The state of vegetarian food in Hong Kong

Forgive me. I know I went to Asia in July and it’s the end of August. But I must share my thoughts on my hometown’s vegetarian food. This will be the last post on my Asia trip, I promise!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I returned to Asia as a vegetarian for the first time on this trip. I felt that Hong Kong’s Chinese vegetarian food continues to be superior, but options are lacking in other cuisines.

When people think of Hong Kong’s vegetarian food, they most likely have mom-and-pop Chinese vegetarian restaurants in mind. Scattered across the city, these restaurants are low-to-mid market, often have a Buddhist bent, and the average customer is middle-aged or above. Their menu consists of a predictable range of Cantonese dim-sums and dishes.

So it was refreshing when my parents brought me to Gaia Veggie Shop, a modern vegetarian restaurant in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong’s busiest shopping district. Unlike the traditional vegetarian restaurants we went frequently when I lived in Hong Kong, Gaia has many interesting items such as sushi on its pan-Asian menu. The restaurant was completely full with eaters of all ages when we went on a Sunday night. A promising sign on what’s to come.

We ordered a couple of Chinese dishes as well as Japanese sushi hand rolls. The cone-shaped hand rolls filled with tempura, julienned bell peppers and daikons were outstanding. The Chinese dishes were decent though a bit too heavily seasoned. I liked the Shanghainese veggie dumplings in a clear broth the most.

Japanese sushi hand roll at Gaia

Excellent Shanghainese veggie dumplings in soup

Classic Cantonese dish: braised bitter melon with mock meat

Dad and I also went to one of the old-school Chinese vegetarian restaurants for lunch. Tong Fong Siu Kee Yuen (roughly translated as The East’s Little Garden of Respect) has been around for decades but little has changed since I left Hong Kong.

We ordered a fried tofu skin appetizer, vegetable curry clay pot, and noodles topped with a vegetable medley. Many office workers were there for a quick lunch so all dishes came under 10 minutes (talk about Hong Kong-style efficiency!). The food was good and affordable. Few restaurants in the U.S. could deliver better value than this.

Crispy fried tofu skin appetizer served with Chinese vinegar

Generous portion of noodles topped with vegetable medley

Steaming hot but non-spicy vegetable curry in a clay pot

But Hong Kong probably falls short in Western and other ethnic vegetarian food. I didn’t have enough time to explore, but I had not come across a single non-Chinese vegetarian eatery in Hong Kong. I only ate at one fine dining restaurant during my stay in Hong Kong, but I think it’s fair to say that chefs are not yet used to accommodating vegetarians.

Remember my family celebrated Dad’s birthday at a fancy restaurant? It’s a high-end restaurant in a private club with white tablecloths and formal service. Unfortunately there’s no vegetarian entree on the menu, and the chef was unwilling to make special arrangements, even though we had called in advance.

In the end I got two vegetarian appetizers, creamed asparagus soup and artichoke tempura, the latter of which became my entree. While the dishes had great presentations and I don’t want to sound snobbish, the food I had at restaurants of similar caliber in San Francisco was better. I wondered if it’s the cooking or quality of ingredients that was to blame.

Elegantly presented creamed asparagus soup

My entree: artichoke tempura, with a side of truffled mashed potatoes

Another observation I had was there’s NO vegetarian option for lunch or dinner at local fast-food chains. I certainly didn’t expect McDonald’s or KFC to have vegetarian dishes, but given that these Hong Kong-style fast food places serve mostly Chinese food, it’s surprising that they don’t offer anything vegetarian.

I later perused Openrice, Hong Kong’s equivalent to Yelp, and found many innovative vegetarian restaurants I didn’t get to try. As vegetarianism becomes more mainstream, I hope to see more diversity in vegetarian options the next time I visit Hong Kong. Just look at Taiwan and Singapore, which do a much better job.

Homecoming for Dad’s birthday

One main reason that I chose to visit Hong Kong in early July, even though it’s the hottest and probably most uncomfortable time to be in Hong Kong, was because I wanted to be with my Dad on his birthday.

Dad’s birthday this year was a landmark birthday according to Chinese customs (I won’t say how old he is!). So our family took it a little bit more seriously.

Since Dad loves eating out, the three of us - Dad, Mom, and I – went to a fancy restaurant on his birthday. But we also had a special dinner at home a few days earlier, and invited my two grandmas and two young cousins to come.

Spread for Dad’s birthday dinner at home

Between the two meals, the home-cooked dinner was more memorable to me. Part of it was I hadn’t eaten at home for nearly 3 years; more important, getting the extended family together is not an easy feat.

We put out an impressive spread. I wasn’t involved in the cooking, and the meal wasn’t all-vegetarian.  Dad likes seafood, and the only two vegetarians at the table were Mom and I. We had steamed fish, slow-braised sea cucumbers with shiitake mushrooms and dried scallops, and sliced abalone stir-fried with vegetables. Both sea cucumbers and abalone are considered luxury ingredients in Cantonese cooking.

But there were many vegetarian dishes too. They included stir-fried Chinese broccoli, braised tofu and brown mushrooms, a stir-fry medley of mung bean sprouts and several other ingredients, and ready-to-eat mock meat (wheat gluten) one of my Grandmas bought from a Chinese vegetarian restaurant. For soup, essential in a Cantonese meal, we had a clear vegetable soup that had simmered for hours.

I thoroughly enjoyed the dinner because of the familiar, comforting flavors I had missed since I lived on my own in the US. Also the intimate chatter over the table. It amazed me how the simple joys of family life, once seemed so remote, resurfaced as if I had never left.

Californian cherries and Chinese birthday buns as desserts

To round up the dinner, we ate cherries imported from California (!) and steamed Chinese birthday buns with egg yolk and lotus seed filling, accompanied by hot tea. I later bought a cheesecake, Dad's favorite, as the birthday cake for our restaurant dinner.

Blueberry cheesecake for Dad’s birthday

Behind Dad’s unassuming demeanor, he loves Mom and me and is committed to our family’s well-being fervently. I know it's a small gesture, but I’m glad that I could spend Dad’s birthday with him. I hope it won’t be long before we see each other again.

Non-stop eating in Singapore, part II

Another food outlet that was on my must-try list during my 36-hour trip to Singapore was a bakery chain called Breadtalk.

Breadtalk in Bugis Junction

Started in Singapore, Breadtalk is one of the few bakery chains that managed to expand across Asia including the tough-to-crack China market. I first learned about Breadtalk when it opened its first store in Hong Kong several years ago, but I’ve never tried it. I was curious to find out what the buzz was about at Breadtalk’s home base.

I need excuses to eat my favorite baked goods too.

Breadtalk has many branches in Singapore and the one I stumbled upon is in the underground food mall at Bugis Junction. My first impression was that the store looked Japanese with its modern and airy design. The buns felt Japanese too – they were small and soft with interesting fillings from adzuki bean paste to cream cheese. Some items had a Singaporean/Chinese touch, such as the use of pork floss (shredded dried pork).

I bought several buns among the dozens on sale, then I saw another bakery as I wandered around the mall. I couldn’t remember the bakery’s name, but it follows the same Japanese style as Breadtalk. The sight of display cases overflowing with buns got the better of me. I picked up a couple from this bakery too.

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Once I returned to the hotel, it’s time for a taste test. Some items in contention (you can see them in the photo album) included: Breadtalk’s flaky pastry filled with banana and cream cheese; Mr. Hakkaido, a long bun spread with adzuki and white kidney beans; the other bakery’s brioche cube with cream cheese filling and pumpkin seeds bun, among others.

Considering their taste and texture, Breadtalk won easily.

But my Singaporean friends told me later that Breadtalk is no longer considered among the best bakeries in Singapore. At least it’s better than the Japanese bakeries in the US though!

I don’t want to bore you with more details of my food adventures in Singapore, so I’m going to stop here. Other memorable bits from the trip that had to do with food:

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- traditional Singaporean breakfast of kaya (coconut jam) toast and kopi (coffee with condensed milk) in a hawker center, and you actually use a spoon to drink the coffee

- curry puff with potato filling and spicy sambar from another hawker center

- vegetarian laksa (though I didn’t try) and other Chinese vegetarian food stalls near the Kwan Im Temple

- endless shopping malls with large food courts and emporiums in major commercial areas (people probably need to stay indoors whenever possible because of the hot and humid weather)

- I brought my running shorts but quickly gave up exercising once I realized how much food there was to check out in Singapore

And finally, thanks to Gina and Siyin for having dinner with me and helping me buy kaya to bring back home. I’m still using it to spread my breakfast toasts…

Note: Yay, this is my 50th post, a mini-milestone for this blog that I should have reached two months ago. THANKS for reading!