Lan Cafe

I was a little apprehensive when I first arrived at Lan Café – a small and simple vegetarian Vietnamese restaurant in the heart of the questionable-quality Indian restaurant district – where restaurant hosts pretend to wrangle each other for your business amid their clanky Christmas light decorations.  However, I was surprised to discover that the food at Lan Café is really good.  I really enjoyed the vegetarian shrimp papaya salad - shredded green papaya, carrots, fresh aromatic herbs, onion, chili paste, peanuts, and lime dressing - and the grilled lemongrass seitan on steamed rice vermicelli – served with lettuce, bean sprouts, carrots, cucumbers, and roasted peanuts.  The vegetarian summer rolls were excellent, and my dinner companion kept raving about her veggie meatball baguette sandwich with tofu, cucumbers, carrots, and cilantro.  Coffee lovers will be pleased with Lan’s delicious Vietnamese coffee – which is basically Thai coffee on crack – but don’t even think of ordering one after noon unless you have a long night ahead of you.