Current Mood: Esctatic

I didn't take this picture, the restaurant did. I snagged it from their fan page.

As you have probably noticed, I’m vegan. The short n simple definition of being vegan is: No animals or animal by-products. No meat (yeah, fish is meat, it has eyeballs and a brain), no dairy, no eggs, etc. So finding a place to eat that offers specifically vegan food is a great find, indeed. Welcome to my new favorite place to eat, the Shangri-La diner. I think they can spot a newcomer by the way they walk in and gape at the decor. It’s bright and fun. The staff is wonderful. And it’s got freakin’ amazing food.

We got to try the African stew, which is a brilliant blend of almonds and spinach. Hubs thought it would be good to have in a sandwich. Hmm, perhaps I can find a recipe for this somewhere… I ordered the special, which was a wonderful whole wheat penne pasta with veggies and loaded with garlic. Hubs got the bbq pulled “pork” (made with Match Meat) and fries with curried ketchup, and he was in heaven! Bbq is one of the few things he misses from the meat days, but no more! Wee lad got a gyro and fries. The gyro also had Match Meat, and he freaked out when the dish was put in front of him because he thought it was the real thing!

The diner is bright and playful, the food is delicious and healthy, and the staff is great. I’ll give this cool little diner five out of five stars.

Shangri-La diner can is at 2201 Cherokee in south St. Louis city, in the historic Cherokee district, in antique row. Their website is http://theshangriladiner.com and their Facebook fan page can be found here. They are open Thursday through Sunday, and they offer a Sunday brunch buffet. Yum!