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2016-06-24
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It is of course not the reason of having no favourite veggie outlet(s) in Central, just that it is a common behavior for foodies to explore and leave their footprints in new ones - "new" in the sense that they haven't been to, not necessarily open lately. VeggieSF, the "SF" of which stands for San Francisco, is one in the oldest batch of residents at 11 Stanley Street where a multitude of eateries of various cuisines congregate. Apparently in oldish and retro decor, the fancy colours in the back
Apparently in oldish and retro decor, the fancy colours in the backdrop bring you back to the 1950’s in the US. Just like any other upper floors in the building, once stepping out of the elevator, what you see is the whole of the dining area. Approximately holding 10 tables, they were surprisingly not full at 1pm on a weekday.
Putting a mix of old toys of reminiscence like those you see in old Hollywood films is perhaps unique and unrivalled for a veggie place, as most of them in town are having minimalistic interior and a farmhouse vibe with warm woods. However, flip side of the coin is that there is no greenery at all in your sight but what is being promoted is eating green, ie. without meat and seafood at least.
Among vintage ceiling and wall decors, I love the retro TV most, which was showing black and white movies - classic!
For the menu, I was shocked to see that it was no longer the latest version I saw on Openrice - the restaurant doesn't really assume the responsibility of updating menus here, so in fact I have no one to blame, given the downside of an open knowledge-based system. Lunch sets were no longer $78-108, but $118-168, what a huge increase. There are differences lying in between the two versions, but taking the same dish 'I AM FABULOUS" which is a veggie burger, price of which soars from $108 to $158. I am pretty sure that inflation out there isn't that harsh after all.
It isn't the matter of whether you can afford $150, just that I don't feel like doing so here for this supposingly casual lunch. Not particularly hungry or having cravings to satisfy, I prefer something light but "light combo" at $118 isn't appealing with just a salad (with ingredients unknown) and 2 pieces of toasts. Getting the a la carte menu, I ordered a starter which is a flatbread roll. The server left after taking note of my order. (My friend ordered the "Union Square" in the set lunch menu, but it isn't much of a focus here.)After 5 minutes, the flatbread roll came. Another server came up to me and told me that there was in fact a minimum charge of $118 (the lowest price amongst lunch sets) and asked if I would order a drink to fulfill this requirement. I looked at my dish of flatbread roll in astonishment - c'mon, why don't you tell me so when I order this? Having my feedback, the server went asking for boss' advice. I was told that there is no next time for this, but c'mon... if this is an important rule, why don't you advice the customer when she intends to order just a starter without knowing the rule?
Avocado Chilli Salad Flatbread Roll x 2 $88
Service disappoints, and so does its food. I had flatbread rolls at MANA and Home Eat to Live, and both of them don't produce loose wraps like this. Flatbread, to my understanding, varies with thickness but I haven't seen one being that kind of sheet-thin. With just a drizzle of paprika, the flatbread wasn't lightly charred, no wonder it took that little time to get it served.
It was around 8-inch long and was halved, showing chilli salad, pea roots and avocado cubes that were stuffed inside. The only thing to appreciate is perhaps the large and generous size of avocado inside, giving a buttery yet refreshing, subtle flavour while immersed in overpowering chilli flavour of salad. It wasn't really chilli, just like those you have in Thai restaurants - still appetite-friendly.
Problem of sending these to my mouth came, when I attempted to slice the roll into chunks. As the roll wasn't tightly wrapped at all and the flatbread was like your blanket, covering you up when you sleep, fillings easily went to one end and I ended up just slicing flatbread and leaving fillings on the plate.
With all these chaos and only average in taste, I wasn't really satisfied and regreted for bringing my friend here..
Soup of the Day
My friend ordered a lunch set, which came with a complimentary soup and drink. A simple veggie soup I would say, nothing wrong but nothing outstanding either. It somehow tasted like canned soup which was a bit powderly and without traces of potato or celery cubes that are common in this kind of simple, homey soup.
Lemon Ginger Tea
For drinks, a +$5 is charged for cold ones. I rarely see yogi tea in cold version, which fell within my expectation that it tasted way too light to serve it cold. The aroma of ginger is too mild, without being tingly on my tongue at all.Union Square $148
Oven baked Italian Sweet Red Pepper Herbal Sauce with Pesto, assorted veggies over Spaghetti/rice
Given the tiny portion (with the shallow container) and watery sauce, this is certainly overpriced. The sauce seemed to look dense and thick without stirring it, but when mixing the whole dish, very little of the sauce clinged onto the spaghetti and was apparently too light to be called a "sauce".
Spaghetti wasn't al dente as well - a bit overdone and mushy, as you see the watery remains down at the bottom, probably coming out from the veggie like zucchini and cauliflower in the dish when being baked, and not treating pre-cooked spaghetti well for its moisture. I expected a tomato-based dominating flavour, but it came as a pretty weak one. Soggy spaghetti is the major failure from the disappointing portion which can't satiate a man's appetite.
What urges me for this quick review is mainly to update you guys on its lunch menu, which later came to my knowledge that this was launched already for half a year, but it seems that no one here mentioned. Veggie dishes here couldn't live up to my expectation, despite the fact that $118-168 is a normal price range of lunch sets in Central - do bear in mind that we pay for good food although we can afford. Even for the ambience, the decor could make this a good cafe but seats aren't that cosy to add any marks to our disappointment. We cusomters do have tastebuds to sense hearty dishes, and I am not sure whether a second visit here is worth paying, as neither palate nor palette was satisfied.
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