New Harmony

New Harmony is one of a handful of kosher vegan Chinese restaurants in Philadelphia’s Chinatown. I often get Kingdom of Vegetarians and Cherry Street Vegetarian (the other veggie Chinese restaurants) confused with each other, as I’ve visited both a few times, but not frequently, since I have to be in the mood for Chinese. I know for a fact that I’ve never been to New Harmony, so I gave it a try a while back.

It turns out that Kingdom of Vegetarians and New Harmony are owned by the same people and have the same menu, so perhaps there was no need for me to seek out New Harmony. Maybe someone who eats Chinese more frequently than I do can chime in about any differences.

First off, let me just say…nice touch with the spray painted sign on the awning! It truly did help me hone in on the place as I walked down the street searching. Once inside I was not surprised to find a typical, casual Chinese joint – nothing fancy. And New Harmony is no different than other vegetarian Chinese restaurants – mock meat everywhere! I normally get General Tso’s chicken when dining at Chinese places because I like the sweet and spicy sauce. Nostalgia told me to order sweet and sour pork – my favorite when I was a child. I loved the thick, syrupy, bright red sauce covering the fried nuggets of pork. I was sorely disappointed to find the sauce at New Harmony to be thin, watery, and not bright red. The fried balls of seitan/tofu/what-ever were fine, but it’s the sauce that makes sweet and sour pork. Waahh.

I had read raves about the jumbo fried shrimp with glazed walnuts, so my partner ordered this dish. Rave, indeed! The mock shrimp had an uncanny resemblance in texture and taste to the real thing, and the sauce was sweet and garlicky. When I became a vegetarian in high school, the only meat I did not give up for the first year was fried shrimp – I loved them so. We never really ate much seafood at home, and rarely dined out, so, after a year, I lost interest in shrimp, and that was that.

Now I’m craving fried shrimp, thanks to New Harmony. At least, I know were to get the next best thing. Sweet and sour mock pork? Not so much.

New Harmony, 135 N. 9th St., Philadelphia 19107(215)627-4520
Daily, 11:30am-11:30pm