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Categories: Restaurants, Health Markets
Neighborhood: Chinatown"I first discovered Penn Herb Co. when I lived in Colorado and became enamoured with Chap-a-Grips. On a frantic search to buy a dozen or so…" read more »
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I LOVE NEW HARMONY.
I started visitng New Harmony in the dead of winter, after a stint of working in the luxurious Gallery at Market East. I became familiar with the owner/operator, since we would chat over a glass of hot tea while I waited for my take-out and now he recognizes me every time I come in. That being said, the service is excellent.
The food is delicious, it tastes very similar to regular Chinese food but it feels a lot lighter in your stomach when you're done eating it. On Saturday we ordered a mild order of General Tso's, Beef w.Snow Peas, Dragon Dumplings (my favorite!), and Scallion Pancake (my other favorite). The fried bananas are a great dessert if you can get them while they're hot! We were treated to homemade soy milk over ice while we waited for our meal, as well.
I reccomend New Harmony to vegetarians and meat eaters, but I do not reccomend New Harmony to squares or cynics. I advise these people to stick with the always delicious, safe, Panda Express.
New Harmony's food ranges from the fairly tasty to the downright weird. With three people, we did the "Meal for 3-4 People" option. I think the "3-4 People" plates could feed 4 or 5, easily. The wonton soup, General Tso's chicken with broccoli, and Ham with Vegetables were... decent. The fried bananas and scallion pancakes were just super greasy doughballs, and the sesame beef was in a sweet white sauce that totally put me off (and tasted like Philadelphia cream cheese! Mmm... hometown flavor?)
For the price ($12ish per person), you definitely get quantity, but not quality. As someone who has eaten truly delicious "fake meat," I say that this is not it.
This place is ground zero for veggie Chinese food. I don't go to New Harmony for the decor or the service (not that there is anything wrong with either), I go for DIM SUM and a huge menu that I can eat everything on.
I like the dim sum/appetizers best - wonton soup, dumplings, spring rolls. The main dishes are tasty but they all kind of have the same flavor; the beef and broccoli is my favorite.
The servers are attentive and nice, and the tea is a welcome touch. Round up a bunch of hungry friends, order some dim sum, and knock yourself out.
I have been here a few times as my father is a vegetarian. He loves this place. I admit the food is good. I like the soups a lot. I am not vegetarian so I prefer meat, but as for places eating out with my father, it is very good.
I love New Harmony! This place is a staple for my friends and I. We go here almost every Sunday night for dim sum and have never been disappointed. My husband and I also get take out or delivery pretty frequently and Ming and staff never let us down. Whether you're vegan/kosher or not I highly recommend New Harmony.
YUM!
Fresh homemade soymilk on the house! What a delight and still warm....soo good. New Harmony has the same and original owner, Ming who used to own Kingdom of Vegetarians that is now under new ownership. But NH is the real deal and Ming is the man. Stick with NH and you get great service and vegan dim sum aplenty. It's our tradition whenever we're in the city of brotherly love.
OK. so, after trying to get here for weeks and reading reviews, we made it last weekend. they featured a "special" buffet, that really wasn't that special at all! everything about the place was just way mediocre from service to the luke warm food. hmmmmmm......
peace & harmony
Always had a good meal there, usually end up there with a group of friends.
Mock dishes, and dim sum are very good.
Cheap and delicious...doesn't get much better than that.
I went here for dinner tonight and was quite happy with the experience. The service was phenomenal. The staff was very attentive and professional. The menu is huge, all veggie and very reasonably priced. The decor is a bit dated, but rather nice otherwise. Cloth napkins, complementary tea, warm towel after your meal. I would give it 4.5 starts if I could, but since I can't I'm giving it 5 stars is because my meal (beef and broccoli) was a little bland. The wonton soup and spring rolls were delicious. I really wanted to try a dessert, but as usual was too full. I definitely plan on going back to try something else.
This place is so frickin good, I can't get enough of it.
I'm not veggie or vegan but really dig veg. chinese so was pretty excited to eat here. 3 x's going back and it's officially my favorite vegetarian chinese place.
I keep getting the General Tso's so can't say much aside from that dish. (did get dumplings one time and they had apple bits i think in them and were tasty)
They send the General home with the sauce on the side which is SMART. No more soggy wad of soy for me.
They're incredibly nice and were really fast this last time I went. He took my order and said 5 minutes...and it really was barely 5 minutes. He threw in some hot&sour soup since it was a cold night.
overflowing portion of 'chicken' and a seperate container of broccoli to mix all together with the sauce.
And still crispy when I climb into bed to eat it.
Nice.
Wonderful service, excellent menu. All of their vegetarian food is good enough to make a carnivore like myself give up meat, entirely, if I knew my food would taste that good.
So many people seem to like this place. Yes, it is all vegan and yes, it is kosher. Which means for people with some religious, dietary, or moral restrictions on diet, they can just about order anything on the menu for once. Don't get me wrong, it's rare that I can do that, too.
The prices are reasonable and the dish sizes are generous. Yet I also have to say that just because it's vegan doesn't by any means make it automatically healthy. Most of the dishes I've tried here have been quite oily and very strongly seasoned.
Most of the appetizers are deep fried. The one dish that I really do like here is the ginseng soup, which I believe was a special.
Be sure to check your take out before you leave. Last time I got take out here, it was a TOTALLY wrong order, nothing in it was anything I had ordered AT ALL.
The bottom line is that the food here is really just okay. It's not spectacular and I've definitely had better. That being said, I'm not sure many people have really had gourmet Chinese cooking, the pleasure of which I've been able to experience in my travels around the world. So if you come here expecting the regular Chinese food, but vegetarian, that's what you're going to get here. As for an epicurean adventure, this is definitely not the place to go.
I've passed by this place many times on the way to or from other restaurants in Chinatown, and finally decided to give it a chance. Unfortunately, I left wishing I'd gone to one of my usual haunts instead.
I ordered some dumplings to start off, and they were mushy, bland, and ice cold in the middle. (Were they supposed to be cold in the middle? I don't know, but I didn't like it, at any rate.)
I ordered a "chicken" dish as an entree. The portion was generous, but the dish itself was almost flavorless, which didn't make me want to eat very much of it.
Our server was very friendly and attentive, but the food was so underwhelming that I don't think I'll be back. There's too many other good vegan/vegetarian restaurants in the area that I know won't disappoint.
All you can eat vegan dim-sim. Hell Yeah! Unlike some places, New Harmony actually lets you order from the dim sum menu, which means that you can fill-up on your favorites and skip the things that are over-filling and don't excite you much (pork buns, ahem). The restaurant has somewhat better lighting than comparable places, the service was excellent, and it's BYOB. Some of the dim-sum was a little hit-or-miss, but they did my favorites (tofu skin, dragon rolls, spinach rolls) well.
I went there for Saturday brunch buffet. After reading so many positive reviews here, I hoped that the experience would turn out to be positive.
I was rather disappointed: I find this restaurant to be the WORST Chinese restaurant I have ever been to in the U.S!
Their mock chicken, beef (all made of tofu) taste strangely sour and several dishes in their buffet table taste exactly the same though the ingredients are slightly different. Their other dishes were also quite bland. I grew up in China and I know for a fact that Chinese vegetarian cuisine can have so much variety and flavors. This restaurant is a complete letdown.
New Harmony is incredibly yummy and always satisfying.
Vegan and Kosher but even for those who arent on these type of diets the food is great and I have gone here with meat eating friends and my 60 year old "meat n potato" parents.
The General Tsos is great but sometimes I find it a bit to bready. The Beef Stew Hot Pot is fantastic, so is the shrimp and I crave the wonton soup. The portions are large and we usually have leftovers.
Service is great. If you ask for a knife or chopsticks they will bring you one. It is a typical chinese resturant where it isnt fancey inside, but it is cheap and cheerful.
I haven't been here in a few years and when I did, I only did takeout so that is what I am basing my review on.
The people that I interacted with were nice and friendly. The dishes are too pricey for me and the most expensive entree I purchased for takeout was the sesame chicken, which I don't recommend if you'll be eating somewhere without a table. However, it IS really good, especially since I am a fan of the ever popular Chinese takeout dish, sesame chicken. Since I'm not a big eater and I don't bring in big bucks, I am a big big fan of their pork balls. Delicious! I miss it already.
I rarely go into Chinatown anymore but I hope to check this spot out again, maybe be more diverse in my next meal.
Mixed reactions from our group.
+ The vegetarian: couldn't believe the choice she had.
+ The meateaters who are used to fake meat: pleased.
- The meateater who was not used to fake meat: quietly, politely barely ate a thing.
The food was good for what it is, but it doesn't taste or feel like meat. If you're out with someone who hasn't spent quality time with Morningstar or Gardenburger, I'd go somewhere else. But if everyone knows what they're getting into -- "things that are deep fried" basically -- it's an enjoyable meal (don't let the fact that it's vegan make you think it's healthy).
I got the General Tsao's triple delight: chicken, spare ribs, and pork with broccoli ($9.95). The first half was kicky & crunchy, but the bottom half was soggy by the time I got to it. Maybe that's the universe's way of saying "don't eat so much" but the sauce was so good I just kept putting it away. I also tried my friend's sweet & sour soup: really thick and syrupy. Too much cornstarch.
This is a BYOB:
+ If you want to get wine, there's a liquor store by the Hard Rock Cafe on 12th above Market.
+ If you want beer, try the Pac-A-Deli that just moved on to 12th and Locust.
It was 10 PM when we finally got out the door and we needed to eat fast. After reading reviews, New Harmony sounded like just the place!
Upon entering, you'll find that the place is decorated in the fashion of typical Chinese restaurants (lots of mirrors, fake plants, gold things). We were seated in the back area which was nice and cozy, the lighting was almost too dark, but I liked it.
The menu is pretty basic, it looked like for dinner they offered $12 dinner specials (standard chinese food items general tsos "chicken", "beef" w/ broc, etc) that come with soup and an egg roll, and in the back of the menu had meals for 3-4 or 4-5 people, which included a variety of entrees, soup, scallion pancake, and dessert.
We got the dinner for 3-4 ($38) and it was pretty good, details here:
1st - wonton soup, extremely delicious! must get this if you go here. full of yummy veggies, and the wontons are fantastic!
2nd - scallion pancake - comes with yummy sweet soy sauce mixture,
a little too deep fried for my taste, but it was still good.
Main courses:
Beef w/ Broccoli- interesting sweet, airy texture, that was not that similar to beef but I can't really put my finger on the taste. Broccoli was fresh.
Ham and Veggies- Ham was a little salty but surprisingly tasted a lot like a smoky ham. Veggies were tasty!
General Tsos- delicious! tastes frighteningly like the real thing.
Dessert- fried bananas- for me these weren't the best fried bananas i've ever had (esp. since i love the ones from thai restaurants) they came in little balls with too much breading and grease. only okay.
But, I'd come here again for sure to try out all the other tasty offerings. And it's pretty awesome that all the food is Vegan/Kosher.
I ate here late on a Saturday night a few weeks ago. I am not the biggest fan of eating meat, so I was really excited to try this place. We got the special dinner (for 3-4 people) and were very satisfied. I think it could have fed 5 people, actually.
Definitely try the wonton soup and the General Tso's "chicken." The scallion pancakes were also pretty slammin', but they were kind of heavy. The only thing I didn't like were the fried bananas. They were just too greasy, and definitely could have used some kind of accompaniment. I wish I wasn't so full because I really wanted to try the cheesecake. Oh well, next time I guess!
One downside is that the food didn't reheat well the next day. I guess because it was all fried, and I really dislike reheated fried food. So you might want to skip the doggy bag.
On the plus side it's pretty inexpensive, you won't be eating any mystery meat, and it's BYOB! Enjoy!
File this restaurant under fake meat that even carnivores will enjoy.
I always get nervous, as a seasoned meat-eater, that I'm going to hate what i order at the vegetarian restaurants. Is it going to taste like chunks of soy in my kung pao "chicken" or will it really taste like chicken? Lets face it, western palates aren't accustomed to silky soy products.
The imitation meat here is excellent. The right texture, the flavors are great. I was so happy that I could finally make my vegetarian friends happy, while also being impressed with the food. So, I recommend Harmony for everyone. Oh, and the lunch specials are such a deal!!
Why are you reading this? Run to Harmony now!
I grew up eating here and LOVE it. I heard they changed managers or ownership or something and I haven't been since. But if the menu is anything like it was about 4 years ago...its delicious. The sesame chicken or general tso are my favorite! Seriously, I'll probably dream about this food tonight.
If you are vegetarian, bring your meat eating friends here and they won't believe their taste buds.
My friends and I are known for randomly craving an all you can eat dim sum New Harmony trip filled with vegan dumpling upon vegan dumpling. And scallion pancakes. And mixed vegetables. And I don't know what, but it's vegan so let's try it anyway.
Even my self proclaimed manly, meat loving friend adores the eerily realistic beef buns.
Other points:
-The all you can eat used to be $10, but you know, we're in a recession, so now it's 12.
-Speedy service.
-Uh, ketchup bottles full of more sodium/soy sauce?
-Extensive menu.
-Jumbo Walnut Shrimp (get it)!
-Also carries Vegan Treats cheesecakes for dessert, though you'll probably be too full from dinner.
This is pretty much the best place ever. I'll come right out and say that it is the most amazing vegan restaurant I've ever been too.
The fact that everything on the menu is vegan (and Kosher) is astounding. Seriously, this is not your regular fried tofu square joint. They take every meaty Chinese entree you've ever loved, veggiefy it, and make it 10 times better. I promise.
You haven't lived until you've had their General Tso's Chicken. The "chicken" is made with seitan (a meat substitute made of wheat gluten), deep fried and smothered in a sauce that will send you straight to heaven. There are also a series of "ham" and "beef" entrees that are absolutely lick your plate amazing. For starters, try some of the vegetarian wonton soup or some spring rolls. To finish, melt into some vegan cheesecake. Not very Chinese, but hey, it's a vegan party up in here.
(For the record, this place was a huge factor in me going vegan back in high school. I had been considering going from vegetarian to vegan for a while, but wasn't sure there would be enough of a variety of food options available to keep me interested. After dining here one day with some vegan friends, I fell in love, became inspired by the possibilities, and soon after took the plunge. It was that good. Okay, granted I'm no longer vegan-- BUT I don't live near Harmony anymore, so it figures....)
Go now-- You can thank me later.
As you'll see from my review of Kingdom of Vegetarians, I am a little biased in favor of New Harmony. The menu and food are all around better.
Starting not too long after the place opened, they began offering a nice spread of vegan desserts, including cheesecake and ice cream. The food has always served me well, and I highly recommend the walnut shrimp. A friend kept raving about how much he liked the walnut shrimp better than a dish made with "real shrimp." haha!
Dim sum is awesome, it's a small restaurant that doesn't feel cramped, and the staff will remember you if you are a regular....
So why does the place lose a star?
The last two times I ate here, something really upset my stomach. I'm not getting into graphic details, but I will leave at this: non-vegan Vicki has an ironclad stomach; vegan Vicki has an ironclad stomach unless she accidentally eats something non-vegan. I'm not making any accusations or claims either way; however, it left a bad taste in my mouth and I have been a little leery of returning there since last summer. I don't know if I just wasn't feeling well those two times or if this might have been a Gianna's situation (accidental use of non-vegan food products) or what.... I just want to forewarn you, ESPECIALLY if you are veg*n.
Although I am leery of returning, I'm also a little leery of telling you not to try it out. I could have just had two off trips to the place, especially considering that I've eaten there 3 or 4 dozen times in the past 2-3 years.
New Harmony is Ming's second restaurant- the first being Kingdom of Vegetarians on 11th Street. I'm guilty of eating here twice a day when I realllly don't feel like cooking. The service is great- Hero is an awesome waiter and super friendly. They are willing to modify ANY dish and substitute ingredients- something that is important for my picky palate.
I had my bachelorette party at Harmony and have also celebrated multiple birthdays here. I have NOTHING bad to say!
I love the following (although the whole menu rules!):
1) Walnut Imitation Jumbo Shrimp
2) House Special Wonton Soup
3) Ham Fried Rice
4) House Special Chicken
5) Beef with Broccoli
Delicious food and super friendly service. The Dim Sum is super tasty and a great value. They also have the most amazing vegan cheesecake that is just to die for.
Xu Sing is better, but some dishes here are good. some are just tasteless or are trying to hard to be "beef", "shrimp"... you get the idea.
I walked into New Harmony after walking for 8 hours in 100+ temperatures on Saturday. I staggered in, was immediately greeted & seated and brought water.
I looked over the menu, and drank about 2 glasses of water. My food was brought out promptly and was decent.
The service was excellent. Very friendly & attentive.
The prices, just right.
I would definitely go back on my next trip into Philly.
so happy this place is still around. I go every time i'm in Philly. Truthfully, it has been a while since I've visited, but I thought I'd add my 2 cents and 4 stars to the happy mix.
This was the first place I ever ate in Philadelphia. My friend Erin brought me here after an annoying, not-quite-harrowing trip on the Chinatown bus from DC. I was sweaty, tired, and kind of wanted to relax more than eat. Still, I hadn't seen Erin in more than a year, and I knew she wanted to impress me with this place, so I went.
And I'm glad I did.
The food was really good. The atmosphere is so so, but it was getting dark and raining outside, so it was just perfect for how I felt. I really like this place and want to go back the next time I'm in Philly.
This place is not only a vegetarian restaurant (*clearing his throat), this is a Vegan/Vegetarian Kosher Chinese Restaurant. They are a certified Kosher restaurant! I went here with a friend and some new people that I had just met. I can't say that I get excited about the prospect of eating vegetarian when I'm a big ole meat eater at heart.
But I have to say, these people sure do know how to make tofu taste like meat! They have a variety of different foods that are made to taste uniquely like pork, chicken, and beef.
This restaurant also features filtered water and purified air! Uh... cool!
As a group, we ordered the $10 per person Dim Sum. OK. I have never seen this much food before. NEVER. The rotating center of our table could not hold all of the food and we had to stack plates after a while. Recommendation: if you get the dim sum, eat nothing for the previous 8 hours and save the "beef buns" for after the meal. Just do it and you'll thank me after your finish eating. The food will seem to just keep coming.
With the dim sum you get fried bananas and fortune cookies with your check. So save room.
Service is quick and friendly.
The interior decor is your typical Chinese restaurant decor. You go here for the food and to spend some time with friends. They have back rooms which would be great for smaller groups.
I've become really picky when it comes to Chinatown, lately. So, I wasn't too excited to try vegan Chinese food. I have mixed reviews
A large group of us went for the dim sum. Like George said, it's $10 per person, and they just bring out different plates. It was an obscene amount of food. Some of the food was surprisingly delicious (the steamed dumplings) but a good amount of it seemed bland (i've had better substitute meat, before).
And yes, the servers were super friendly (we were teased a few times for our late friends) and very helpful. However, we were over charged (they added an extra person). This meant that they let us take home the left overs. I haven't decided, yet, if this is a fair trade.
Over all, it was a fun experience. I'd be willing to go back with another large group for dim sum or even go just for the beef buns and steamed dumplings.
One of my favorite vegetarian restaurants to go to. And I like it even better now that it was recently bought under new management by the same owners who run Kingdom (another excellent vegetarian Chinese restaurant that isn't very far away). the food is so good that you won't believe that they aren't serving meat. and as George R. says it's also Vegan and Kosher. I like the tea too.
Harmony is also B.Y.O.B. so bring a bottle or two of your favorite wine when you go with a group.
Amazing Dim Sum, some of the best I've had on the East Coast! The price is very reasonable for as much as you can eat, $12! How can you go wrong?! My partner and I went last night on a whim... At first we were conservative with our ordering - Scallion pancakes, "pork" buns, spring rolls, sticky rice... And our waitress egged us on, "MORE, MORE"! Before we knew it we had steamed veggies, two kinds of buns, rice, and some of the most heavenly steamed dumplings! Our table looked like it was going to tip over from all of the food we had piled up on it!! I made the mistake of asking "what's a dragon dumpling?" Our wonderful waitress replied "ham, vegatables, and... oh just try it!" How can you resist that?! So we did, and were amazed at how good everything was!
I wasn't sure if I wanted to be vegan permanently until I ate at New Harmony. I was never a fan of mock meat so my diet consisted of primarily fruits and veggies. Since then, I've gone back numerous times for both lunch and dinner. Their food is amazing. I only wish I lived closer.
I'm taking a friend of mine here for her birthday dinner tonight. She recently went vegan so I hope she'll be lured in by dim sum like I was. :)
I visited Harmony just because my roommate, who is vegetarian, said that this vegetarian Chinese restaurant served food that tasted just like real meat. I could not believe it so we went to dinner there.
She was right. This little, unassuming Chinese restaurant that looks like a million other Chinese food places, serves up delicious Chinese dishes with substitute meat and they taste almost the same!
I had to ask the waiter just to make sure that my General Tso's "Chicken" really wasn't chicken. It was so disconcerting. If all vegetarian food tasted like this, I feel like I could be one too!
New Harmony looks like a jungle rainforest from the outside. The front window is filled with those plastic hanging vines that you can get at craft stores, but for some reason it doesn't look cheap... it looks like you are about to walk into an adventure story or something. I went for dim sum last night with a group of friends. For $10 per person, they will keep the food a-comin' until you beg for mercy. Vegetable fried rice, spring rolls, beef buns (my personal favorite that makes me giggle to say), hot and sour soup, sesame chicken, sesame beef, scallion pancakes.... and more and more and more... all vegan! The staff is extremely friendly and accomodating though you have to ask for a knife and spoon... which is odd... I guess they only like forks?
I'm no vegan, but I hit this place up whenever i'm with someone who is, going to a show, or both. Their scallion pancakes are the best, the hot and sour soup and mock chicken dishes are good too. Portions aren't nuts, and I think every meal i've had there ends with fried bananas for dessert. The staff is really friendly, and they're pretty affordable.
Over the years I have heard so much about this place. Local Philly punk band Anal Sausage even went as far to write a song about this establishment. I finally went with a friend of mine and we got the all you can eat buffet meal. i have to say it was pretty darn good. I especially liked the banana things or whatever they are called. I would definately go back to this joint if grabbing a meal with a vegetarian friend.
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Neighborhood: Rittenhouse Square
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Neighborhood: Rittenhouse Square
Philadelphia, PA
Category: Restaurants
Neighborhood: Society Hill
Category: Vegan
Neighborhood: South Street District
Category: Chinese
Neighborhood: Chinatown
Category: Chinese
Neighborhood: Chinatown
Category: Chinese
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