Vegan out at Cha-Ya
Summer Green Roll – avocado, cucumber, kaiware sprout, wakame and hijiki. Alissa scooped wasabi like it was green tea ice cream, but I like this one just as it is: plain, fresh and light.
It’s been a long time since I last either wrote about food or ate anything that I could write about. The occasional rainfalls during the drought of takeout Chinese are so-so hu tieu and com suon somewhere in the Ranch 99 complex, and homemade soups, lovely but no hot news. Vegetable intake has been limited to shibazuke from Berkeley Bowl, homemade kimchi, and toasted seaweed (seaweed counts, doesn’t it?). Before leaving for her trip, Cheryl fed me her black chicken soup, brown rice, tau yew bak (similar to thit kho but with soy sauce instead of fish sauce) and, like a loving sister, concerned looks and advice on how I should feed myself healthy meals. I agree with her one hundred percent, but all planned menus for the next day fluttered their wings away as I run from class to class and get home only wishing to relax. Cheryl is married. I entertain the idea that I live like a single guy. A single guy that could not have looked more forward to a vegan dinner with some old friends.
After much debate we decided on a simple kampyo roll, a big fluffy summer green roll (that we each stuffed into our mouth in one bite to prove our manliness(*)), a Cha-Ya roll, a tempura stuffed eggplant, a gyoza and vegetable soup, and three desserts.
Cha-Ya Roll – avocado, yam and carrots, tempura roll with sweet soy sauce.
Tonchi Nasu – tempura stuffed eggplant with setsuma potato, corn, tofu, hijiki, soybean and carrot
Taku Sui – gyoza soup with tofu, broccoli, zucchini, napa cabbage, snap peas, asparagus, cauliflower, silver noodles and mushrooms in a light broth – I like this a lot!
Yellow Moon – tempura banana with a scoop of soy ice cream, drizzled with green tea sauce and red bean sauce
The Yellow Moon is just the tempura banana, the soy ice cream is listed as a separate dessert, but we shameless girls requested a scoop of ice cream with the banana. The Cha-Ya staff is so nice. 😉 This tempura banana is not oily like the deep fried banana desserts at Thai restaurants, the batter is light and plain. It gives you the impression of healthy foods.
Vegan chocolate cake (left) and Oshikuro (right) – plain white mochi in gooey red bean sauce. The red bean is a bit too sweet, but I like it still. The cake is like a soft brownie, not at all dry and lifeless like normal vegan cakes.
(*) In case you wonder, a picture of us is to the right.
Address: Cha-Ya Vegetarian Japanese Cuisine
(North Berkeley)
1686 Shattuck Avenue
Berkeley CA 94709
(510) 981-1213
Dinner for four: roughly $90 – Kinda expensive now that I think about it…
I couldn’t resist commenting
1Hey there are using WordPress for your site platform? I’m new to the blog world but I’m trying to get started and set up my own. Do you need any coding knowledge to make your own blog? Any help would be really appreciated!
2I do love the way you have framed this particular issue and it really does give us a lot of fodder for consideration. On the other hand, coming from what precisely I have observed, I really trust when the actual commentary stack on that individuals remain on point and don’t get started on a soap box associated with some other news du jour. Still, thank you for this exceptional point and while I can not agree with it in totality, I respect the perspective.
3I believe other website proprietors should take this website as an model, very clean and great user friendly style.
4I like this website very much, Its a very nice position to read and get information. “What happens to the hole when the cheese is gone” by Bertolt Brecht.
5The subsequent time I read a weblog, I hope that it doesnt disappoint me as a lot as this one. I mean, I do know it was my option to learn, but I actually thought youd have one thing attention-grabbing to say. All I hear is a bunch of whining about one thing that you can fix in the event you werent too busy on the lookout for attention.
6hey there and thank you for your info – I’ve certainly picked up something new from right here. I did however expertise a few technical points using this website, since I experienced to reload the site a lot of times previous to I could get it to load correctly. I had been wondering if your hosting is OK? Not that I’m complaining, but sluggish loading instances times will sometimes affect your placement in google and could damage your high quality score if advertising and marketing with Adwords. Anyway I’m adding this RSS to my email and can look out for much more of your respective exciting content. Make sure you update this again soon..
7Nice read, I just passed this onto a friend who was doing a little research on that. And he just bought me lunch because I found it for him smile Thus let me rephrase that: Thanks for lunch!
8Hi there, I found your site via Google while searching for a related topic, your site came up, it looks great. I’ve bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.
9Nice read, I just passed this onto a colleague who was doing some research on that. And he actually bought me lunch since I found it for him smile Therefore let me rephrase that: Thank you for lunch! “By nature, men are nearly alike by practice, they get to be wide apart.” by Confucius.
10Thanks for this terrific post, I am glad I found this internet site on yahoo.
11Very interesting subject, thanks for posting.
12Hey, you used to write fantastic, but the last few posts have been kinda boringK I miss your great writings. Past several posts are just a little out of track! come on!
13Some genuinely nice and useful information on this site, as well I believe the design holds good features.
14Very interesting subject , thanks for posting.
15Hmm is anyone else encountering problems with the pictures on this blog loading? I’m trying to determine if its a problem on my end or if it’s the blog. Any responses would be greatly appreciated.
16Very interesting details you have mentioned, regards for putting up.
17Thankyou for helping out, excellent information.
18An attention-grabbing dialogue is value comment. I feel that you need to write more on this matter, it might not be a taboo subject however typically people are not enough to speak on such topics. To the next. Cheers
19I’d have to examine with you here. Which is not one thing I usually do! I take pleasure in reading a post that may make folks think. Additionally, thanks for permitting me to comment!
20Enjoyed reading through this, very good stuff, appreciate it.
21I was wondering if you ever thought of changing the layout of your blog? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having 1 or 2 images. Maybe you could space it out better?
22I was wondering if you ever thought of changing the page layout of your website? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or 2 images. Maybe you could space it out better?
23I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you design this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you? Plz answer back as I’m looking to construct my own blog and would like to find out where u got this from. appreciate it
24I dugg some of you post as I thought they were extremely helpful extremely helpful
25Thanks for another informative blog. Where else could I get that type of information written in such a perfect way? I have a project that I am just now working on, and I’ve been on the look out for such info.
26Greetings from Florida! I’m bored to death at work so I decided to browse your blog on my iphone during lunch break. I enjoy the knowledge you present here and can’t wait to take a look when I get home. I’m amazed at how fast your blog loaded on my mobile .. I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyways, wonderful site!
27Only wanna comment on few general things, The website design is perfect, the content material is really superb : D.
28Discover how SBLC and Bank Guarantee monetization works in trade finance, including liquidity access, structured funding, risk management, and global trade financing solutions.
29Interesting blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it from somewhere? A theme like yours with a few simple adjustements would really make my blog shine. Please let me know where you got your design. Bless you
30Hi would you mind stating which blog platform you’re using? I’m going to start my own blog in the near future but I’m having a hard time deciding between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal. The reason I ask is because your layout seems different then most blogs and I’m looking for something completely unique. P.S Sorry for being off-topic but I had to ask!
31I adore foregathering useful information , this post has got me even more info! .
32Please let me know if you’re looking for a author for your site. You have some really great articles and I think I would be a good asset. If you ever want to take some of the load off, I’d absolutely love to write some content for your blog in exchange for a link back to mine. Please shoot me an email if interested. Thank you!
33Very superb info can be found on web blog.
34WONDERFUL Post.thanks for share..extra wait .. …
35