LuAnne's Wild Ginger All-Asian Vegan

Bibimbap..Bibimbap..Bibimbap!!! Say it three times fast!!! It's a tongue twister for sure! My palate decided to be adventurous on my recent lunch in Soho. I started walking down Broome Street and in limbo between Little Italy and Chinatown.
Talk about a "fork" in the road. I decided to follow my palate and the fork guided me to Wild Ginger.
I had never dined on Asian Vegan before.
I was seated and studied the menu: Seitan ? Is it like tofu? Sorta.. mimics the taste of chicken.
The menu dazzled me: Eggplant? Pho? Salad? Pineapple fried rice?
Then I saw Bibimbap and knew my nephew raves about this dish. I decided to be daring and asked to omit the kimchi. I'll be more daring another day.
I took in the atmosphere and loved the curtains and white brick walls and bamboo shade lamps. The restaurant is small but cozy.
My iced green tea arrived first and it tasted freshly made, simply delicious. Then my bowl of bibimbap: coconut rice, seitan , black and green seaweed, avocado, mango salsa, spinach and adzuki beans (red mung bean) .I must say beautiful presentation! I picked up my metal chopsticks ( practice, practice!) and mixed well and added peanut dressing.
I went for the seitan first which far away, looks like raw tuna. The taste? I really can't describe it but it was very tasty. The mix of veggies, salsa, avocado and coconut rice was very interesting and delicious.
There are other delicious dishes to explore: eggplant with string beans, Malaysian curry stew and General Tso's soy.
There are lunch specials up until 3 pm, service is sweet and professional. I had a bit of questions about bibimbap and my server was kind and patient in answering.
Well next time you face a " fork" in the road and find yourself between two continents, take Fawn's path: Asia for lunch and Italy for dessert.. I ordered a cappuccino to go from Caffe Roma across the street.
Who says you can't have the best of both worlds?

Made a reservation for a Thursday night. We got in right on time and we're seated immediately at a table with my name on it! It was not busy. We took our time ordering and no one rushed us which we appreciated. They have quite a few options. We weren't super hungry so we decided to order a few items then order more later in the meal if it made sense to.

Appetizers
4/5 Steamed Vegetable Dumplings - the skin is a little soft, clearly was just steamed. They could have taken this out a few minutes sooner. The filling is really good. I don't even miss meat fillings with this haha.

4/5 King Oyster Mushrooms - the little pieces of jalapeno and peppers were SO flavorful. Def my favorite part. The mushroom was also good, they were fried well but the mushroom pieces were a little bigger than I would have liked. They didn't taste like anything once I bit into them. I think smaller pieces would have helped with that.

Entree
3.5/5 Kimchee Yaki-Udon - saucy! So much sauce in this dish, way more than I was expecting. I thought this would be drier bc I was expecting stir fry. I don't think there was actual kimchee in the dish but the flavor of it was there. Pretty good amount of veggies.

The interior is so cute!! Its dimly lit inside and very cozy, like I'm home on a winter night. Even after we finished our meal and paid, we continued to sit and chat while our friend slowly sipped on the sake she ordered. The staff never pushed us to leave and it was a slow night. This was a really lovely experience. All the food was good and so was the sake (at such a good price too!). Would absolutely recommend to anyone looking for a good vegan place.

This was a great spot for Chinese and southeast Asian food. We had bo bun noodle salad, Malaysian curry stew, eggplant and string beans, and a pot of kukicha tea. The bo bun noodle salad was my favorite - the sauce was sweet and fresh, and I loved the texture on the imitation meat. The eggplant dish was also fantastic, with a great sweet and garlicky sauce. The curry was nothing special, but still decent. The food came out with pretty impressive speed.

This restaurant is super cozy with an intimate atmosphere. My friends and I came for dinner last night and we had a good dining experience. The waitress was so attentive and kind, and you can tell she was really genuine. There were so many options that it was so hard to pick what we wanted. For apps we ordered the grilled miso eggplant, scallion pancakes and the pan fried dumplings, and we all got individual entrees. The scallion pancakes and the dumplings were a hit for me. I also got the red curry ramen bowl, I thought there could be a lot more happening with the bowl. It wasn't as flavorful as I would have liked and the broth seemed watered down. However, my friends liked their dishes

A decent option in a crowded category - vegan Asian options galore in this part of town and competition is stiff. LuAnne's did offer tasty, fresh, and well-balanced dishes that I mostly enjoyed. The fried oyster mushroom dish came out quickly and piping hot - I really liked the strong peppered flavor. The texture of the mushrooms didn't feel like oyster (they lacked the chickny texture I was expecting) but I still enjoyed it. The sizzling soy cutlets dish truly arrived sizzling and steaming. It was much saucier than expected as well, but I really liked the crispy soy medallions and melody of fresh green beans, broccoli, tomatoes and peppers that came with it. We ordered the kimchi fried rice as well which I think was about average, definitely not enough of a fermented kick to it. Dishes were missing the wow factor I've experienced at Spicy Moon or Buddha Bodai etc but it was worth checking out. Ginger peach tea was good - though the server told us we needed a big pot for two people and we definitely didn't. Service was speedy otherwise and inside seating is cute.

This is one of our top go-tos. The soups are rich and filling (and a total bargain) and we love the pad Thai and japchae. My extra super favorites are on the appetizer menu: the tofu with coconut cream is the best thing ever and everything else is just delicious. Can't decide? Order them all.

It's been about a year and I'm still in love with LuAnne. Yesterday was my fourth time and it honestly keeps getting better!

We had a pot of jasmine green tea, which was the perfect temperature and stayed hot throughout our meal. We started with the fried dumplings and wontons (which had a vegan cheddar that I was unsure of at first, but, together with the spinach made for the perfect wonton!) I think they must put something addictive in the soy sauce because it's unlike any other I've ever had. So good! We licked our appetizer plates clean then out came the main attraction. Call us creatures of habit but we ordered the same dishes we've gotten the other three times- Pad Thai and General Tsoys. Heaven. On. Earth. I'm not one to eat everything on my plate, but there's never any leftovers after a trip to LuAnne's. We've yet to be disappointed and I can't wait to return!

Highly recommend their pho here!! First time trying vegan pho and it was delicious. I'm impressed by how flavorful the broth was.

Would pass on the stuffed tofu skin wraps though. They were very oily.

This was the best vegan food I've ever had. Everything my roommate and I order from this place has exceeded our expectations.

Where do I even begin? We started with the stuffed wontons which come in a crispy shell with soy cheese, spinach and watercress inside. It came with a mango salsa like sauce. It was such a delicious combination of flavors.

I got the general tso's soy chicken for my entree. I don't know how they make vegan things taste so much like meat. It tasted like chicken nuggets in a delicious sweet and spicy sauce. The broccoli was also cooked perfectly!

I was too busy eating to take pics of any of the food I ordered and ate, but I got my friend's bibimbap which was also very flavorful. I will be ordering from them and slowly try out their entire menu!

We came across this accidentally as we were looking for a restaurant with vegan options for our daughter, who was visiting for the week.

It's adorable and quaint, and on the small side, which gave it charm and coziness.

I'm not vegan. But you don't have to be to recognized delicious the food at LuAnne's is.

Everything tasted fresh and full of flavor. It leans a bit more towards the Vietnamese and Thai more than anything, which is not always my cup of tea, which is why I was so overly surprised when everything here exceed my expectations.

There's definitely enough of a variety for everyone of all different tastes to enjoy.

Highly recommend.