| Chinese Vegetarian restaurant is clean and has a full satisfying menu. |
Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 1012
Reviewed: 4/2/2007
Rating: 8
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Terry had mentioned a new vegetarian place close to work so we hopped in the jat mobile and headed out to Fragrance Land. If anyone knows why they chose the restaurant name, I'd be interested to hear it. It's right across the street from the Cupertino post office and Vivi's on Stevens Creek. We easily found parking in the front and there's plenty of parking in the back.
It wasn't terribly busy today and we had an interesting lunch group across the restaurant. It appeared to be a church choir practicing their songs? I'm not much of a singer myself but they way they sang 'the way we were', I wanted to hurl my veggie egg roll at them. Enough of the violence and let's get to the animal friendlier foods like my Shredded Bean Curd, Celery, and Carrots in Sha-Cha Sauce. The lunch combo is only $6.50 and comes with an egg roll, steamed rice, and your choice of soup. Portion sizes rock the a la carte style. We also shared some veggie dumplings ($5.95).
The egg rolls (image 5) were right out the fryer and served with sweet n sour sauce and hot mustard. I got a kick out of watching Terry catch his mouth on fire with the mustard. The egg rolls were crispy and filled with veggie type stuff. It was ok but can't complain as they're freebies.
The egg flower soup (image 4) was plain. The texture and color was somewhat identifiable as egg flower but they didn't even put green onions or corn or anything. I wanted to spice it up with black pepper but there was none on any of the tables. Soup was ehhh...nothing special.
Dumplings arrived at the table and they looked legit. Hand rolled, moist outer dough with vegetarian stuffings on the inside. At $6, they are $1 each but taste very good. I'd repeat order for sure.
The main course was the shredded bean curds and vegetables. Topped with a Sha-Cha glaze, kinda sweet with little spice. The vegetables were firm and bean curd servings were more than generous. One other thing to note was the absence of oil and salt. I couldn't tell you how many times I've eaten Chinese food and hours later, I found myself drinking gallons of water. Fragrance Land does a great job in controlling the sodium overdose, THANK YOU!
Final verdict - service friendly, lunch prices are a deal, sizable portions, vegetarian food good enough to put a smile on a carnivore.
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Reviewer: Terry
Total Reviews: 738
Reviewed: 4/2/2007
Rating: 8.5
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The boss told me about this one the other day. Its not often I hear about a new vegetarian restaurant opening up so close to work, so had to investigate. We arrive, and the place looks familiar. I guess this location used to be Lucy's after it moved it from Mountain View. Must not have been around long.
Fragrance Land looks clean inside and there is plenty of seating. It wasn't too crowded today so we were seated quickly and shown the menus. Hot tea was brought out on request. It was more of a flower tea than your standard green tea. Not really my, eh- cup of tea.
We looked over the menu and had a hard time choosing. For me, everything looked so good. The specials on the back of the menu were the way to go, though - as you get the soup (hot & sour or egg flower), eggroll, and rice (white or fried). There were not many items to choose from on the menu as far as specials go, but enough to be interesting . I asked the kind lady what she would recommend and we settled on the yellow curry chicken dish. We went with the hand made dumplings for appetizer.
Service was not terribly fast, but not too slow either. The soup and eggrolls came out quickly, as did our appetizer. The main dishes took a little longer but it wasn't bad. The hot & sour soup I ordered was definitely a bit spicer than normal - and I enjoyed it. The eggrolls were you're run of the mill, but just the fact that they are veggie made them OK in my book. Dumplings were soft and fresh tasting. Insides were very flavorful, hard to believe they were veggie - quite good really, especially when dipped in the soy sauce.
My dish arrived and it looked tasty. Portions weren't supersize, yet weren't super small like Good Karma. Especially with the lunch combo, you definitely got a serious amount of food here. Fried rice didn't look anything special. Definitely on the healthier slant, so maybe next time I will just go with the white rice. The curry was not terribly spicy in the dish, and the veggies and faux chicken were solid. Sauce was good poured over the rice, and to be honest I think the faux chicken tasted more like tofu than anything else. I have had better faux chicken, but it still was a very good dish overall.
Another kind of weird thing that struck me while eating is that while the restaurant has only been open a few months tops, the silverware looked OLD. (and no, the silverware that Lucy's had before was different - check the jatbar pictures). Not a big deal, just something I noticed.
My lunch (without the dumpling appetizer) was a little about $8.50 which is a pretty darn good deal for vegetarian food, especially considering how much I got. I was full too. If you have 2 or more people, though, I might suggest an appetizer to seal the deal and ensure fullness. And just to try some more of the wonderful menu.
The lady was really kind and wanted us to take a few menus (I think it was the first time Jatbar didn't have to locate the to-go menu at a restaurant) back to the office. So I am here to report that Fragrance Land is a solid vegetarian place, with a warm friendly waitstaff, and tasty items on the menu. Can't wait to return.
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Reviewer: ne00
Total Reviews: 173
Reviewed: 4/5/2007
Rating: 8
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I was a bit excited when I read Terrys review on Fragrance Land in Cupertino. There are not a lot of Chinese vegetarian restaurants around in the bay area; it is almost a rarity thus most can charge an arm and a leg. I have friends who are capable of making vegetarian dishes taste like faux meat or better than meat dishes. Vegetarian dishes are not so much of an acquired taste but the texture might take some getting used to. Most faux meat dishes are made from soybean or tofu base. The texture is different, but besides that if the cook seasons the dish properly, the person eating should barely notice.
Upon our arrival, the waiter seats us and brings us water, tea and menus. The menu is pretty much the menu you see posted here. We order the pot stickers, two orders of hot and sour soup, salt and pepper fish, house special chow fun, and the mixed mushroom with tofu. The owner of the restaurant brings us a sample plate of fried cream cheese and spinach wontons. These are great and I could easily see myself ordering these, but at almost $1 per wonton, the price is not justified.
The pot stickers are definitely hand wrapped. The wrapping is soft on the inside with puffed up consistency on the outside and a crisp bottom. Recommend this appetizer, repeat order. After our pot stickers, we received our soup. The soup is served by the bowl at 1.50 per person. The bowl is not very large. If you are expecting this soup to be spicy hot then you probably shouldnt order this. This was a nice mild soup. Next, to arrive was the salt and pepper fish. It is a shame we did not get our chow fun prior to this dish. I was expecting or a crispier outside with more salt and pepper taste, but this was a decent dish. There were not enough flavors to fool me, and the texture is off for a fish filet taste. Over all a good dish but I know of restaurants that serve more fish fillet pieces for cheaper. The portion on this dish was not much for the price.
Finally, our chow fun dish arrived. The dishes here seem to be served a lot slower compared to other restaurants serving the same type of dishes. Its possible faux meat style dishes take longer to prepare. The chow fun came highly recommended by some friends and the owner herself. The dish contains chow fun and faux type of spam pieces, which actually tastes like spam, but most likely, a soybean based ingredient. The portion was astounding and would definitely be a repeat order along with the fried rice, as the noodle dishes seem to be where the bang for the buck is. Our tofu dish was the last to arrive. A bit disappointed, as there was a strangely funny taste to our variety of tofu and mushrooms.
Over all our meal was pleasant, but the price was a bit on the high side. If you are considering coming you should definitely order a noodle or rice dish to fill yourself up, as the entrees will probably not fill you up. Service was up to par, as our waiter refilled the water when needed and service was gracious.
Plus: Parking in the back, accepts credit cards with $15 min, friendly service, big portions on rice and noodle plates.
Minus: On the pricey side, entree plates tend to be smaller.
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