For vegetarians, Hong Kong is a pretty good city to eat as there are many vegetarian restaurants: traditional Chinese, Indian as well as fusion with Japanese and Western cuisine.
Chinese buddhism interprets the percept "Do Not Kill" as not taking any life, not just human, therefore most Buddhists will avoid meat, if not forever, at least a few times a month. In fact, hundreds of years back, there was an emperor who declared the whole country to go vegetarian. Chefs tapped into their culinary skill and creativity to create dishes for wealthy clients that match the taste and texture of their favorite meat dishes as much as possible. Therefore, more or less, there exists a veg version of any meat Chinese eat... which means not just veggie beef or chicken, but everything from duck kidney to salmon sashimi to shark's fin.
Enough digression, back to my visit. We were surprised by how busy this place is during lunch time, and had to wait 10 min for a table. Next we were surprised by how the dim sum and regular menu looks the same as any other restaurants. They have xiaolungbao, but while the shape looks the same, I find the filling too mushy and not soupy enough. The "ribs" even have layer of jelly in between to give you that melt-in-your-mouth mouthfeel without the cholesterol. The "tripe" was finely scored to give it some "fuzz" like the real thing.
While we were impressed with the look of the food, I am less so with the meal. Not so much about the taste, but how afterwards I felt greasy and stuffed, not good and healthy like when I eat a nice vegetarian meal. Probably because there's so much oil and starch.
Service is okay, efficient without much smile. read more