Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

It’s not shrimp at Purple Mint

Vegan Asian eatery makes it fast casual in Linda Vista

Fake shrimp: a great alternative for the allergic, and vegan
Fake shrimp: a great alternative for the allergic, and vegan

There’s a controversial ingredient on my rice noodles: cilantro. Most of us love the citrusy, parsley-like herb, which grows from coriander seeds. About ten percent of us think it tastes like soap.

Place

Purple Mint Kitchen

5299 Linda Vista Rd., San Diego

I’m firmly entrenched in the majority here; I love it in guacamole, and I enjoy it on these noodles, to be honest. But I can empathize with those who have to request “no cilantro” damn near every time they order a taco. Because I’m with the minority when it comes to another questionable ingredient: shrimp.

Rice noodles with coconut, kaffir lime, and lemongrass sauce

With shrimp, perspectives very widely. To some of us it’s just gross — why would you want to eat a bottom feeder? For others, it’s literally deadly — about two percent are to some degree allergic. But most of the world seems to think it’s the greatest thing that ever shared a bowl with grits. To those of us who can’t or won’t eat it, everyone else always sounds like the guy from Forest Gump who only ever talks about different ways to prepare shrimp.

Sponsored
Sponsored

In a stir-fry of rice noodles with coconut, kaffir lime, garlic, and lemongrass for example. When a white and salmon colored curl of shrimp rolls out from under my rice noodles, it scares me for a moment. In most places, the sight of a shrimp on my plate would signal the end of my meal, and possible a doctor’s visit. Fortunately, I’m at Purple Mint Kitchen where everything on the menu is vegan, even the “prawns” in this noodle dish. Though they’re shaped and colored to resemble the scavenging crustacean, they’re made from a base of Japanese sweet potatoes.

The new Purple Mint, a few doors down from Ballast Point's Home Brew Mart

I won’t pretend they taste like shrimp, or that I really know what shrimp tastes like. But the noodles, which also feature mushrooms tomatoes, and onions, are outstanding.

This doesn’t surprise me, because everything I’ve tried at Purple Mint Bistro has been outstanding. The Grantville restaurant expanded a few months ago, here to Linda Vista, and most of its menu came along, including popular favorites of the combo fried rice, orange chicken, and a litany of teas given texture with the addition gelatinous basil seeds.

A fast casual vegan oasis in a Linda Vista strip mall

However, while the original Purple Mint is a full-service, sit-down restaurant, Purple Mint Kitchen is smaller, set up behind a fast-casual model. You order at the counter, instead of at your seat. There are a couple of new dishes exclusive to this location, including a crispy fried “calamari,” and lemongrass “chicken” tacos.

I prefer the phony beef to the phony shrimp here, but I almost can’t help myself. The sight of anything resembling shrimp in my chopsticks gives me a momentary daredevil thrill. Thanks to vegan ingenuity, I get to try all these shrimp-centric dishes, free of worry.

As for the never-cilantro crowd, relax. It’s easy to order theses prawns and noodles without it.

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Mang Tomas, banana ketchup barred in San Diego

What will happen to Filipino Christmas here?
Next Article

Live Five: Songwriter Sanctuary, B-Side Players, The Crawdaddys, Saint Luna, Brawley

Reunited, in the round, and onstage in Normal Heights, East Village, Little Italy, Encinitas
Fake shrimp: a great alternative for the allergic, and vegan
Fake shrimp: a great alternative for the allergic, and vegan

There’s a controversial ingredient on my rice noodles: cilantro. Most of us love the citrusy, parsley-like herb, which grows from coriander seeds. About ten percent of us think it tastes like soap.

Place

Purple Mint Kitchen

5299 Linda Vista Rd., San Diego

I’m firmly entrenched in the majority here; I love it in guacamole, and I enjoy it on these noodles, to be honest. But I can empathize with those who have to request “no cilantro” damn near every time they order a taco. Because I’m with the minority when it comes to another questionable ingredient: shrimp.

Rice noodles with coconut, kaffir lime, and lemongrass sauce

With shrimp, perspectives very widely. To some of us it’s just gross — why would you want to eat a bottom feeder? For others, it’s literally deadly — about two percent are to some degree allergic. But most of the world seems to think it’s the greatest thing that ever shared a bowl with grits. To those of us who can’t or won’t eat it, everyone else always sounds like the guy from Forest Gump who only ever talks about different ways to prepare shrimp.

Sponsored
Sponsored

In a stir-fry of rice noodles with coconut, kaffir lime, garlic, and lemongrass for example. When a white and salmon colored curl of shrimp rolls out from under my rice noodles, it scares me for a moment. In most places, the sight of a shrimp on my plate would signal the end of my meal, and possible a doctor’s visit. Fortunately, I’m at Purple Mint Kitchen where everything on the menu is vegan, even the “prawns” in this noodle dish. Though they’re shaped and colored to resemble the scavenging crustacean, they’re made from a base of Japanese sweet potatoes.

The new Purple Mint, a few doors down from Ballast Point's Home Brew Mart

I won’t pretend they taste like shrimp, or that I really know what shrimp tastes like. But the noodles, which also feature mushrooms tomatoes, and onions, are outstanding.

This doesn’t surprise me, because everything I’ve tried at Purple Mint Bistro has been outstanding. The Grantville restaurant expanded a few months ago, here to Linda Vista, and most of its menu came along, including popular favorites of the combo fried rice, orange chicken, and a litany of teas given texture with the addition gelatinous basil seeds.

A fast casual vegan oasis in a Linda Vista strip mall

However, while the original Purple Mint is a full-service, sit-down restaurant, Purple Mint Kitchen is smaller, set up behind a fast-casual model. You order at the counter, instead of at your seat. There are a couple of new dishes exclusive to this location, including a crispy fried “calamari,” and lemongrass “chicken” tacos.

I prefer the phony beef to the phony shrimp here, but I almost can’t help myself. The sight of anything resembling shrimp in my chopsticks gives me a momentary daredevil thrill. Thanks to vegan ingenuity, I get to try all these shrimp-centric dishes, free of worry.

As for the never-cilantro crowd, relax. It’s easy to order theses prawns and noodles without it.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Reader readers sound off about Encinitas cliffs

Not much sympathy for victims
Next Article

Barrio Logan’s very good Dogg

Chicano comfort food proves plenty spicy
Comments
This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.
Feb. 5, 2020
This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.
Feb. 5, 2020
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader