I was recently invited to try Vegan Food at the Spice Route, Imperial Delhi. The Spice Route is the South East Asian Restaurant at the Imperial. This was my first visit to the Spice Route even though I have been to the Imperial before.
Being a vegetarian, vegan food is equally interesting for me. I didn’t expect the mock meat though. The mock meat is made of konjac (a vegetable from Korea) and Tapioca. I asked Chef Veena as to why should a vegan lunch be of mock meat when as a vegetarian I do not crave meat at all! She said a lot of people go vegan after being non-vegetarian and they would appreciate it. I decided to go for the lunch with an open mind. I quite liked the food. I also discovered that Chef Veena is Thai and we had a lot to talk about Thailand through our meal!
Vegan Food at the Spice Route, Imperial Delhi
The first starter was Thai spring rolls with mock crab meat. I am not sure what crab meat tastes like but the mock one was delicate in taste. I quite liked the spring rolls.
I have tasted fish on a few occasions. I have tried hard to experiment with non-vegetarian food. I have not had much success though. The most I can eat is a bite of fish and that is where I stop. At least I know what fish tastes like! The dumplings were quite close to the original taste. It is amazing how the same texture can be achieved with vegan fillings!
Once again I have tasted a mouthful of prawns previously. I have to say I would prefer the vegan ones any given day! However, people who were non-vegetarian on our table, thought they preferred it exactly the other way round!
Silky beancurd was also a starter that I tried. We had a big debate about why tofu has been experimented with so much, but not so the paneer (cottage cheese).
The mock chicken and mock Malabar curry along with rice were the main course. I have to admit that the texture of the mock chicken and gravy were excellent. The Malabar curry was good too.
We polished it off with Tofu ice cream with coconut cream. If I didn’t know it was tofu, I would have guessed it, it tasted just like the milk ice cream!
The Ambiance at the Spice Route
The Spice Route offers both indoor and the outdoor seating. The opening picture of this post is from the indoor seating, that is the ambiance I enjoyed! I walked around the outdoor area as well.
The indoor seating reminded me of South India whereas the outdoor reminded me of Thailand. If the weather is nice, outdoor seating is equally pleasant!
The outdoor area of the restaurant has beautiful murals on the wall. Sitting there you cannot feel you are right in the heart of CP!
Even though I have been to Imperial a few times, I wonder how I didn’t notice the beautiful roof. Ruchi, the lovely lady from Imperial, mentioned that they hold weekend high tea in this area!
Overall, I spent a wonderful afternoon at the Spice Route. I feel vegan food is a great idea and I am sure over the years the variety is going to increase! The outing also gave me the bonus of meeting Supriya Aggarwal of the Humming Notes.
PS. I was invited by the Imperial Delhi for the lunch.
Funny how non-veg has to go mock!
What is funny for you, it could be healthy for someone else and tasty too 😀
The concept of mock is good for banned items such as beef.
Ravish those who want meat, want meat, mock will work only for who want to give up meat. That is what I think, I could be wrong.
This vegan menu is glorifying the non-vegetarian food 🙂 The property looks good…. but then your amazing clicks make a plain Jane look stunning 😀
No Bushra, this was a stunning restaurant. I was not carrying my tripod hence it is still not a sharp picture of the interiors.
I am going to give mock meat the benefit of doubt. It may be what ex non-vegetarians crave for!
Yummy food and nice décor !!
Thank you Sneh, I too loved the decor along with the food!
Looks beautiful. Yummy food.
Thank you Arvind!
Love Malabar curry and boiled rice. 😀 Nice options for a vegan. Beautiful food pics . After seeing them, am searching for a similar restaurant in Bangalore 😀
Ami that is the first thing I thought of too.
Mridula, awesome pictures.
I had an entire Chinese vegetarian meal at the Chinese New Year celebrations that I was a part of in Malaysia last year. That was my first experience of mock meat and I was amused and quite liked it.
A very close friend loves the Imperial and he took us there for a drink when we were in Delhi last – absolutely gorgeous hotel! Have heard so much about Spice Route… have to go back when I am in Delhi next.
Yes Chaitali i took me a long time to go to Imperial but I have enjoyed all my visits!
Awesome pics and nice narration of the place …maybe some get intrigued to visit…all the best.
Thank you so much!
Beautiful pics of the food. I love it!!
Thank you Ravi.
This mock non veg is a new concept to me. Probably appeals to nonvegetarians who take to vegan food like the chef said. Great presentation Mridula!
Thank you Indrani!
Yummy! All the food pictures along with your vivid description are so inviting.
Thank you!
This is an interesting concept, but I somewhere agree to the point… why crave for something you have left ? But to each one there own. The pics are superb !
Thank you Prasad, are you traveling in Punjab now?
It looks delicious, but I don’t want my vegetarian food to look like meat!
Ha ha I understand that!
I have turned vegan since a month now and this is surely for me 🙂
happy to hear that Shweta!
Never understood the point of mock meat. Totally agree with you, if I don’t crave meat why will I go for a mock version 😛 hehe! I would rather have my veggies in their real form! 😉 Great pics though! Love the ambiance of Imperial, Delhi 🙂
Divsi I too was completely taken in by the ambiance. It rarely happens now 😀 Mock meat was a surprise but I am sure it has its takers.