Zao Asian Café is a fast casual Asian restaurant with many locations in Utah. I love how their menu is pretty simple to understand and they have tons of vegan options!
They’re really good about putting a V next to certain things on the menu that are vegan. The V isn’t on everything that’s vegan, but they’re awesome about answering questions if you email them or ask them on Instagram.
I love to get a bowl with rice noodles, teriyaki sauce, the broccoli onion mixture, corn, and carrot daikon. They have other toppings you can put on your bowls and they’re all vegan except for the crispy onions. The other vegan ones that I choose to not get are cilantro, peanuts, and chili paste.
Rice noodle bowl with veggies
Update: in 2018 after this post was originally written, Zao changed their green beans and onion mixture to being broccoli and onions instead. We love the broccoli so much more than the green beans! The broccoli has so much flavor and is always cooked perfectly.
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Yellow curry rice bowl
I also love to get a bowl with white rice, yellow curry, broccoli, corn, and carrot daikon. My only complaint is that they don’t give enough sauce for how much rice they serve you, so I always ask for a little extra. I haven’t tried the green curry sauce or the chili lemongrass sauce, but those are also vegan! I’m not a fan of tofu, but it is vegan.
Veggie tacos
Another meal I sometimes get is the tacos. Not everything for the tacos is vegan, but you can get them with the tortillas, tofu, broccoli, corn, carrot daikon, cilantro, lettuce mix, and Korean red sauce. The chili lime aioli is not vegan though. I also love getting a side of guacamole and putting some in the tacos. There are also a ton of gluten-free options on their menu that have a GF next to them.
Last year, Zao added a new item to their menu that we love! It’s the Yakisoba Wok Seared Noodles. We tried these and would definitely recommend them! They had a great flavor and a fun texture. They also have cabbage mixed in with the noodles. We get them with teriyaki sauce and all the veggies.
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I’ve never gotten a salad at Zao, but you can easily make a vegan one. They have a lettuce mix, tofu, chili lemongrass sauce/dressing, sesame vinaigrette, all the toppings for the bowls, and rice noodles.
The Banh Mi Wrap is my favorite thing on the menu! It has a spinach tortilla and you get to choose what to fill it with. I love doing rice noodles, corn, carrots, lettuce, cucumber, guacamole, and Korean red sauce.
The soup cannot be made vegan because the broth for it has chicken and pork in it.
Chips & Guacamame
Another delicious thing to get here is the chips and guacamole! The guacamole has soy beans in it that give it such a unique texture. The guacamole is vegan and is now our favorite guacamole we’ve ever had. Sometimes I just get this for my meal if I’m not super hungry and it’s very satisfying.
They also have some really good fruity drinks that you can get. When we get a drink, we always go for the Thai Mango. We’re big fans of mango and this is one delicious drink.
Zao has locations in Salt Lake City, Sandy, Murray, Fort Union, Lehi, Sugarhouse, Orem, South Jordan, Orem and more.
