Following from the short intro of local eats in my earlier blog entry, here’s some restaurants you could actually visit if you’re doing independent travelling around India.
Shreyas Hotel
Maharashtrian Thali
Archive for » 2009 «
Category: Indian
Tags: aloo, briyani, burger, butter masala, chick peas, chilli, croissant, curry, dosai, food court, Forrest Veg, Goa, gobi, Hotel Fidalgo, Hotel Shreyas, India, lassi, Looda Cafe, Maharashtrian Thali, Makhanwala, manchurian, paneer, pappadum, pulao, Pune, Rasoi the kitchen, restaurant, roti, Samudra, spinach Leave a Comment
26
Dec
While I had my fair share of Indian cuisine in Singapore and Hong Kong, I felt like I was in veggie paradise coming to India for the first time.
Even the meal served on Jet Airways was tasty as I flew from Hong Kong to Mumbai, which landed at 1am followed by a 4 hour drive to Pune.
The main purpose of coming to India was to attend my friend’s wedding and do some sightseeing as well.
Since I stayed at her house during my entire trip there, I was able to eat what the locals eat.
Here’s a peek:
Puran Poli
Puran Poli is like a pancake that has a sweet filling inside, which you eat with other dishes.
Laddoo
Laddoo is an Indian sweet made of semolina that is served at special occasions and simply melts in your mouth. I love to round it off after my meal. Above, Namrata’s mother showing off the tin of Laddoo she made herself.
lunch
This was lunch served at home before my friend’s wedding ceremony in the evening.
dinner served at wedding ritual
On the first night before the wedding (Shrimant Pujan) where the groom gets invited to the bride’s place, guests were treated to a vegetarian dinner.
The full course meal consists of salad, curry that was spicy and rich, dhal gravy on rice and dessert.
wedding luncheon
On her actual wedding day, the luncheon was another full course spread. I had a hearty meal.
Upma
There are several breakfast dishes that Indians eat in the morning. This dish is called Upma, a type of grain/ wheat and sprinkled with coconut and parsley.
lentil breakfast
This is another typical breakfast dish that comprises of peas, potatoes and lentils served with bread fresh from the bakery in Panjim City, Goa.
Category: Indian
Tags: aloo, crackers upma, dahl, Indian, laddoo, lentil, pappadum, Puran Poli, salad, wedding Leave a Comment
15
Nov
Democracy comes in 3 sizes
If you want to feel the pulse of Hong Kong head on to Causeway Bay – one of the trendiest shopping district on Hong Kong island.
And right within Times Square, you can now suggest to friends a funky restaurant on the 11th floor of the Food Forum – SML.
What I really like about SML is as the name suggests, you get to choose what size the dish comes in – small, medium or large.
As its tagline says, “Democracy comes in 3 sizes”.
Since I personally prefer to try many different dishes but in small portions, this concept liberates me, particularly when it serves a good number of vegetarian options to keep veggie foodies happy.
Click more to find out what you can get at SML
04
Oct
When I first saw the lunch set menu at Red restaurant in Soho, I was a bit disappointed by the lack of vegetarian options. However, when the waiter found out about my dietary restrictions, he quickly returned with a vegan menu.
Now, that’s a restaurant that is talking to me…
First, the appetizer:
artichoke heart with avocado cherry tomato salad
The starter has a long name, actually more like a very detailed description – Artichoke hearts with avocado, cherry tomato salad and honey mustard dressing.
The cherry tomatoes tastes refreshing and it goes well with the creamy avocado that is topped with rocket leaves.
Next up, the main course is served – giant eggplant with ratatouille.
eggplant with ratatouille
Eggplant is an acquired taste but I’ve grown to love it now and what I like about this vegetable is that it can be cooked in many different ways.
While the tasty ones are usually deep fried, this ‘giant eggplant’ looks very healthy and tastes succulent. Fortunately, it is paired with ratatouille which goes well with the otherwise plain eggplant.
Do not be deceived that this eggplant filled with tomatoes and red peppers is insufficient, after finishing every bit of the vegetables, I felt really full.
I didn’t have enough space for dessert but Belle’s apple crumble and vanilla ice cream looked really tempting….yummy!
apple crumble and vanilla ice cream
Located right below Pure Fitness along the escalators to Soho, Red allows you to people watch the busy lunch crowd while you savour your meal and catch up with friends.
Category: French, Fusion, Uncategorized, Western
Tags: apple crumble, artichoke salad, eggplant tatatouille, hong kong, Red restaurant, Soho, vanilla ice cream, vegan Leave a Comment
21
Sep
When I feel like cooking up a storm at home, which I rarely do, I would head to Great supermarket at Pacific Place to buy some fresh ingredients for my pasta dish. I usually pass by the food hall but seldom pause to check out the menu.
One evening, after a night of walking, my friend Faridah decided we should grab some food there. So here we are, it’s got such a ‘fancy’ name for each dish, I couldn’t stop myself from taking notes.
Veggie potage
We started off with an appetiser called the vegetable potage mint goat cheese crostini. I like that mushy potato when it melts in my mouth, which is topped off with soft yet rich cheese.
Next up, we ordered the poached egg topped Fontina and Spinach tart.
poached egg topped fontina & spinach tart
This is a novelty to me and I’m a big fan of filo pastry. Apparently, the egg is organic from New Zealand and the flaky filo pastry is filled with sauteed creamed spinach and fontina. I love poached eggs especially when the yolk oozes out covering the crispy pastry, yum!
veggie white pizza
The main dish of the night was the vegetarian white pizza. It’s topped with ricotta cheese, broccoli, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, grilled egg plant and tomato.
I personally prefer if the pizza crust is thin, this was relatively thick, so it filled me up pretty quickly and I had to pack the remainder home.
Overall, I like the environment despite it being located just beside the supermarket. It was 9ish, guess there weren’t many shoppers, so we could enjoy our dinner in peace and catch up with gossip. So much for the exercise earlier, rewarded myself pretty quickly indeed.
Category: Western
Tags: artichoke, eggplant, goat cheese, hong kong, mushroom, Pacific Place, pizza, poached egg, potage, ricotta, spinach, tart Leave a Comment
14
Sep
My friend is once again in Hong Kong on business trip and I’m coming up with nice restaurants to bring her to have a decent dinner after a mad day at work.
As she lives near Hollywood Rd, I recommended we walk down some of the little lanes and found a quaint little restaurant called Cage.
Siewhui posing outside Cage
A walk round this Viet wine bar and restaurant, we fell in love with the decor and coziness of this place – a perfect hangout to catch up over a quiet dinner.
We started with an appetizer – the crispy spring rolls.
crispy spring rolls
You’ll be surprised how many variations spring rolls can come in, this one is definitely a little distinctive with its deep fried batter covering it.
I’m a big fan of sauce, especially sweet and sour chilli sauce. I just think you can not go wrong dunking your spring roll into it, personal preference of course.
Shrooms and pumpkin risotto
The main dish was the mushroom and pumpkin risotto. Risottos are quite creamy and you can usually smell the aroma of mushrooms when it arrives. This one is sprinkled with shreds of parmesan cheese and decorated with rocket leaves. The ingredients were fresh and portion was just right for the two of us.
Cage scores points for its cosy atmosphere and friendly staff, a place where you can have good fun with your meatasaurus friends but not when you’re famished as the number of veggie dishes is relatively limited.
Category: Fusion, Vietnamese
Tags: decor, hong kong, mushroom, pumpkin, risotto, spring roll Leave a Comment
31
Aug
Branto is one of my favourite Indian restaurants in Hong Kong because it serves only vegetarian food and it plays Bollywood videos on its LCD screens.
I forgot the name of this dish but I love the yoghurt sauce and the yellow crispy dough, it makes the deep fried batter tastes so yummy!
Instead of ordering full-sized meals for lunch, we opted for little snacks and got this tomato pappadum sans onion (below).
tomato pappadum
I personally like the crunchy thin crisp of pappadums but when sprinkled with tomato pieces, it makes it tastes even more delicious!
cheese bites
The cheese bites (above) are yummy, especially since it came out piping hot, the cheese flows out from the dough but it’s not too rich that you have to stop after two of it. I dipped it with ketchup, which is sweet and savoury.
masala dosa
Fellow veggie friend, Emily can’t resist munching on her pappadums even while on the phone. She says she likes potato dishes and so we ordered the paper masala dosa, you can peep into the fillings on the right. We shared half and I was dipping into the different gravies, one is diluted curry and the other’s coconut.
kulfi dessert
We rounded off with Kulfi dessert, which tasted a little bit like ice cream, kinda melts in your mouth but better! Love the nut toppings!
Don’t forget to get yourself a lassi to go with the meal! Namaste.
Category: Indian
Tags: cheese, dessert, hong kong, kulfi, masala dosa, pappadum, pure vegetarian, Tsim Sha Tsui Leave a Comment
30
Aug
Freshness' tofu burger
With so many burger joints around in Hong Kong, I’m always on the quest for the best veggie burger in town.
I used to give Freshness Burger a miss because the burger chain wasn’t veggie-friendly before but for a limited period, it’s been promoting its Tofu Burger.
When I said tofu, you really do get a chunky piece, which has a relatively chewy texture compared to the ones that disintegrates easily commonly used in soup.
I was attracted to the avocado cubes that featured in its promotional ad but was a little disappointed when it didn’t arrive like the ad would promise but a stingy mushy portion on top of the tofu.
Although I have no idea what sauce was being used, they were a bit more generous with the serving and the burger did taste good overall.
criss cross fries
I opted for its criss cross fries for sides instead of the usual chips and because I’m a potato lover, I enjoyed every bite of it!
Top off the meal with a Yucha soda too.
26
Jul
After a hectic morning at work, if you head on to the World Peace Cafe for lunch at Wanchai, you’ll be surrounded by a sense of calm.
Not that this place is quiet, you usually have to book in advance to secure seats, but the environment has a positive energy around it.
Perhaps it has to do with the waiters and waitresses who are all volunteers, despite being busy shuttling around tables to take orders and serve food, they are still quite friendly.
World Peace doesn’t offer a wide variety of food you can choose from, just three sets – A, B and C but it does have a good range of Western and Asian fusion.
As you can tell from the pictures, the dishes score points for its presentation but also the quality.
An average lunch set costs close to $100, which comes with a drink and an appetizer.
I like to round off my meal with a cup of organic peppermint tea or cupuccino – World Peace Style.
25
Jul
I was told that the Cafe O on Queens Rd Central is a good place to conduct your meetings since it has 2 levels and obviously quieter upstairs.
Cafe O has a wide range of European food from your usual sandwiches, salads to metre long pizzas.
What I like about this place is it has a good range of vegetarian options particularly for pizzas or even the set meal offers.
I’ve yet to try its lasagne but I enjoyed the calzone and as you can see in the picture below, the cafe was offering a wheat base pizza special.
I opted for the pumpkin and spinach toppings and it was filling without making me feel too sleepy to work later.
The thin, crispy crust helps and knowing that it’s made of wheat flour makes me feel less guilty indulging in such a big portion.
Do give Cafe O a try if you want a healthy lunch fix.