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Sindhu Bhattacharya

Visiting Hong Kong five years ago, one found it near impossible to find something vegetarian to eat. But things have changed at this island nation renowned for its non-vegetarian cuisine. Several vegetarian restaurants have opened in the heart of Hong Kong. The soups and dim sums served here are hot and lightly flavoured.

Good Chinese restaurants, of course, are found everywhere in Hong Kong. And the choice spans Cantonese, Szechwan, Peking, Shanghai-nese and Chinese vegetarian.

Yes, it still takes some explaining to the waiter before one can manage macaroni without the pork base for breakfast. But then, pineapple buns with hot butter are always available. Most Chinese seem to prefer noodles/macaroni with a meat base, topped with soya sauce; but on request, restaurants in Hong Kong will give you this breakfast in vegetarian form.

If fine dining is on your mind, do try vegetarian dim sums such as the steamed rice-flour roll (Cheung Fan), steamed vegetarian dumpling (So Fan Gwo), pan-fried water chestnut cake (Heung Jin Ma Tai Go) and the steamed turnip cake (Yiu Chu Law Bak Go).

Dim sums are best eaten either for breakfast or lunch, accompanied by several cups of Chinese tea.

Soyabean, processed into bean curd (tofu), is the prime ingredient in local vegetarian cuisine. The curd is prepared to taste same as roast duck, barbecued pork or salted chicken.

Tea time, folks

Chinese tea-tasting sessions are another favourite with tourists. One can gulp down nearly 10 cups (the tiny cups are without handle and the tea is never scalding hot) of different kinds of tea, while listening to the master of the tea-tasting ceremony explain the benefits.

Did you know that several varieties of Chinese tea are first rinsed out before being served? This is believed to reduce the caffeine content. Hong Kong's vegetarian cuisine is appreciated for its healing and nutritional qualities.

For the homesick Indian tourist, there are a couple of Indian restaurants, including one that serves vegetarian south Indian fare. However, most Indian food taste rather bland here.

There are of course the ubiquitous McDonald's outlets in several shopping areas, Pret the Manger cafes and Starbucks Coffee.

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