Eating Out*: Yuan Yuan

*Pre-COVID. Though restaurants here are slowly starting to open up again with limited numbers and social distancing.

I've posted about eating at a restaurant near me called Pu Kwong a number of times before. But last year they closed suddenly, no explanation, a sign in the window saying they were closed for renovations but it eventually became obvious that they had just closed. But earlier this year, my mum was driving past and let me know that the location had reopened, but under the name Yuan Yuan Vegetarian Delight. New people, new name, same restaurant layout.

A few months ago a vet friend was in town and stayed with me over the weekend... this was pre-pandemic, I can't even imagine such a thing happening now... and for dinner one night we decided to try out Yuan Yuan. The menu is fairly similar, but sadly two of my favourites, the steamed beancurd rolls and the main dish with tofu, broccoli, and mushrooms in a delicious dark savoury sauce, have gone. It is still a very large menu though! Most of it is vegan. When eating in, it wasn't clear on the menu so they told us what we couldn't have. But when I took a copy of their takeaway menu it is clearly marked on there, so have a look at that one. I hope they update their dine in menu to make it clearer. But almost everything is vegan.

We shared some Steamed BBQ Buns (thankfully they are still on the menu) and some spring rolls to start. The buns were lovely. The spring rolls were unfortunately overcooked.





We tried out the Lemon Chicken, which I had eaten once when it was Pu Kwong. They use a different chicken now, this one is more in fried chunks rather than in slices. I have to say, even though it was deep fried this was delicious and I would totally eat it again.



We also ordered the Tofu and Enoki Hot Pot... I still got some tofu and mushrooms in! It was pretty good, though the sauce was a bit bland. It was so hot and steamy when it came out, now it is chilly I would love a hot pot right now!



Yuan Yuan has reopened to limited dining capacity in line with state government guidelines. It will still be awhile before I am willing to eat in anywhere I think, but I am looking forward to trying out more of their menu when things are safer!

Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



One of the things that I have been doing during my isolation was a weekly online donation yoga class run by my friend LJ who lives in Philly. Turns out 7pm Philly time is 9am Brisbane time, so it worked out great! Each week we donate (if you are the US you donate to LJ who in turn donates it to her organisation of the week, but as I am in Australia I donate to a local organisation), and I believe over $3000 has been raised over the last couple months, spread out to many great causes. Although I am back at work now, Wednesday is always my day off, so I will be able to continue with this most weeks! Last week, Dim Sim was very unhappy that I was doing yoga. She thought I should be paying attention to her. She sat on the end of my yoga mat for the first 15 minutes giving me this very unimpressed look. Eventually she sulked off to her chair cave. But don't worry, as soon as yoga was done we had a huge cuddle!