pan-fried dumplings ($3.95 for 4) are chock full of chopped veggies, but not too thick of wrappers, except they lack a tiny bit in flavoring. Except that it's hard finding vegetarian dumplings without onions/scallions in them, so this is a real treat.

The only miss of the evening, and only because it was left too long in the fryer, was the Crispy breaded eggplant (spicy). It was crunchy instead, and the eggplant pretty much had disappeared, but the potential of the hot eggplant melting in your mouth was definitely there.

My favorite go-to dish here is the Tofu with crabmeat in hotpot ($11.95), with, I believe, the crabmeat made out of carrots. Cubes of soft tofu mixed in a light sauce that paired well over rice. It was even more delicious heated as leftovers the next day.

The tea was comforting and the option of white or brown rice makes this place a healthy option for those looking for one. They have now added a weekend northern-style dim sum option to their menu, but I do not have the hours available, other than it starts at 11:00am.

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Making my annual pilgrimage here, I chose to celebrate the Lunar New Year the other day and had a nice Buddhist Vegetarian feast (no specials here, just their regular menu) with my little man and I. I am thankful they cook to order--little man is a spice wimp like me, and by making their Mapo Tofu little, little spicy, it was the perfect adjustment for him to enjoy one of my favorite dishes.

Just like above, he had his wonton soup and proceeded to devour the accompanying fried noodles. I have to say, I feel like this is hands-down my favorite place to order an egg roll. I have had too many underfried egg rolls (oily or wrapper wasn't fried all the way through) that I really appreciate when someone knows how to fry.

I don't recall them doing this before, but I was served a nice pickled cucumber appetizer this time, which was great and puckery-vinegary. I wish there was a teleporter because I would come here all the time. I was so grateful for leftovers last night -- 1 big heaping spoonful of the tofu + 1 big heaping spoonful of their Walnut Beef over rice = tasty, tasty treat.

Even though I like Sichuan Pavillion nearby, for some reason, I am comforted by the cuisine offered here. I am such an advocate of this place because the nights I go (off nights that aren't weekends), it's near empty. I know they have a nice lunch business, but I think it's worth supporting their dinner business here too.

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I ate here with a large group (16 people) tonight and everyone was very satisfied with the food. We began with orders of crispy mushrooms. These were fried with a slightly hot and sweet sauce. Addictive and had everyone at the table raving. Steamed dumplings weren't quite as exciting, but were fine. I don't like all the fake meat stuff so I had vegetable chow foon which ended up having a bit of fake meat in it. It wasn't overwhelming so I didn't mind. The chow foon had an appropriately smoky flavor and was as good as any I've had. My husband hasn't eaten meat in years, so he was happy to have kung pao "beef." It really captured the beef flavor and came pretty close in texture. He loved it. Another popular dish at the table was minced vegetable nest topped with crispy pine nuts and served with what seemed like 1/2 head of iceberg lettuce. I added a touch of chili sauce to punch it up just a bit. Battered and deep fried lemon chicken was great when it came out but didn't hold up for too long. A few people had eggplant dishes, which they reported as being quite good. Considering this group of mostly meat-eaters left happy, it's a testament to the food. Our only desire is that they do something about the air conditioning. It's 100 degrees outside at the moment and about 80 degrees in the restaurant. I will happily go back when cooler temperatures prevail.

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Another thumbs up for a place that's been getting thumbs up for years.

Funny story...This week I was in Raliegh NC on business and was dining at a Brazilian Steak House - the "meat on a stick" kind, with 14 rounds of various meats served over 2 hours. As I'm dining, my wife and kids text me a picture from their meal at Yuan Fu, as they'd decided to "go vegetarian" from that day on. So my meal in Raleigh turned out to be my bachelor party as I left the meat-filled life before coming home to my newly vegetarian family. They had to bring me to Yuan Fu this weekend.

Szechuan String Beans - these were the best serving of green beans I've ever had. The sauce was bright but not overwhelming and really complemented the green beans, vs many that seem very separate from the green beans. The beans were cooked just right IMHO - a bit of snap but far from raw.

Stuffed Curry Dumplings - these are deep fried to make them crisp - which means you'll get a little spray of curry insides if you try to use a fork to split them. Good, but I generally like a ratio of more insides to outsides.

Moo-Shi Vegetable - these were fabulous. I'm a sucker for hoisin sauce but these had a very nice mix of vegetables cooked a bit like the insides of an egg roll. Spread some sauce on the pancake, drop in some veggies, roll, eat. Delish!

Sesame Chicken - before we went and without having read this thread, I asked my wife if this place was exclusively "fake meat" or did some vegetables. She assured me they did vegetables, but that our son would be getting the sesame chicken. OK, sure, I'll try it. It was really quite good. The sauce wasn't overly sweet and the 'chicken' was a bit softer than real chicken - but was not a detriment in any way. The flavors were nicely balanced and overall a very good dish.

The staff was nice and efficient. The room was crowded on a gray January Saturday. I'm looking forward to a return trip.

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