The Two Fat Guys head to the Zen Garden.

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Located at 179 Mountain Rd. in a converted home, Zen Garden is one of the few exclusively vegetarian restaurants in town. Open daily from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. take note the restaurant is closed from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. daily it seems. Having never tried any of the food there, these Two Fat Guys decided to go over and graze. Please call 384-6801 for more information or to make a reservation.

The Fat Guy's verdict:

When you walk into The Zen Garden, you're immediately assailed by the smell of Asian foods being prepared. It's a wonderful smell, and I like to sit and bask in it. My partner and I were served menus along with a piece of paper to facilitate ordering. It's pretty simple, a check box type system. Most probably reduces confusion as the owner's first language is neither English nor French. And prices noted on the menu include tax I believe.

Our excessively polite waiter only added to the peaceful and calm atmosphere. I ordered green tea ($2.41) feeling the whole Zen thing. I also totally asked for directions on the proper way to drink my tea so I could get the most out of the experience, and the waiter was kind enough to demonstrate. In this case, there was a system. You'll see.

After sipping on our teas, the Fatter Guy and I opted to get dumplings ($4) as a starter. OK, three days later and I'm still fantasizing about these things. Carrot, mushrooms, Napa cabbage and soy protein is wrapped up in dumpling goodness. Eaten with chopped sticks and dipped in soy sauce. They're indescribably good. I ate the majority of them, sorry Fatty, and I did so very quickly. I lost count of how many dumplings were there, but I think it was around six?

For my main serving, I ordered a combo platter ($10.53) for the supper. It's the only option for supper really. It came with lightly fried rice noodles and carrot shavings, bean mix, spring rolls, steamed vegetables, and some meat substitute protein that amazingly tasted like KFC, but the server assured me it was still good for me.

I need to talk for a minute about the yogurt salad. Basically made up of all the good stuff you'd find in coleslaw, shredded veggies AND kiwis, apple and raisins in a sweet homemade yogurt sauce. Delicious. I guess I've also gotten used to eating overly processed foods, because I pulled the waiter aside and said, "These veggies are delicious, what's on them?" He responded, "They are steamed in water, maybe a little salt. This is how fresh vegetables taste." Oh....

At one point I turned with mouthful to the Fatter Guy and said, "Do vegetarians eat like this all the time?" To which he responded, "Nope, that's impossible. If they did, they'd have more people on their team." In other words, the food was good. Even writing this review is making me hungry for more dumplings, seriously. I'm heading back over tonight and picking up some more. You should too.

This fat guy gives Zen Garden a 10/10. There's no improving the sheer perfection of that meal.

Fatter Guy's verdict:

I don't know what Zen Garden has done to my critical Fat Man in crime, but walking into the restaurant there was a major change in my smug meal partner.

You may say he went 'Zen'.

The entire meal Fatty kept raving about the dumplings ($4) we ordered to start. They were indeed delicious, though I only got my hands on two of them as Fatty hogged them big time. I've had dumplings before at other restos, and they are always deep fried and full of grease, this wasn't the case here. Not sure how soy protein could taste so much like meat, but it really did.

I sipped away on passion fruit tea ($2.25), which reminded me of grapefruit juice as I checked out the neat 'check box' menu system for ordering. This not only could be helpful for the language difference, but also for when you head up to pay. There's no confusing your table for another as the sheet with your selection and your table number sits tacked on the wall and is only taken down when you head up to pay.

I really didn't know what to get for my main course, I thought about getting the combo platter, but as I'm sure you read above, you know Fatty beat me to that. I ordered the noodles for $4.50 instead.

The noodles were fine, but lacked some flavour. They were lightly fried rice noodles with 'fake ham' and carrot shavings throughout, I really wasn't sure what my 'veggie-ham' was supposed to look like but I couldn't seem to find or taste it in my noodles.

I doused my noodles in some soy sauce I stole from the tray the dumplings came in. They were just all right. I did however, pick off tons of stuff from Fatty's combo platter and the yogurt was something I will definitely be ordering next time, same with the spring rolls.

I enjoyed my meal and the service at Zen Garden, but left wishing I'd ordered more (or maybe had gotten an extra dumpling or two before Fatty grabbed them away from me). I give the Zen Garden 7.5/10.

E-mail thetwofatguys@gmail.com