The Jewel Box, a blend of lightly sautéed vegetables and nuts in a "bowl" of tofu skin and nori seaweed topped with a treasure of whole cashews, is an original creation on the menu at The Teapot.

Singapore native Cathy Jones took over the restaurant known as China Garden in 1988, and for many years continued running it as "just a regular Chinese restaurant," says Lyle Wong, her brother, who joined the business in 1991.

Five years ago, the siblings switched the restaurant to vegan (no animal products), for several reasons, Wong says. Diners were ordering more vegetarian dishes, and the owners liked the health-oriented change as well as the challenge. Besides, "Cathy's son is vegan, and he just refused to come into the restaurant."

With a menu free of meat and milk products, a customer suggested the restaurant also be certified kosher and pareve (without animal or dairy products). "So the rabbis came in and they started kosherizing," Wong says. It's not unusual for diners to include out-of-town Jewish families or business people. Doggie bags are almost standard, and take-out is popular.
 

The Teapot Vegetarian House 125 15th Ave. E., Seattle. Reservations: 206-325-1010. Delivery to limited area 5 to 10 p.m. Open daily 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Cash, Visa, MasterCard, personal checks.

"There are many other vegan and kosher restaurants," Wong says, "but none that I know of that are pareve kosher and vegan and Asian."

With the menu changes came the new name. Actually, it draws from an earlier incarnation there, the Teapot Coffee House, and is better suited to some precious leftovers: neon teapots. Two enormous ones adorn most of the ceiling.

The rest of the Teapot's current decor is eclectic, with Buddhist statues, Chinese paintings, wooden screens, hanging Christmas lights and a round fountain managing to break the long room into more intimate sections.

The menu, which Wong calls pan-Asian, also includes echoes of its past, most obviously familiar dishes with vegetarian sources of protein made to simulate the traditional meat, such as Broccoli "Beef" (with wheat gluten) and Singapore Style Curry "Chicken" (soy protein).
 

Fitness news you can use Faux meat? Do you like vegetarian dishes that use tofu, gluten or other sources of protein to imitate meat? If so, what is your favorite dish, and from where? Vote by calling 206-464-8243, e-mailing mmartin@seattletimes.com or writing to Faux Meat, Pacific Northwest magazine, The Seattle Times, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111. Take two "Two Minute Drills" is a 16-minute video created by Sue and Bud Turner; she's an award-winning physical-education teacher at Sanislo Elementary School in West Seattle and he's coordinator for K-12 P.E. at Seattle Public Schools. Aimed at schools, day-care providers, Scouts, YMCAs, etc., the tape includes 20 fun and innovative drills focusing on balance, coordination, strength, speed, agility and cooperation. It's $15.99 from U.S. Games (800-327-0484; item US20024050). Nutrients on the Web • A new government Web site lists 117 nutrient categories for more than 6,000 foods: www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp.

In addition to giving new customers a frame of reference (a la "veggie burgers"), Wong says, "it's also a Buddhist tradition to use meat references to make non-Buddhist people feel more comfortable."

Though Wong estimates orders are split about equally between those with faux meat and those without, whether vegetarians and especially vegans truly want imitation meat dishes is a common debate in those communities — and between the siblings.

"Cathy feels that if you're vegan, you don't want the meat references. We're kind of debating on that."

I'm with Cathy. Besides rarely being satisfied with imitations (carob for chocolate, diet soda for regular), I wasn't enticed by, for example, the rather rubbery slices of wheat gluten in the Broccoli "Beef," which squeaked as I chewed it. I'm neither a vegetarian, however, nor a restaurant businesswoman.

Other menu items derivative of meat dishes without trying to imitate were more appealing. Mongolian Vegetarian takes the basics of traditional Mongolian Beef — crispy rice noodles, whole chili peppers, green onions — but uses invitingly fried tofu instead of beef.

Even better is another house specialty and Teapot original, the Jewel Box. A round "dish" of nori seaweed and tofu film holds lightly sautéed fresh vegetables and almonds and is topped with a treasure of cashews.

Spinach and Beancurd Soup at dinner, with whole fresh spinach leaves and wide, thin slices of tofu, was lovely and light, though not more than lukewarm. A Hot & Sour Soup at lunch was almost too warm, and a bit overly sweet and thickened. Excessive sugar and fried foods can be other common overcompensations in some vegetarian restaurants; to my taste, they'd only improve by sticking with the strengths of the foods themselves.

For dessert, the Teapot features Gula Malacca, a traditional Singaporean dessert of tapioca pearls, thick palm sugar and cream of coconut, crowned by peanuts; coconut sorbet replaces the ice cream.

The Teapot even dares to change the traditional meal-ender, the fortune cookie.

"It's so much an American institution," Wong says. It's possible, but not easy, he added, to find vegan and kosher fortune cookies. So instead, on the little tray with the check, come lollipops. Little Dum Dums, to be specific.

Why lollipops?