On Superbowl Sunday, I headed over to The Royal Elephant Fusion Plant Based Cuisine in Montclair, NJ with a Fox and a Pie; we were hoping for some vegan Thai food to fill our bellies while everyone else was watching football.
The menu was significantly more varied than we had anticipated. In addition to traditional Thai offerings, there were Mediterranean, Japanese, Italian, and Mexican options. For the less adventurous, there were also staples like chicken nuggets, burgers, split pea soup, soups & smoothies. It's a small place with a huge menu!
We started off our meal with vegetable shumai: vegetables wrapped in wonton skin served with soy sauce. We were given the option of steamed or air-fried and we went with air-fried; they were crisp and delicious.
We also got the air-fried spring rolls: veggie spring rolls served with plum sauce. These were good as well, but- truth be told, probably would have been better regular-fried.
My pals each got the spicy drunken noodles: flat rice noodle, chili, onion, bell pepper, string beans, bamboo shoots, and basil. You have your choice of protein; one person chose tofu and one "chicken." I tasted a noodle and it was starchy and sticky, just how it's supposed to be. They loved it.
I went with the red curry: coconut milk, bamboo shoots, eggplant, string bean, bell pepper, and basil with jasmine rice. Although I would have vastly preferred broccoli to eggplant and tofu puffs to plain tofu, it was really delicious. I shared my leftovers with VM and she really enjoyed it as well.
Unfortunately there was no homemade ice cream to be had that day (we passed on the housemade pineapple cupcakes), but hopefully the issue will be resolved soon.
The menu was significantly more varied than we had anticipated. In addition to traditional Thai offerings, there were Mediterranean, Japanese, Italian, and Mexican options. For the less adventurous, there were also staples like chicken nuggets, burgers, split pea soup, soups & smoothies. It's a small place with a huge menu!
We started off our meal with vegetable shumai: vegetables wrapped in wonton skin served with soy sauce. We were given the option of steamed or air-fried and we went with air-fried; they were crisp and delicious.
We also got the air-fried spring rolls: veggie spring rolls served with plum sauce. These were good as well, but- truth be told, probably would have been better regular-fried.
My pals each got the spicy drunken noodles: flat rice noodle, chili, onion, bell pepper, string beans, bamboo shoots, and basil. You have your choice of protein; one person chose tofu and one "chicken." I tasted a noodle and it was starchy and sticky, just how it's supposed to be. They loved it.
I went with the red curry: coconut milk, bamboo shoots, eggplant, string bean, bell pepper, and basil with jasmine rice. Although I would have vastly preferred broccoli to eggplant and tofu puffs to plain tofu, it was really delicious. I shared my leftovers with VM and she really enjoyed it as well.
Unfortunately there was no homemade ice cream to be had that day (we passed on the housemade pineapple cupcakes), but hopefully the issue will be resolved soon.
Royal Elephant definitely errs on the healthier side and there's some room for improvement (seems like a very small staff to do everything), but how lucky to have such a varied, all-vegan option in Montclair. I wish them good luck!
I have never seen air fried spring rolls! They look delicious, even though I'm sure the original deep fry is always more decadent.
ReplyDeleteI know; I guess the universe was telling me to back away from the deep fried foods!
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