The Zen Garden + Vegan Thai Cuisine

Hey everyone!

I wanted to give you some of the gorgeous food we got to try whilst staying at Careys Manor and Senspa, they have a couple of reasturants that we got the chance to try out including the beautiful Zen Garden which is on location and in theme with the Spa, a traditional and healthy Thai experience. So we had just travelled from Essex, via Cornwall, and me via Brighton so we were exhausted on arrival because this location is in the New Forest and it’s majorly out of the way but is well worth the trip.

So the whole location is full of a mixture of traditional Thai features and a sense of health and wellness, with the history of Careys Manor and it’s a blend that works. I very much enjoyed the menu and I must note that it was comped as part of the experience, I believe it would be £40 per person if you were to purchase a set menu or the starters to share would have been about £7.50 each, £15 for a main. Its reasonable comparable to many restaurants with Michelen chef involvement.

So we got the Zen Garden Vegetarian Ruam Mid which was a sharing starter, it was vegan and basically had a combo of tempura, veg, spring rolls and little bites with dipping sauces. I’m very funny at the moment with what I eat as I’m prepping for surgery so I skip anything that’s carby, anything that’s a sugar based sauce and I didn’t get to experience the chilli dips. We tried some recommended glass of rose to accompany the meal and it was lovely. The restaurant has a quiet and relaxing environment as is next door to the spa and I loved the vibe. It was too windy for the outside area but it felt low key and cozy. Our restaurant manager was absolutely fantastic and all the staff were courteous.

For the main, Abbey had this massive sort of egg drip cage or basket of noodles with prawn and a number of goodies in, I obviously am not a fish nor meat eater so I asked for the most spicy vegan meal on the menu. I absolutely loved the meal I was given, it was not the most spicy thing I’ve had by any stretch of the imagination but I chose to have it with no rice, and I would have asked to replace the crutons that were like soaked with the broth in the meal with something more vegetable.

It was a great meal, I’d say a four out of five if I was to rate it based on a system and it was light enough for us to have before jumping into the spa.

Definitely let me know your favourite cuisines when finding vegan food out and about in the comments below.