Return to The Purple Mint Bistro

From thunder, lightning and heavy rain yesterday to this...

(on the 905 heading west) Clear skies!

But how long will they last...

because we saw the thunderhead clouds in the distance...

as we approached our lunch destination in Grantville...

We thought it was time for a revisit with TC. Since she is now mostly vegetarian (sometimes she will eat chicken and fish), Purple Mint would be a nice choice.

As you walk in, there is a small "bridge" with a water feature and koi fish underneath.

They swarmed to the top because they probably thought I was going to feed them.


Their menu has changed since our last visit (link posted at end; menu is indeed different)


Here is the older photo of the menu from our first visit. The avocado eggs rolls price went down because the portion size is now 2 instead of 4. Eggs salad sun dried tomato toast (this was a head scratcher) is no longer offered and now replaced with  crispy seasoned tofu pieces.

Here is the updated Entrees page (refreshments stayed the same I noticed)...

Looks like they raised the price of the Lemon Grass chicken/beef entree (up from $8.50 to $8.75) as well as a few other entrees (up .35). They added non-Vietnamese dishes like Orange and Kung Pao chicken (Really? WTH), as well as an egg noodles stir fry dish

Our server said the Pekin(g) duck wraps were a new item. Fake duck of course.

As you can see, we sat outside again. Better lighting but no AC. A June bug also landed in my hair and I didn't freak out! If it was a bee, I would have!

Bert's kiwi lemonade and TC's Thai tea with boba. I stuck with water. I just love their chilled water carafe and the fancy water glasses.

Bert's drink had little black floating seeds in it. I wasn't sure if it was from the kiwi or if it was Chia because each seed had a little gel like coating around it. Maybe kiwi seeds have the same properties as chia, where they expand and have that coating?  Both drinks looked quite cool served in those cool vessels.

I know the last time we were here, I wasn't too keen on their mock meats but I was willing to give it another try so we ordered one item we had before (we liked it last time) and one that we hadn't with a different fake meat.

Our lunch...

"Shrimp" and "pork" spring rolls with peanut sauce:

Lemongrass "chicken" below. We had a choice of having white or brown rice or vermicelli noodles. We chose the noodles.  It was served with a side of sauce (not fish) which was both sweet and salty as well as a tiny bit spicy. It went well with the freshly julienned vegetables (both fresh and pickled).

The fake chicken meat looked pretty convincing and it actually tasted like chicken but in a spongy way. The lemon grass flavor wasn't that strong to me but TC could tell it had lemongrass in it.

Green Papaya Salad with "Beef "jerky:
'
See the golden brown strings? That my friends are the fried shallots that weren't there the last time. Makes a difference in taste I tell you. And the topping? Well, this time they added the peanuts which was missing last time as well. Big big improvement.

As for the spring roll with the fake shrimp and pork, I found these little fake shrimps amusing. They are even shaped like shrimp and have the pink/red coloring on the "spine".

The fake meats weren't so bad. Of the three dishes we had, I liked the fake chicken best and the fake beef jerky the least. TC enjoyed the chicken dish as well. The green papaya salad was so fresh but I would probably like it better with the fake chicken or shrimp or without the fake meats.

We wanted to try one of their inhouse desserts and this one looked attractive. This was the vegan red wine blackberry cake.


The frosting was a lovely color from the blackberries but the cake itself was just all right. The cake was supposed to be chocolate but didn't quite taste like it. It was drier on the top layer than the bottom, which was more moist for some reason. TC didn't like it because she thought the red wine flavor made the cake taste bitter.  Yeah, vegan cakes. It didn't entirely suck or was inedible, but I'll pass on these vegan creations next time (there was also a cookies and cream cake).

One last look at the koi...

It was kind of dead the whole time we were there. We saw two other parties come in and they sat inside. Service was attentive and super polite like before.  I hope this place does well since it's one of the few healthier options in Grantville.

Remember the sunny skies earlier today? Well, this the view approaching the 8 heading south on the 805. In a few short minutes, it started to rain and we also saw cars backed up on the opposite site of the freeway. ALL four lanes were blocked. Cops were there. It was back up all the way to the 94. We felt sorry for the folks coming up from 805 South. Turns out there was a downed power line (thanks for the intel Cathy).

Dark clouds. Rain. Humid!

Previous visit to The Purple Mint Bistro:
May 2015

Donut Panic next door is still closed for repairs, which sucks. It's been about two months since someone crashed their car through the window. What a pain in the ass that must be for Linda and her father. While the shop is closed, they are losing income. I miss her special vegan donuts (the only vegan desserts I consider worth eating).