Bonsai in Brighton serves up the likes of vegan “sea bream” made with titivated pea protein and Mongolian “lamb” skewers with pickled shallot, though at some point in time, perhaps in a few decades, I hope to describe such things without fervent debate breaking out about the merits or otherwise of fake fish or meat, or indeed the use of inverted commas. Or the merits of textured vegetable protein, or whether vegans should use the word “pork” when many seem to think it should be saved strictly to describe bits of actual pig.
These vocabulary purists will, for instance, be wildly irked by Bonsai’s Hanoi “pork” spring rolls. Because guess what? They don’t feature pork at all! Rather, they’re made with fruit, egg-less cream and a layer of deep-fried rice paper, all of it teetering taste-wise on the edge of porky, but actually more a cacophony of non-sentient items styled into a punchy, umami hit. It’s absolutely bloody delicious, too.
