The Year of the Dragon

For those of you that don’t follow the Chinese calendar or don’t work in Drexel University’s Alumni Relations Office (shout out to Andi and Joanne), you probably don’t know that 2012 is the Year of the Dragon. Although the Chinese New Year is officially on Monday, January 23^rd, I just couldn’t wait another week to try vegan Chinese food. I will, after all, want to enjoy Chinese food on the Chinese New Year Day – duh.

During my PAN orientation meeting, my mentor Amy and another PAN representative, Nick, told me about a couple vegan Chinese food joints in the city. I was furiously scribbling down everything they were saying during our chat, so when it came to the vegan Chinese food conversation, I only managed to get buzz words “harmony” and “kingdom” in ink. Cool. Every Chinese food restaurant in the nation has either of those two words in their name or, even worse, they’re combined to create “Harmony Kingdom Chinese Restaurant” (sit down, take out, and delivery options available).

To my surprise, it wasn’t too hard to locate either of these Chinese food establishments via my Urbanspoon app on my iPhone. Both are located in Chinatown (city blocks 8^th, 9^th, 10^th, and 11^th between Filbert Street and the Vine Street Expressway). Harmony Vegetarian Restaurant – 135 N. 9^th Street – seemed to be closed or closing as I drove by last night, so after a quick Urbanspoon update, I was en route to Kingdom of Vegetarians Restaurant (129 N. 11^th Street).

Now I don’t know about you, but I don’t venture to Chinatown that frequently, so I don’t know if the parking situation is always atrocious or if it was particularly challenging because it was a week before the Chinese New Year. Regardless, it took me a couple trips around the block to find a decent spot.

Upon our (I was accompanied by Jess2) arrival, we were greeted by Gwen our waitress, or should I say saleswoman. She sat us at a table and brought us water and tea. She asked us if we were first-timers or regulars of Kingdom. We responded that we were first-timers and she proceed to give us her recommendations. She suggested the Queens Chicken and the Duck Plate – relatively speaking, the two most expensive items on the menu (please note that everything on the Kingdom menu is both vegetarian and vegan, all of the meats are imitation). Although both entrees sounded wonderful, we still wanted to check out the menu. To start, we ordered Won Ton Soup.

When the Won Ton Soup was delivered, Gwen informed us that she put our order in for the Queens Chicken and the Duck Plate. I looked at Jess2 and then back and Gwen, “But we didn’t order the Queens Chicken or the Duck Plate.” Gwen simply responded with, “That’s OK.” So, wait a minute, were we still going to get the Queens Chicken and the Duck Plate regardless of our desired order or was she going to cancel the order altogether? We weren’t sure until the moment our actual order was brought to us.

We decided on the Chicken with Garlic Sauce and General Tso’s Chicken (both with brown rice). Both were delicious and spicy (just how I like it). The Chicken with Garlic Sauce was served with a medley of vegetables (broccoli, carrots, water chestnuts, etc.) and the General Tso’s Chicken was served with steamed broccoli. Both Jess2 and I had enough food for leftovers, so Gwen packed up what was left and sent us on our way.

I will be back, in fact I am putting the Kingdom of Vegetarians Restaurant menu in the center console of my car in the event that I need a vegan Chinese food fix after a long day at work.