Before I get in to my restaurant review, I wanted to share a little story. Yesterday, Joe and I were biking on Marine Drive and we noticed this woman standing in the middle of the busy road. As we got closer I realized she had stopped four lanes of traffic to let a duck and her ducklings cross the street. I was tearing up I was so touched. It’s little acts of kindness like that that really make life worth living. But beyond that, it really made me think about my veganism as being about more than just my health, but compassion towards others as well, animals, humans, and the environment alike. A little compassion can go such a long way, and that’s what we as vegans should focus on in our day-to-day lives. Being vegan is about so much more than simply not indulging in animal products. It’s a whole lifestyle that thrives on compassion and love for all of God’s creation. If more people were like the lady helping those little ducks across the street, I’m convinced the world would be a much better place.
Thanks for listening to me rant…now for the title feature.
I LOVE Thai food. Love it. It seems like lately I just can’t seem to get enough! I could eat curry every day. Unfortunately, most mainstream Thai restaurants prepare their curries, in addition to many of their other dishes, using fish and/or oyster sauce. Um ew? I can’t even imagine a carnivore wanting to eat anything called “fish sauce”. Yuck, yuck, yuck. I, however, am so fortunate to live in Portland, where there is no end to the options for vegans. Of course Portland has an all vegetarian Thai restaurant! It’s called Vege Thai and it’s located on Hawthorne (is anyone surprised?), and reminds me a lot of the hole in the wall that is my favorite Ethiopian restaurant, Queen of Sheba. Doesn’t look like anything special from the street, or inside for that matter, until you look at a menu. And talk to their friendly and helpful staff. Suddenly ordinary becomes extraordinary.
I’ve been to this place twice, and I ordered, you guessed it!, CURRY! I’ve had both the green (in a lunch portion that was the perfect size to be edible without leaving me stuffed), and the jungle curries. I prefer the red curry sauce on the latter because it was a little more flavorful, but both were awesome. If you like pad thai noodles AND curry, the jungle curry gives you the best of both worlds, replacing boring old rice with rice noodles. The green is good for curry virgins, because its a mild, light flavor that isn’t too overwhelming for first timers. For those of you who love everything spicy, hear this…when they say hot, they mean effing ridiculously hot. I got medium my first time and I could swear there was steam coming out of my ears. I learned for the next time that ordering it mild and adding your own chili paste is the way to go.
I’ve also fallen in love with Siam Society, as well as Thai and True curry pastes for making my own curry at home. My extended reviews can be found here.
