Garden Fresh, located on the bustling El Camino Real in Mountain View, serves authentic Chinese food with purely vegan ingredients. Founded 22 years ago by Alice Liang, a vegan woman who immigrated to California from Taiwan, the restaurant specializes in fake meat made of ingredients like soy, mushroom, yam, and monk bean. While Liang briefly expanded the restaurant into Palo Alto, she decided to close that location due to the challenges of managing two restaurants simultaneously.
Thai Iced Tea ($5.95 ): 8/10
The Thai tea is served unmixed, with the bottom layer consisting of a rich, flavorful tea topped with a smooth layer of fresh soy milk. Though it lacks Thai tea’s usual spice, its sweet and creamy profile makes it the perfect drink to start a meal. It serves as a refreshing companion throughout lunch, helping balance and complement the bold, exciting flavors of the dishes that follow.
Steamed Veggie Buns ($5.95): 7/10
These vegetable buns have a soft and sticky exterior that gives them a satisfying texture—but the filling is where things get interesting. The vegetables inside are soft and almost stringy, with a slightly sweet flavor that adds depth. However, the filling feels a bit too sparse, leaving the bun-to-filling ratio a little unbalanced. If you’re a fan of subtle sweetness and soft, doughy textures, these buns are still worth trying.
Orange Veggie Chicken ($15.95): 10/10
The meatless take on orange chicken does an outstanding job of resembling the flavor of regular chicken. The outside is perfectly crispy, while the inside remains tender and soft, creating an excellent balance of textures. The sauce, when ordered with a medium spice level, is sticky and sweet with just the right amount of heat. What really makes the dish stand out is the generous coating of sauce on the fake chicken, ensuring every bite to be flavorful and satisfying. The soft broccoli that accompanies the dish adds a refreshing contrast to the crispiness of the fake chicken and the richness of the orange sauce. Together, the components create a well-rounded and delicious dish that exceed expectations.
Veggie Beef with Broccoli ($12.95): 5/10
The “beef”’ is not as well-imitated as the previous “chicken,” with a weird consistency that is super tough and hard to chew. Even getting a fork into it can be a struggle. The taste definitely resembles beef, but the texture throws the dish off completely. The carrots and broccoli, though, are a different story. They’re cooked just right—soft but not mushy—and taste fresh alongside the false meat.
Crispy Sesame Prawns ($15.95): 8/10
The “prawns” feature a sauce that is quite similar to the one used for the orange chicken—thick, sweet, and flavorful. The spicy version adds a nice heat to perfectly balance the dish’s sweetness. The fake prawns are generously coated with sesame, bringing a subtle nuttiness to the flavor. The “shrimp” itself is well-prepared—battered and fried, making it crispy and golden on the outside, while remaining tender and juicy on the inside.
Along with the meals, there is a choice of white or brown rice. The white is plain and sticky, perfect to mix with the sauces and vegetables of the dishes.
