Four of the best vegetarian and vegan options for celebrating Year of the Pig in Hong Kong
- Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong are increasingly offering options for diners who want a healthy, cruelty-free Chinese New Year meal
- Plant-based pork alternative Omnipork features in a number of dishes, such as poon choi and vegetarian bamboo pith roll
With Lunar New Year fast approaching, there is a small but growing number of Chinese restaurants offering vegetarian – and vegan – options for those who choose a meat-free lifestyle to take part in the celebrations in a healthy, cruelty-free way. Here, in no particular order, are four that come out tops.
1. Dong Lai Shun
Poon choi is typically a large clay pot layered with mouth-watering ingredients, in which diners use their chopsticks to dig in to find a plethora of delicious treats simmering in the hot broth. Dong Lai Shun in The Royal Garden in Tsim Sha Tsui East has a vegetarian option created by executive chef Sze Chiu-kwan priced at HK$1,488.
The soup base is made with carrots and fermented red bean curd, and the poon choi includes vegetarian items that are shaped like abalone and sea cucumber. It has plant-based protein Omnipork (a plant-based pork alternative that tastes and feels like real pork, from Green Monday) sesame meatballs, a “lucky pocket” made with tofu, coriander and scallions, and a dumpling filled with yellow fungus, carrots, water chestnuts, mushrooms and bamboo piths.
It also has Japanese shiitake mushrooms, Japanese radish, kale, vegetarian chicken, winter bamboo shoots, lotus roots, taro, Japanese pumpkin and black moss.
Basement 2, The Royal Garden, 69 Mody Road, Tsim Sha Tsui East, tel: 2733 2020
2. Ming Court
At Michelin-starred Ming Court in the Cordis Hong Kong hotel, Chinese chef Li Yuet-faat has created some vegetarian dishes using Omnipork. There’s braised Omnipork bamboo pith roll (HK$238), deep-fried salted egg yolk with Omnipork (HK$238), pan-fried lotus root and water chestnut with Omnipork (HK$268), and stir-fried Omnipork with assorted vegetables and Chinese cabbage (HK$238).
Level 6, Cordis Hong Kong, 555 Shanghai Street, Mong Kok, tel: 3552 3028
3. Yue
In North Point, Yue in City Garden hotel has gone all the way with an eight-course Chinese New Year banquet for a minimum of two people at HK$428 per person. Some of the tempting dishes include double-boiled clear broth with matsutake mushrooms, bamboo pith and brassica, braised vegetarian pork belly with peas, sautéed vegetarian scallop with kale, yam and lotus root in vegetarian XO sauce, and braised radish stuffed with assorted mushrooms, bird’s nest and a decadent flourish of gold flakes.
1/F, City Garden Hotel, 9 City Garden Road, North Point, tel: 2806 4918
4. Pure Veggie House
Pure Veggie House has a 13-course “Blossom Set Dinner”, and a vegan poon choi.
Priced at HK$368 per person, the dinner starts off with several appetisers, such as sautéed lily bulb and asparagus with black pepper, Chinese yam with sesame dressing, and coral algae and mixed fruit salad. Then diners can choose five dishes from 20 on the menu.
It might be hard to decide, with such items as matsutake mushroom pouches with black truffle sauce, sweet and sour konjac; stir-fried frozen tofu with chilli; steamed monkey head mushroom; sautéed abalone mushroom with black truffle sauce; braised assorted mushrooms with seasonal vegetables; and steamed seaweed and bean curd skin roll in black bean sauce.
The dinner also includes a braised noodle dish and dessert of the day.
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The poon choi at Pure Veggie House is a good portion for five to eight people priced at HK$988 and features a variety of mushrooms, such as elm mushroom, golden jelly mushroom, king oyster mushroom and shiitake mushroom as well as bamboo piths, dried konjac, seasonal taro and lotus root.
The poon choi is available only for takeaway, and must be ordered two days in advance.
3/F, Coda Plaza, 51 Garden Road, Central, Tel: 2525 0552
