i seldom go to kowloon city, let alone eat in a restaurant there, let alone a vegetarian one. so i did not have high expectations, other than taking the spirit of exploring & checking things out.
the first impression of this spaceous & upbeat restaurant in the basement level of a local mall already drove away my prior stereotyping of a vegetarian eatery.
the menu offers dim sum and a la carte dishes of many varieties. the names are similar to non-vegetarian restaurants, except of course no real meat is used.
椰皇雙皮奶 steamed & curded coconut milk & soy milk (A) $23: served in a baby coconut shell, hard to find in any menu, this dessert was not too sweet, but with the full aroma of coconut. the tender coconut meat can be scraped off with a spoon & eaten with the curded milk.
平炒素牛河 stir fried wide noodle with “beef” (A-): the wok flash aroma was overpowering when they brought out this dish. the “beef” slices looked & tasted like the real beef, perhaps more so. amazingly flavorful.
千層芋絲餅 taro hash brown (A-) $15: this hash brown was perfectly fried on both sides, making it crunchy & tasty, another surprise to us.
鮮腐鯪魚球 "dace fish" ball with dried bean (A-) $15: I could have been fooled even after eating it. the texture & taste of this vegetarian version is unbeatable, especially when blended with diced mushroom & dried tangerine peels. the only missing part is bone fragments from a real dace fish!
蝦餃 steamed "shrimp" dumplings (B+): the inside was filled with water chestnut & some crunchy veggies that made the imitation very real in texture, flavor & feel in the mouth. the dumpling skin was possibly the same as used in a real shrimp dumpling.
齋滷味 assorted dried bean delicacy (B+) $22: this traditional vegetarian rendition of BBQ pork, sausage, chicken kidney, curry this, sweet & sour that etc was moist & not soggy like other places. this item is not on the menu, one has to ask for it.
蜜汁蒸叉燒包 steamed "BBQ pork" bun (B+) $15: generally good, except the filling was not enough to my liking. the imitation BBQ pork was quite “authentic” in flavors.
紫菜糯米卷 sticky rice rolls with seaweed (B+) $15: quite refined with diced mushroom & some green ingredient mixed with the rice. a piece of seaweed was wrapped around the outside of the roll. seasoning was good, but the rice roll was not moist enough.
芋絲炸春卷 deep fried spring rolls with taro (B) $15: it was definitely crispy & pleasing to the tongue. but again I would like to have more filling of taro etc inside.
香菜蒸腸粉 steamed rice rolls with sweet pickle (B) $15: this was the weakest dish we ordered. the rice roll itself was soft, but it was rolled too tightly to give a tough feel in the mouth. it was also too bland in taste, since the soy sauce was served separately in a dish and not added to the rolls.
the service was less than voluntary, but really this restaurant is unpretentious in ambience & makeup, more like a cafeteria than a gourmet restaurant. this is ok to me though, considering the good food at a reasonable price.
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