Whenever MH comes back to town, I instantly bombard her with a list of vegetarian spots for her to choose from. Surprisingly in the land of meat and potatoes, Edmonton has a decent selection of vegetarian or plant-based restaurants. Her choice of resto this time around? An Chay.
An Chay, in Vietnamese, translates to 'eat vegetarian.' Although Vietnam is known for beefy pho or meaty vermicelli bowls in the western world, vegetarian food is really nothing new. Most practicing Buddhists (the largest singular religion in Vietnam) have a vegetarian diet, and many at least adopt it when observing certain holidays. My family is Buddhist and although we're pretty lax about attending temple service on Sundays, one of my favourite things about going is the vegetarian food served out of the basement!
Located at the corner of Jasper Avenue and 112 Street, An Chay is hoping to bring that unique Vietnamese vegetarian food experience to the masses.
The spring rolls from temple are my absolute favourite (I can become a vegetarian easily if I had an unlimited supply of them) so I was excited to try out the restaurant's version. A half order of spring rolls / cha gio ($5.00) comes with three and a side of chili vinaigrette (which mimics fish sauce). Crispy, crunchy wrappers are filled with a combination of bean thread noodles, fried beancurd, taro, yam, and mung bean. Delicious! It's not quite the same recipe as the temple, but I still really liked the flavour and texture of these.
MH was excited to try out their vietnamese noodle soup / pho ($14.00). Since An Chay's recipe is completely vegan, the broth doesn't have the luxury of flavour extracted from beef bones. Instead, it relies on the usual aromatics in pho -- star anise, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, onions, etc. Toppings include baby bok choy, tofu, lotus root, enoki mushrooms, black fungus, and carrots. I didn't try any but MH loved being able to have pho again!
I usually don't go for spicy food but I was craving spicy noodle soup / bun hue ($15.00) for some reason. Like pho, bun bò hue typically contains beef (bò). The traditional broth utilizes beef shank, oxtail and pork hocks, while toppings typically include Vietnamese ham (cha) and sometimes even cubes of pig blood. Not very vegetarian friendly is it? An Chay's "bun hue" uses the same characteristic round rice noodles, but tops their soup with fried tofu, lotus root, enoki mushrooms, and a vegan Vietnamese sausage (which tastes surprisingly similar to the real deal).
They also give you an individual plate of beansprouts, purple cabbage, lime, mint, and chili to dress up your bowl however you'd like.
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| Get you a friend who will do noodle pulls for you. |
This particular Jasper street corner hasn't had a good history of longevity (there's been a high turnover of restaurants), but it seems like An Chay is finally breaking that trend, impressing vegetarians and carnivores alike.
Even if you don't have a vegetarian friend (MH is not for sale, sorry), it's worth a trip to An Chay for their fresh take on some traditional Vietnamese favourites.
An Chay
11203 Jasper Ave
Edmonton, AB
(780) 752-2203
- CT
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