I love eating meat. A meal without meat is usually a sad meal for me. However, I heard that Po Lin Monastery has really amazing vegetarian food. I was skeptical that I could be blown away, but I decided to give it a try. I am so glad that I did. Indeed, I was blown away. The food was so fresh, flavorful, delicious, and affordable. There is a restaurant and a cafe. The restaurant offers a set menu while the cafe has dim sum and snack items. I got in the cafe line, which moved quickly, and ordered a bowl of three different flavors of seitan, a dumpling, a piece of turnip cake, a piece of mango agar, and a cup of mango sago. There is only outdoor seating, and I found myself a seat at an empty table and enjoyed the nice weather and temple scenery. It was my first meal of the day. I started off so hungry, and I ended up so full. You can either climb the steps of the Tian Tan Buddha first and then reward yourself with delicious food once you get back down, or you can stuff yourself with food and then burn off those calories climbing up and down the steps. I did the latter since I was so hungry, and then I spent a lot of time walking around the temple grounds to continue burning off those calories. read more

寶蓮禪寺齋廚 - Seitan, dumpling, turnip cake, mango agar, and mango sago - Vegetarian Near Me - Hong Kong, HK

The vegetarian meal for 2 comes with: - Tea - Snow fungus and papaya soup - Lemon bean curd - Mushrooms and lettuce - Snow pea stir fry - Spring rolls - Bowl of rice Aside from the soup, which I found rather bland, every other dish was perfectly seasoned and delicious. It was a great cleanse meal to detox from all the other food we've been eating in the city haha. Warning: the meals come with a ton of food so I think ordering the set meal for 1 less than the number of people in your party should be good. You have to buy the meal tickets at the booth outside the restaurant before entering. Prices are kind of expensive in my opinion but the taste and amount of food make up for it. read more

寶蓮禪寺齋廚 - Vegetarian meal for 2 - Vegetarian Near Me - Hong Kong, HK

Reward yourself for making it to the top to visit the big Buddha by making a stop here after the descent. Located just upon exiting the Grand Hall of 10,000 Buddhas we wanted a snack of pan seared radish cakes, taro puffs and crispy egg rolls washed down with a mango coconut sago drink. Tasty enough and rewarding. read more

寶蓮禪寺齋廚 - Not greasy at all. Made for great snacks after a 268 step climb. - Vegetarian Near Me - Hong Kong, HK

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The kitchen makes a set lunch of vegetarian fare, which I suspect is also vegan, and there's a regular vs deluxe for two with a negligible difference in price. I was surprised by the price, but they give you plenty of food. A soup to start, made with wood ear and tofu skin. Add some chili sauce and it's hot and sour soup. The Spring Rolls stuffed with...just cabbage. Add more chili sauce. My favorite is the Fried Bean Curd in a lemon sauce, and I also enjoyed the stir fry of mushrooms, sugar snaps and occasional asparagus and cashews. If you haven't had enough cabbage, they make whole sheets of it with some shiitakes on top. The food is simple here and so is the service. Communal tables, standard seasonings, mostly salt. Don't come here for complexity or creativity. I say this objectively as the food is absolutely fine. There is nothing wrong with it, and it tastes like good, clean eating. You won't feel uncomfortable full or gross after you eat here, and you can climb the stairs to the Buddha without feeling nauseous. read more

We ordered two regular lunches. It sufficed between us four adults and a child. One corn, green peas, tofu and mushrooms saucy-ish stir fry. Another celery, capsicums and hard gluten / soy protein stir fry. Another one of collard greens and mushrooms. Spring rolls. Rice plenty. And a bowl of soup - probably the water in which red beans were boiled. The deluxe platter would've included a couple of more dishes. The spring rolls with taro or some other root vegetables was nice, crisp and filling. The celery stir fry and the greens and mushrooms stir fry were good. There's little to go bad in those. The corn dish, I didn't care for much. The soup was bland, non existential salt and a mushy root that was even blander when boiled. Thanks to the spicy sauce and soy sauce there, we mealed up. There were snacks outside, in a canteen like thing. While we weren't hungry enough, we tried their coconut fruit jelly, which was OK. Not too sweet, which was good but not too much coconutty, which was not enough for me More photos and details on my blogs. Links also in profile. thevegetarianvoayger[dot]wordpress[dot]com nycbonviveur[dot]wordpress[dot]com read more

My friends and I came here to eat lunch after seeing the Big Buddha that's nearby. After climbing up 200+ steps to see the Buddha, we were hungry. You have to buy a meal ticket first. There is a spot at the Po Lin Monastery that sells tickets and a spot at the bottom of the steps to the Big Buddha. If you have a meal ticket, it also grants you admission into the museum that's at the top of the stairs of the Big Buddha. We didn't know this, but once we got to the top of the Big Buddha, the lady said we could buy the tickets to the museum and then upgrade and pay for the meal ticket. We skipped the museum and just bought meal tickets back at the monastery. The service lunch until about 4:30, so you just need to redeem your meal ticket with the hostess before then. You have two options, the regular vegetarian meal and the "deluxe" vegetarian meal. We asked what the difference was, because you don't get more in terms of the the number of dishes. From what I could tell, one of the vegetable dishes was different from the other. The lady said that the deluxe meal was better and than we get our own table inside. We ended up getting the deluxe meal. The restaurant was pretty full, so we had to wait a few minutes. And we had to share a table, which was fine, but contradicted what the lady selling us the ticket had said. We were given steamed rice and a big pot of tea. We got mixed mushroom soup, which was delicious, fried veggie egg rolls, mushrooms on a bed of cooked greens (they were like bok choy but I don't think that's what they were), a mixed veggie dish that had asparagus, mushrooms, celery, snap peas, and bell pepper, and fried bean curd sheets in a sweet lemon sauce (dessert). I thought the food was really tasty. The vegetables and the mushrooms were delicious. The egg rolls were nothing special but also tasted food. The bean curd dish was interesting because it was a dessert. In the end, we finished it all. Don't forget to check out the monastery as well. There's also a vegetarian snack cafe adjacent to the restaurant that serves other things, but we didn't get to check that out. read more

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I wanted to try vegetarian food at a real monastery. My husband didn't like the idea of eating just vegetables but he accompanied me so that I would not be alone. The food was bland. Where are the spices for flavoring? No meat should not mean no taste. Afterwards I found out that larger groups are given more varieties of dishes while smaller groups are offered less number of dishes. For example, we did not get the dish of tofu curd in lemon sauce. It was a bad choice to eat their set menu. There is a restaurant next door that sells a la carte dishes. I should have gone their instead. read more

寶蓮禪寺齋廚 - This is the set menu for small group - Vegetarian Near Me - Hong Kong, HK

We had heard that there would be places to eat when we went to visit the monetary and Tian Tan Buddha, and although it took us a little time to find the vegetarian restaurant on the monastery grounds, we were glad when we finally did. When you are entering the main tourist area, walk past the entrance to the Buddha statue and towards the monastery offices. Before you enter the restaurant area, approach the ticket window. You can choose between the regular and a deluxe menu and pay based on the number of people in your party. We chose the deluxe menu with 5 courses including pumpkin soup, spring rolls, two kinds of sautéed vegetables, and sweet lemon bean curd for dessert. Tea was of course provided. The food was simply presented and mild tasting, but there was certainly a lot of it, and it hit the spot after a long day of walking around. read more

寶蓮禪寺齋廚 - Pumpkin soup - Vegetarian Near Me - Hong Kong, HK

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This review is for their restaurant. When planning our trip to Hong Kong, one of the things I was most looking forward to was eating a Buddhist vegetarian meal here. And it did not disappoint! This was easily the best vegetarian meal I have had! The food was both flavorful and filling. Many at the table (all lifelong carnivores) commented that they could easily be vegetarians if they could eat like this every day. The meal started with a soup (mushrooms, tofu, corn and other veggies). Followed by tofu in a lemon sauce, rolls, stir fried vegetables, spring rolls, fried rice, and crispy won tons. It was an 8 course meal, so I've forgotten a dish... Although the food was excellent, the service aspect was nonexistent. Dishes were unceremoniously deposited onto our table, we were glared at when we asked for tea, etc. However, this is par for the course at most Chinese restaurants :-( so it wasn't unexpected. If you don't want to dine in the restaurant or if you just want a snack, there's also a food stall outside selling other vegetarian dishes as well as sweets/desserts. Outside seating is available also. Great experience! read more

150 HKD per person is quite pricy, but it's always interesting to try monks food. I bought Delux Lunch ticket, there is another Regular Lunch option for 110 HKD. All dishes I got were fresh, simple, and very tasty. Portion size was decent. Downside is that you need to share a table. And the place is very busy, so be sure to request all of your dishes, otherwise they might forget something. I never got my rice and 1 dish with mushrooms :( I am not sure if I visit this place again, probably not. I would give 5 stars for the food as a vegan person, and 3 for the service. So 4 stars it is. read more

寶蓮禪寺齋廚 - Vegetarian Near Me - Hong Kong, HK

We were told to try the Vegetarian Restaurant at Big Buddha- it is where all the Buddhist at the monastery must eat their meals. We entered the restaurant and were greeted by a woman asking for out tickets. We were directed to the ticket booth and purchased two of the basic meals.. then told to enter past the booth - follow the people into a large somewhat plain low budget Dinning Room. We noted the next room was labeled VIP Room - rosewood tables and chairs. We were seated quickly, we had our own table. My wife was going to take a picture of us, a waitress pointed to a sign "No Photos". I thought How Interesting!! I saw our waitress dip a long handled (tree branch attached to a quart size pot) into a pot the size of an oil barrel on a cart. She was getting our serving of soup. She brought it to our table and asked for our tickets. Bulk soup was a spinach soup with unknown potatoe-like root vegetables. IMO could have been tasty but was over diluted or bland. Other women were clearing tables. A loud noise a plate was dropped. The woman wiped the small spill on the floor. Our food started to arrive almost immediately. The mushroom broccoli was delicious cooked perfectly. A sauté melon dish was crisp and tasted much like celery and other veggies. Egg rolls were crispy, mild flavored. Tofu / fungi dish was bland . Not the best flavored meal I have had. Bland and simple as to be expected at a monastery. 10 minutes into our meal I stopped eating. I witnessed the worker who just wiped the floor with her towel start to dry the washed soup bowls that just arrived from the kitchen. She shook the food bits out of the towel then started to wipe the bowls and chop sticks. I did not feel it would be appropriate to cause a scene, my wife and I simply left. The bathrooms near this restaurant were disgusting- I could not even "stand" to take care of business, and "tossed my cookies" after exiting the building. read more

We decided to get the deluxe lunch set here to see how the monks who reside here ate. We were seated in the restaurant without needing to wait and all of the food was on the table shortly after. The meal was completely vegetarian, but was good enough to satisfy us. Pumpkin soup that resembled an egg drop soup had a similar texture, but not nearly as salty and had a steady pumpkin flavor. The tofu cutlets were covered in a creamy lemon sauce and seasoned to give it some umami flavors that it almost resembled lemon chicken. Vegetable mix and mushrooms dish were standard in terms of seasoning. Vegetables did taste fresh, were crisp as seasoned with a bit of white pepper and very little salt if any. Mushrooms were soft and coated well in a mushroom gravy. Spring rolls were better than expected. The mix of vegetables inside was a bit different than what I normally see and the shell was crispy. Overall the food was less salty than elsewhere, so it would be good for those who don't like salty food, but could easily be viewed as bland by those who are used to eating salted foods. Portions were perfect for the three of us. Bathrooms were just outside the restaurant, but were squatter style. Better off walking up to the Ngong Ping village for modern bathrooms. Admission to the upper area of the Tian Tan Big Buddha was also included with the meal ticket so be sure to take advantage of that before or after the meal. read more

寶蓮禪寺齋廚 - Deluxe Meal - Vegetarian Near Me - Hong Kong, HK

Po Lin monastery's food is way better than expected, costs a trifle and is delicious. The food is vegan which can be a great place for lunch pit stop at a great bargain. The staff are nice and all workers from the monastery. We enjoyed the experience read more

寶蓮禪寺齋廚 - Vegetarian Near Me - Hong Kong, HK

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We had the standard set meal for 98 HKD per person. As a group of three, we got tea, rice, soup, and four dishes. The soup was light and tasty - a nice change from the heavy veggie fare that we've been having in HK the past week. The dishes were crispy fried veggie rolls, veggie chicken and bell peppers, black mushroom and bok choy, and soft tofu and corn. All of the food was delightful. There was a lot of food, so it was very good value for 98 HKD. read more

Another reviewer said that the food here at the monastery is "insipid" (bland) and "bad". I would respectfully disagree. I would concede that it is overpriced. For what I paid (vip option), I should've gotten way better food. It's about the same quality as the vegetable dishes that Maxim's sells. If you're from the states, it is still way better than Panda Express. They do have some dishes that I've never had in any other restaurant. The tofu curd in lemon sauce, for example. All the dishes are tasty and some are actually unique. Their biggest sin is serving cold and lukewarm food. Food is very funny. The exact same dish served hot could be very tasty but taste kinda crappy if served cold. I suggest that you slip the waiter 20 HKD and tell him/her to make sure to hurry out your food while it is still hot. I would still recommend this restaurant or the food stall just outside this restaurant over any of the chain restaurants in Ngong Ping "Village" as some of the dishes here are unique whilst the "village" is mostly just chain restaurant food you can find anywhere else in Hong Kong. So, although this restaurant only gets 3 stars, I would give them 4 stars if they had served me my meal hot. P.S. Years ago, before they built the tram car, you had to get to the Tian Tan Big Buddha by boat, then bus, and finally by hiking. Back then, there were a lot less tourists, so the veggies served here were grown organically by the Monks on the premises. Now that they're literally overrun by tourists, this is no longer true. They now source their groceries from a grocery store. Back then, their vegetarian dishes were heavenly. You could taste the sweet freshness of the veggies. It was like eating veggies with the flavor of morning dew. Unfortunately, this is no longer true. Sigh.... P.P.S. If you cannot afford to eat in the restaurant because it is too expensive, do not despair. The food stall next to the restaurant is actually better than the food served in the restaurant because they serve it hot while the restaurant served the food at a tepid temperature. However, if you're dining at the food stalls, then you won't have comfy chairs and tables with clean tablecloths. You'll have to dine on STONE chairs and tables that you bus yourself after you finish eating. Also, the food served at the food stalls and the food served in the restaurant are different. So, if you're a piggy like me, you can eat at the restaurant, then eat another meal at the food stalls afterwards so you won't miss out on anything, ha, ha! I suggest that you get the "tofu flower" (delicate tofu with cane juice, served hot) at the food stall. It is very good. read more

DO NOT EAT HERE. I've had food prepared by monks elsewhere, and it was delicious. The food they serve here is insipid, overpriced and probably not touched by the monks. If you do still want to eat at the restaurant, pick the cheaper, non-VIP option. We picked VIP and it was still pretty bad. read more