by Reed Mangels, PhD, RD
Seattle features many vegan and vegan-friendly restaurants. It’s tempting, whenever I’m in town, to try something different; however, I frequently choose to revisit Kati, a vegan Thai restaurant. With an extensive menu, outdoor seating, and skillful combinations of ingredients, Kati is always a delight. Kati’s website states that their fresh noodles, handmade tofu, and vegetables are sourced from local family-owned producers and that they use organic products when possible. Kati has two locations, one in the South Lake Union area of Seattle and the other in Kirkland, on the east side of Seattle. I’ve eaten at the South Lake Union restaurant several times.
On our most recent visit we started with shared appetizers. The Garlic Jackfruit on Sticky Rice featured jackfruit in a garlic batter, fried until crisp and served on a sticky rice cake. Each bite had several different textures and flavors – crisp, chewy, mildly garlic. We also had Fresh Garden Rolls which were filled with shredded carrots, herb salad, other vegetables, and tofu and came with a flavorful tamarind sauce – an excellent choice on a warm day.
Kati’s menu includes stir-fries, salads, soups, fried rice, noodles, curries, sweets, and beverages. We opted to share Pad See-ew which included wide rice noodles, collard greens, carrots, fried tofu, and broccoli. The collard greens were an especially interesting addition and blended well with the chewy noodles and the other vegetables. We also tried Sweet and Sour Cashew Stir-fry which had a tangy tomato-based sauce with stir-fried peppers, onions, cashews and tofu.
In the past, we’ve delighted in Green Curry with Thai basil, eggplant, and broccoli in a subtly spicy curry sauce as well as Pad Keemao (drunken noodles) with basil and portobello mushrooms.
Desserts such as coconut ice cream with homemade caramel sauce are tempting but we’ve always been too full to want dessert. Maybe next visit.
Kati Thai is at 1190 Thomas Street in Seattle and 12540 120th Ave. NE, Suite 110 in Kirkland.
Visit their website at https://www.kativeganthai.com/.
To find a list of veggie restaurants in the USA and Canada visit: https://www.vrg.org/restaurant/index.php