First-Sunday buffet at Bedford's Thai Jasmine is a vegan delight

THE CUISINE: Vegan Thai

THE CONCEPT: The Sierra Club sponsors a once-a-month vegan buffet in Bedford at Thai Jasmine, owned by Sam Srianant. "They asked me if I would do a 100 percent vegetarian. No fish sauce, no oyster sauce," says Srianant. "It’s kind of hard. Chopping all the vegetables. Everything is fresh."

Says Terry Jensen, sustainability chairman for the Greater Fort Worth Sierra Club: "The Sierra Club is realizing how much diet, particularly eating fish, dairy and beef, affects the environment. Little by little we’re realizing that if we want to clean up the environment we’re going to have to clean up our diet."

THE FOOD: There’s an assortment of about a dozen selections. Most are familiar dishes that have been modified to be vegan — no meat, no dairy products, no fish, no eggs.

Our hands-down favorites were the tom kar (coconut soup) and corn patties. The coconut soup was a slightly tart broth with straw mushrooms and squares of tofu floating in it. The corn patties were silver-dollar-size, faintly sweet and very crunchy.

Green beans, not usually included in vegetable tempura, were a nice addition. The panang curry was carrots, green and red pepper, and tofu in a sauce that had a hint of heat but shouldn’t put anybody off.

Veggie eggrolls were undistinguished, and the pad Thai, the most familiar Thai dish, seemed to have suffered from the translation to vegan. We quickly moved on to other dishes, including the surprisingly good imitation duck salad, which was a cold combination that had the look and texture of the real thing, red onion, cucumbers, shredded carrots and a sauce with a suggestion of spiciness. For dessert there was fresh fruit and something black (black sticky rice, we later found out) that we were too chicken to try.

THE ATMOSPHERE: "Bustling" is the best one-word description. Servers hustled to bring drinks to tables and to keep the buffet serving dishes filled. The Sierra Club reserves several tables near the front of the restaurant, but the entire restaurant fills up — in fact, there’s often a line. Srianant says he and the staff are so tired after the lunchtime buffet that he closes the restaurant for the rest of the day (it’s open for dinner the other three Sunday evenings of the month).

THE DETAILS: The vegan buffet is 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. the first Sunday of every month. Cost is $9.95, drinks not included. Thai Jasmine usually serves wine and beer, but alcohol is not a part of the buffet. Major credit cards accepted. Wheelchair-accessible. No smoking.