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).