Jhanjay Thai

After a recent morning of trying on wedding dresses (don't get excited, I was the oppinionator not the bride to be!) a friend and I wandered down 45th St in Wallingford in search of a good lunch. I was rather excited to see the magic words, "Vegetarian Thai Cuisine," and our decision was settled: Jhanjay Vegetarian Thai.

Jhanjay endeared itself to me right off the bat by making tofu (fresh or fried) the default protein, and charging extra for the substitution of fake meat (many vegetarian restaurants do this the opposite way). It is such a pleasure to go into a restaurant and have full menu access, and it was really hard to choose between the Green Papaya salad (no fish sauce!), the Tom Yum and Tom Kah soups (no fish sauce or meat broth!), the curries (no shrimp paste!) or the variety of delicious savory noodles, veggies, rice and other dishes.

Little bowl of glistening soup to greet us

We ended up ordering a red curry and the "Garlic Pepper" stirfry to share. Both were outstanding: savory, spicy, complex, fresh and packed with deliciousness, but without the enjoyment-reducing stress of wondering if they were truly vegetarian (vegan in this case).

Nice size bowl of red curry packed with tender crisp veggies

The tofu was my favorite kind: slick, gelatinous and very fresh.

It is really exciting to find a source of vegan Thai curries, and I am happy to report that this is a great option. It seems a bit unbalanced that Wallingford/Fremont has multiple good vegan curry opportunities while the rest of the city seems to have none, but c'est la vie!