The Unreal Thing : Where’s the beef? Not here. At Au Lac, the dishes, such as crispy fish, aren’t always what they seem.

Four years ago, Mai Nguyen became a vegetarian to reduce her alarmingly high cholesterol. The changes were dramatic, and last year, she decided to share her good health with the world. The result was Au Lac, whose name led me to believe it was a French restaurant.

It isn’t. The restaurant specializes in a wide variety of Chinese and Vietnamese dishes, and the name actually comes from a Vietnamese legend about a fairy princess. All of Au Lac’s dishes are prepared without animal products, wine or MSG. That makes this a rarity among Asian restaurants, a vegan-friendly kitchen.

Of course, both China and Vietnam have a rich tradition of vegetarian cooking, partly arising out of necessity, partly from Buddhist principles. Buddhists in both countries abstain from meat on certain days each month, and there is a long tradition of imitating meats with vegetable ingredients.

Au Lac relies heavily on soy products and yam paste to substitute for beef, chicken, pork and fish in its unusual repertory of dishes. One of the menu’s most convincing creations is crispy fish. The “fish” has a lightly fried skin of tofu sheets and a densely textured “flesh” of pressed tofu. The taste is briny and mildly sweet, like a nice piece of sole. The only thing missing is bones.

The menu’s spicy “chicken” with lemon grass is satisfying in a different way. No one is going to be fooled into thinking that these crinkly, bite-sized pieces of dried tofu are really chicken, but the dish works anyway, because the tofu is plumped up with a rich, spicy sauce redolent of lemon grass, garlic and ginger.

The mock meats are effective when they are used simply to enrich a dish. Au Lac’s bi cuon are fresh Vietnamese rice-paper rolls filled with mock shredded pork and shrimp, wispy rice noodles and leafy herbs. The mock pork and shrimp are visible under the surface of the rice-paper skin, and their flavors blend well with the other components. The rolls are light and truly refreshing. Most Vietnamese customers eat them with a sweet, sticky brown sauce infused with crushed roasted peanut.

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Au Lac’s soups are also quite interesting. To me, they taste as if the base is chicken broth, but naturally this is not the case.

“This is my magic,” said Nguyen, approaching our table with a mysterious-looking spoonful of off-white powder. This imported and expensive substance, she later explained, is made from mushrooms, yeast and vegetable proteins.

The duck noodle soup looks and tastes like the real article, full of yellow noodles, greens and pieces of mock duck. Au Lac’s version of tofu spinach soup, a dish found in many Chinese restaurants, is spinach and large cubes of tofu in a rich broth. Only the hot-and-sour soup is radically different from the original. I like the way the flavors of vinegar and sugar blend together in the watery brown stock, but the soup lacks the heartiness of the usual beaten eggs.

Chinese dishes make up around half the menu. There is a delicious “beef” chow fun, mouthwatering rice noodles sauteed with Chinese broccoli, a touch of fermented black soybean and a slightly spongy soy “beef.”

“Beef” with broccoli is rather heavily salted, but the vegetables are perfectly cooked. One of the best imitations from the Chinese side of the menu is salted and peppered shrimp. These small, crescent-shaped pieces of soybean and yam paste really come close to the look and feel of shrimp.

The hot braised “lobster” is a stretch, though. It’s a large, bright pink oval smothered in a red sauce flecked with carrots, onions and red peppers. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t taste like lobster. Any flavor it does have comes from the sauce, which is more like a classic sweet-and-sour sauce than the hot bean sauce the words “hot braised” would ordinarily imply.

On the other hand, I quite like Au Lac’s broken rice, based on a popular Vietnamese lunch dish of broken grains of rice, grilled marinated pork and shredded pork tendon. This version is a dead ringer for the real thing, ringed with cucumbers, tomatoes, radish and carrot pickles. I also recommend sugar cane shrimp balls, which get their rubbery texture from yam paste. They come nicely charred on the outside, just like the real shrimp paste original.

Au Lac also makes traditional Chinese vegetable dishes, all well-crafted and nicely seasoned. Sauteed black mushroom with baby bok choy comes blanketed in a deep brown soy glaze, and the mushrooms have a finish as long as a good cabernet. Fresh pea shoots are tossed in a wok with garlic and oil. Assorted mixed vegetables, carrots, broccoli, snow peas and baby corn, are just fine too.

The only real dessert is a jiggly, egg-less flan, but there are lots of healthful drinks to accompany the foods. Besides the very sweet fresh-squeezed orange juice and an unusual sour plum soda, there is fresh soy milk, Sharp’s nonalcoholic beer and a selection of good Chinese teas on hand.

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Service is cheerful and pleasant, and the dining room, while a touch contrived in appearance, is rustic and welcoming. Silk orchids hang from an overhead trellis, and the room is landscaped with a grove of mock bamboo trees and lighted by spherical paper lanterns.

“No artificial anything” may not apply to Au Lac’s decor, but the food here is natural, healthful and good to eat. We’ll measure our cholesterol shortly.

Au Lac is moderately priced. Appetizers are $3.75 to $4.95. Vegetables are $4.50 to $6.95. Vietnamese dishes are $4 to $8.25. Chinese dishes are $5.99 to $12.

BE THERE

* Au Lac, 16563 Brookhurst St., Fountain Valley. (714) 418-0658. Open 10:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Wednesday-Monday. Closed Tuesday. MasterCard and Visa.