By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD
Franchia Vegan Café’s website says, “It is a beautiful and unique space for a relaxing dining experience.” It lives up to this description with its traditional Korean décor, attentive service, and delicious food. The menu is described as “Asian fusion” and while it includes many Korean dishes, it also has dishes from Thailand, Japan, China, and Malaysia.
We were there on a Saturday afternoon and ordered from the dinner menu. There is also a lunch menu (served noon-2:59 pm Monday through Friday), a prix fixe lunch menu, and a prix fixe dinner menu. We started our meal with Franchia Kimbap. This is a seaweed roll, reminiscent of sushi, but described as a Korean seaweed rice roll. Our roll was filled with brown rice, spinach, tofu, carrots, yellow radish, and gosari. Gosari is an edible fern which is dried and rehydrated. It has a meaty texture. The roll came in 10 generous slices and was served with soy sauce, pickled ginger, and wasabi paste. This and a salad would be a fine lunch for one person.
For entrées, we shared Classic Bibimbap and a Sizzling Bulgogi Plate. The Bibimbap was a bowl of rice topped with beautifully prepared vegetables – spinach, carrots, sprouts, mushrooms, shredded zucchini, hijiki, and gosari. You could choose one of three sauces – spicy chili, bean paste, or ginger soy. Our server instructed us to mix the vegetables and rice and add the sauce. It was simple and flavorful. The Bulgogi plate was served on a sizzling hot metal plate and included shiitake mushrooms, asparagus, broccoli, onions, and “beef” in a savory sauce. Our entrées were served with a small bowl of sweet pickled cabbage.
Other dishes on the dinner menu that sound especially intriguing include Pumpkin Porridge, Spicy Kimchi Dumplings, Katsu Curry Udon, Soondubu Jiigae (Korean soft tofu stew with vegetables), Korean Sweet and Sour Mushrooms, Ticokbokki (rice cakes and vegetables stir-fried in spicy gochujang sauce), and Tempura Udon with fried “shrimp” and vegetables. There is an extensive sushi selection. The lunch menu features many of the same dishes as the dinner menu but also includes several kinds of ramen.
We did not order desserts or drinks but noted several interesting desserts including Black Sesame Pie and Fried Taro and Sweet Potato Rice Balls, as well as vegan ice creams and gluten-free cakes. Drinks include vegan organic wines, beer, sake, signature cocktails, an extensive list of teas, soda, and sparkling water.
Franchia is located at 12 Park Avenue (between 34th and 35th Street) in New York.
To find a list of veggie restaurants in the USA and Canada visit: https://www.vrg.org/restaurant/index.php