Top Vegetarian Restaurants in Hong Kong
There’s good news and there is bad news. Finding vegetarian food in Hong Kong is not difficult. Cantonese restaurant menus are littered with dishes that sound vegetarian friendly but be warned, while the ingredients may be meat free many dishes will have been cooked in fish oil or beef fat. The dishes are vegetarian for taste rather than design and their brush with meat products will likely be undeclared.
Not to worry. There are plenty more options; including plenty of bonafide Indian vegetarian options and many dedicated vegetarian restaurants in Hong Kong. Below are some of the best.
If you’re tired of eating at over earnest vegetarian restaurants where the diners all want to talk about Occupy This and Occupy That but still don’t fancy tucking into Bambi, head to Chungking Mansions. There are a spread of Indian and Pakistani restaurants inside this rambling building, many of which offer a wide selection of vegetarian dishes, although the Pakistani restaurants tend to have a tastier selection of vegetable only food.
Where: Chungking Mansions, Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
Where: 10 Shelley Street, SoHo, Central
Now for something completely different. If your tour of Hong Kong’s vegetarian options has bounced you from Chinese restaurant to Chinese restaurant and round again, Veggie SF is a breath of fresh air. Decked out in bits of Americana this laidback lunge diner is peppered with Americana and deisgned to be a slice of San Francisco style. While the over the top stars and stripes are nothing new on Hong Kong’s restaurant scene you don’t often see a vegetarian American diner – at least not round these parts. There are burgers, pastas and rice dihes on the menu, from lasagne to soy patty cheesburgers with pumpkin fries.
Where: 11 Stanley Street, Central
Several Hong Kong Buddhist and Taoist temple complexes offer vegetarian dining, the Chi Lin vegetarian restaurant at the Chi Lin Nunnery wins as our top pick because it’s a full blown restaurant rather than a bare bones canteen and because it’s one of the closest to the city centre – many of the others are out in the New Territories. The Chi Lin Nunnery is a beautiful set of building set amidst peaceful grounds in northern Kowloon with the restaurant itself is nestled under the waterfall. The food is fresh, natural with an emphasis on well crafted, Chinese vegetarian dishes rather than meat replacement. Try the deep fried pumpkin spring rolls.
Where: Chi Lin Nunnery, Diamond Hill
Where: 7/F, 1Peking Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
Not to worry. There are plenty more options; including plenty of bonafide Indian vegetarian options and many dedicated vegetarian restaurants in Hong Kong. Below are some of the best.
1. Chungking Mansions
If you’re tired of eating at over earnest vegetarian restaurants where the diners all want to talk about Occupy This and Occupy That but still don’t fancy tucking into Bambi, head to Chungking Mansions. There are a spread of Indian and Pakistani restaurants inside this rambling building, many of which offer a wide selection of vegetarian dishes, although the Pakistani restaurants tend to have a tastier selection of vegetable only food.
Where: Chungking Mansions, Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
2. Life Organic Health Cafe
Nothing hauls up the flag for a vegetarian restaurant better than life in the name. World Peace Café is hippy, lefty and proud. This is vegetarian haute cuisine or at least half half haute cuisine – expect more than portobello mushroom burgers and oversized salads. Unlike the usual cafes this full blown restaurant offers seasonal dishes such as roasted polenta with mushrooms, caramelized onions, roasted red pepper sauce, garlic oil and fresh thyme or African Sweet Potato Stew organic quinoa, smoked tofu coconut, sweet potato, tomato, organic beer, fresh herbs, roasted peanuts. There’s rotating daily soups, cheap tea set offers before dinner and many of the dishes are vegan and/or gluten free.Where: 10 Shelley Street, SoHo, Central
3. Veggie SF
Now for something completely different. If your tour of Hong Kong’s vegetarian options has bounced you from Chinese restaurant to Chinese restaurant and round again, Veggie SF is a breath of fresh air. Decked out in bits of Americana this laidback lunge diner is peppered with Americana and deisgned to be a slice of San Francisco style. While the over the top stars and stripes are nothing new on Hong Kong’s restaurant scene you don’t often see a vegetarian American diner – at least not round these parts. There are burgers, pastas and rice dihes on the menu, from lasagne to soy patty cheesburgers with pumpkin fries.
Where: 11 Stanley Street, Central
4. Chi Lin Vegetarian
Several Hong Kong Buddhist and Taoist temple complexes offer vegetarian dining, the Chi Lin vegetarian restaurant at the Chi Lin Nunnery wins as our top pick because it’s a full blown restaurant rather than a bare bones canteen and because it’s one of the closest to the city centre – many of the others are out in the New Territories. The Chi Lin Nunnery is a beautiful set of building set amidst peaceful grounds in northern Kowloon with the restaurant itself is nestled under the waterfall. The food is fresh, natural with an emphasis on well crafted, Chinese vegetarian dishes rather than meat replacement. Try the deep fried pumpkin spring rolls.
Where: Chi Lin Nunnery, Diamond Hill
5. Kung Tak Lam Vegetarian Cuisine
This chain of vegetarian restaurants offers a menu of Shanghai classics with the meat swapped out for tofu and soy replacements. You’ll find plenty of noodle dishes, mixed with cucumber, mushroom and white carrot but also a wide selection of traditional meat dishes, such as peking duck, recreated vegetarian style.Where: 7/F, 1Peking Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
