Vegetarian options in restaurants

[juker]

Wondering what other peoples thoughts on this are -

Would you rather restaurants offered you obviously vegetarian dishes, using vegetables etc, or that they used a meat substitute so that it looked like a meat dish?

I wish more places used meat substitutes so that we had more varied meal options, but at the same time I am always wary about eating things that look like meat incase it has accidently been mixed up with real meat. I always have the worry in the back of my mind, and you dont get this with a plate full of veg!

[MrsMammy]

Goodness no! I think using meat substitutes is a lazy way of cooking. If I'm going out to eat in a restaurant I expect the chef to be as inventive and creative with their vegetarian dishes as I do with their meat dishes. That means inventive with vegetables, not processed food (quorn etc.)

But then I don't really eat meat because I don't like it. Maybe if you 'miss' meat, you'd prefer the substitues.

[NikkiW]

Meat substitutes are an easy option in the home, but restaurants need to be a bit more canny about what they're cooking, not just whip out the Quorn. Why go out and eat when you can make it yourself at home? No, I vote lovely veggie dishes such as risottos, pastas and tarts using fresh and seasonal ingredients.

[Karen]

I would like to see creative tasty meat substitutes. Definitely not quorn! In Singapore I had many very tasty dishes involving soya meat alternatives. I have no problem with this. When I see animals I dont see meat. Protein can be made into tasty shapes that are a pleasure to eat. It is good to have TVP or soya as an alternative to cheese in restaurants. The Chinese tend to use a lot of sugar and salt in these delicious alternatives (made in authentic regional Chinese style) but they are delicious as an occasional treat. I wouldnt want to go to a restaurant and be offered quorn sausages and chips. They could make their own vegetarian sausages. When I look at pigs I dont think 'sausages'!

Here's my take on a Chinese dish. It only contains plain old tofu, but you could call that a meat substitute..
Sweet and Sour Tofu | carrotsandclaret

[givepeasachance]

Hi Karen! Just wanted to say your recipe looks gorgeous. I'm looking forward to giving it a try!
Peace and peas x

[Karen]

Thanks! I hope you enjoy it.

[Calamity Jen]

I would like to, but I also share juker's reservations. I ate a veggieburger of the fake meat variety last year in a pub, and although I could just about tell it was veggie, it was a very close call.

What I'd actually like is for pure vegetarian restaurants to offer things like this - it might also entice some more omnivores in. Oh, and Nandos too, purely because I know if any of my friends decide to have a meal there, there's nothing for me.

[juker]

I have only been to one vegetarian restaurant, in a street near London Euston train station where there are a few vegetarian Indian restaurants. I am not sure this really counts though because Indian restaurants cater very well for vegetarians anyway so there was nothing really different than going to an Indian restaurant

I would love to go to a proper vegetarian restaurant where I could look at a whole menu of different things and actually get to choose what I want to have, rather than trying to find the one dish on the menu that is vegetarian.

The closest I have been to that is a local-ish Victorian tea rooms which caters VERY well for vegetarians, not something you would expect from a place like that but I actually look through the menu and decide what I feel like that time, and often struggle to decide! They do everything from a full veggie English breakfast to veggie bangers and mash, quiches, tarts, loads of things. Its not a vegetarian restaurant but I think having that much choice on a menu is as close as I am going to get for now

[smith009]

I don't think that it will taste the same. Although they are mixed of veges or meat alone has also different taste?

[Carrie]

I think some with some meat dishes (curries, stir frys etc) you can't always work out what is veg and what is meat, so I personally don't see why a veggie meal must have a meat looking thing. But it is up to the individual.. I find most veggy dishes I've eaten taste just as good as a meat dish