Gaijin - Bendigo
Gaijin
Description
This restaurant offers a mix of vegan options, with some dishes generating enthusiasm, while others leave much to be desired. The sushi and rice pudding received positive remarks for their flavors, alongside commendations for the staff's friendliness and helpfulness. However, the Bibimbap fails to deliver an authentic experience; its lack of essential ingredients and substitutions results in a bland imitation. Likewise, the rice paper rolls disappoint due to missing key elements. While the menu provides some vegan choices, the execution of these dishes often misses the mark, hinting at a need for improvement and innovation.
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Feedback
I am grateful that they have at least some vegan options, the sushi is not too bad, they were open as much closed and they were nice people. Unfortunately, the bibimbap is only vegan after taking away from kimchi and ei. and they have not replaced it with vegan alternatives like vegan kimchi or vegan egg or even avocado or something. it tasted nothing like a bibimbap, wasn't even in one of those stone bowls. And tasted like a boring soy sauce stir fry. also the rice paper rolls were not good. had not even every mint or coriander, had only a tiny bit tofu, was mainly only salat and noodle, quite bland. they told us that the early roll were vegan, but then we asked if something had this huy fong sriracha in it and did so so that they are not actually vegan, as this brand of sriracha contains sugar made with bone carbs.
Told bahn mi bao bungalows cannot be made vegan. so our order for the bungalow vegan sushi has changed. cassava chips without mayo reispudding is vegan.
First we looked at the menu and it said to ask what vegan can be made, so I called, and laura was great, very helpful, and many vegan options quite everything that tofu is the vegan option. the bao bungalows come with mayo, so ask for no mayo. the food tastes amazing. I had the baby, the bibimbap and the rice pudding will go back. updated by previous review on 2020-04-24
I was informed that the Bahn mi bao buns could not be made vegan, so we switched our order to vegan sushi buns. The cassava chips without mayo and rice pudding are both vegan options.
I appreciate that they offer vegan options, and the sushi was decent. They were open when many other places were closed, and the staff were friendly. However, the bibimbap can only be made vegan by removing the kimchi and egg, without any replacement options like vegan kimchi or egg or avocado. It didn't resemble a traditional bibimbap, and lacked the characteristic stone bowl. Instead, it tasted like a bland soy sauce stir fry. The rice paper rolls were also disappointing, lacking mint or coriander and containing minimal tofu, mostly consisting of lettuce and noodles. While they claimed the spring rolls were vegan, they later admitted that they contained a sriracha sauce made with bone char sugar, rendering them non-vegan.

