British chef Theo Randall on the challenge of cooking all-vegan menu at his Hong Kong restaurant

Randall, who is not a vegan, launched a menu of seasonal vegan dishes at his eponymous restaurant in a luxury Hong Kong hotel

The idea is to show vegetables are delicious and how good locally sourced ingredients can be. ‘Cooking with just vegetables, you really have to think,’ he says

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British chef Theo Randall at The Intercontinental Grand Stanford Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui has launched a delicious new vegan menu. Photo: Winson Wong

Published: 5:30pm, 29 Sep 2019Updated: 8:10pm, 30 Sep 2019

No one could accuse Theo Randall of having gone off meat. It’s just that the British chef and restaurateur wants everyone to start eating more vegetables, not necessarily for the health or environmental benefits but for the flavours that are unlocked when roots and shoots are used in season and cooked just right.

Visiting Hong Kong to launch a new vegan menu at his Theo Mistral restaurant at the InterContinental Grand Stanford, he explains how chefs are stepping up to meet the demands of customers who are moving away from meat, and why vegetables are more challenging to cook with than meat.

“I have always been a big fan of vegetables,” he says. “It’s a lot harder to cook a very interesting meal with vegetables than it is to cook with fish and meat, because when you cook with fish or meat you tend to have a garnish, or some kind of sauce, whereas when you’re cooking with just vegetables, you really have to think about it.”

Fake meat is big business in 2019. As restaurants race to add burgers and fillets made with wheat or soy to their menus to attract the rapidly growing meat-free or flexitarian crowd, humble vegetable combinations have fallen slightly out of favour. Why should restaurants spend time making chickpeas, lentils, mushrooms and herbs taste great when they can whack a preformed patty on the grill?

Randall’s pan-fried chickpea cake. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Here’s why: not only are plants easier on waistlines and wallets but, bought in season and grown locally, they are packed with nutrients and flavour.

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