Spring Cafe: What’s Vegetarian Editorial Review

Spring Cafe is a 100% vegan counter-service spot at 153D Centre Street in Manhattan’s Chinatown, so a vegetarian or vegan can order anything on the menu without asking a question. Its cooks make Asian-American fusion food, and they leave onions and garlic out of every dish to fit Buddhist dietary practice.

That allium rule matters more than it sounds. If you skip onions and garlic for religious reasons, you can point at any item here and eat it. Few Manhattan kitchens can promise that.

What to order

Bao, bento boxes, and burgers fill most of the menu. For the bao, pick one of four fillings: vegan pork, king oyster mushroom, steamed vegan chicken, or braised tofu skin. Order the Tofu Skin Bento Box for the fullest plate on the board. Soup, curry tofu, and sesame broccoli come with it.

Hungrier? Try the Hawaiian Vegan Burger, with breaded vegan chicken, lettuce, tomato, fresh pineapple, mayo, and an agave mustard sauce. BBQ fans get the Vegan BBQ Pork Burger: BBQ-flavored vegan pork with lettuce, cucumber, red cabbage, and mayo. If you’d rather have a plain patty, order the Beyond burger. Staff top it with vegan cheese, pickles, lettuce, tomato, and your choice of mango sauce or the house special sauce.

Noodle fans should look at the Zhajiang Noodle Salad. Braised vegan minced pork and tofu sit on Shanghai noodles with red cabbage, cucumber, carrot, cilantro, peanuts, sesame seeds, and chili oil.

Salads come in six versions, each with a dressing the kitchen makes in-house. Inside the Spring Buddha Bowl you’ll find quinoa, kale, chickpeas, avocado, raw beets, sweet potato, and tomato under a miso tahini dressing. Order the Kale Quinoa Salad for apple, brown sugar walnuts, and dried cranberry with a lemon dressing. For protein, try the Vegan Chicken Salad, with breaded vegan chicken over spring mix, mango, avocado, and pumpkin seeds.

On a budget of time, grab the Hash & Cheese Sandwich: a hash brown, vegan cheese, lettuce, tomato, mayo, and ketchup on organic multigrain bread. To drink, you can choose smoothies and juices made from fresh fruit and vegetables, or one of four iced teas (China black, hibiscus, lemon, or pineapple green).

The kitchen

Nothing here has meat, dairy, or eggs. We rate cross-contamination at the top of our scale. The cafe doesn’t list a gluten-free menu or a separate gluten-free prep area, so if you have celiac disease, ask the staff before you order bread, bao, or noodles.

Practical notes

Seating is tight. Spring Cafe has about nine seats, according to OpenStreetMap, so plan on takeout or a short stay. Hours run daily from 10:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Its website lists two phone numbers: 212-226-9669 and 212-226-9667.

Online orders go through the cafe’s website. OpenStreetMap shows that the counter takes cash, credit cards, and contactless payment.

Doors shut at 7:30 p.m. Treat it as a lunch stop, and call ahead if you need a group order.

Skip it if you want table service. Go if you want a quick, fully vegan lunch with no garlic or onions, and start with the braised tofu skin bao.