The last time I wrote about In Café’s delicious vegan crispy chilli beef I seemed to annoy a lot of people. I think it was something to do with it not actually being beef.
Comments included "It's not beef you thick sap" and "if it is plant based THEN THERE IS NO MEAT IN IT."
I wonder if these people get equally annoyed about rubber ducks and paper aeroplanes? Or maybe this a straw man argument?
In reality, there’s no way anyone is going to order a plate of vegan crispy beef and be surprised that it doesn’t contain any meat. And, if it helps people reduce their meat consumption and navigate their way around the world of meat substitutes then in my opinion it can only be a good thing.
Crwys Road’s In Café doesn’t just serve vegan Chinese cooking (although it does have an entire vegan menu with dishes including sweet and sour vegan chicken balls and aromatic vegan crispy duck). In addition, they specialise in popular Hong Kong dishes such as king prawns with salted duck yolk sauce, baked pork chop rice, and seafood tofu vermicelli. For fans of more familiar Chinese restaurant cooking, all the classics appear too.
Ice cold glasses of Tsingtao beer (£4.20) were the ideal accompaniment for all the fried food we guzzled.
Retro lettuce wraps with minced pork (£9.50) were a textbook example of the dish. Uber fresh crisp iceberg leaves cocooned a mountain of tender soy seasoned mince studded with crisp peppers, onions, water chestnuts and crunchy vermicelli.
Vegan crispy beef (£11.20) was every bit as good as the other times I’ve eaten it. And I still stand by my assertion that it’s better than any meat versions of the dish I’ve eaten in Cardiff. The hyper crisp fronds of lightly battered soy and wheat avoided any of the unpleasant chewiness that is all too common from the meat version of the dish. Bathed in a sweet, savoury and tangy sauce studded with cleansing pieces of pineapple, it’s an absolute corker of a dish.
We also ordered a portion of non-vegan beef hor fun (£11.50). It was very good. Tender pieces of meat were accompanied by a mahoosive portion of thick rice noodles, spring onions and beansprouts with a lovely smokiness from the wok.
Whopping sweet and juicy prawns (£13.10) lived up to their king-sized title. Coated in a light and crisp batter, they were seasoned with a generous honk of salt, chilli and garlic.
Soft aubergine pieces (£11.80) were accompanied by a meaty minced pork and onion sauce with a delicate thrum of chilli.
One of In Café’s other most popular dishes is another Hong Kong speciality - French toast with peanut butter (£7.30). I can see why, it’s a naughty crowd pleaser. Lightly battered deep-fried French toast was sandwiched with a thin seam of smooth peanut butter and well drenched in syrup. It all sounds a bit rich but it was surprisingly light textured and paired very well with a scoop of thick vanilla ice cream.
I’ve got a lot of time for In Café. Whether you’re looking for Hong Kong specialities, familiar favourites or a vegan Chinese feast, they cover all the bases very well.
The Details:
Address - In Cafe, 76 Crwys Rd, Cardiff CF24 4NP
Telephone - 029 2063 6666
No comments:
Post a Comment