Salads can be eaten as a meal on its own and it’s becoming popular to create your own salads by choosing the ingredients you like than be forced to choose from the limited salad varieties i.e. ceasar salad.

It’s Sunday and you want to chill out somewhere for brunch. Running out of ideas?

Head to Festival Walk @ Kowloon Bay and check out the brunch menus at Simply Life Bakery Cafe.

If you want a vegetarian version of the likes of local fast food chains such as Fairwood or Cafe De Coral, there’s just one such restaurant located near Kowloon Bay MTR station called Buddha Hut.

I decided to make my way there one afternoon and took my friend, Jessie along. We ordered cold buckwheat noodles sprinkled with sesame seeds on top and gravy that comes separately, when added gives the dish a refreshing taste.
The chicken satay dipped in peanut sauce is not too spicy yet rich enough to go well with the tangy texture of the veggie meat.
My all time favourite is the laksa but I reckon it would have tasted more ‘authentic’ if served with thick vermicelli instead.

This is definitely a good place to get delicious vegetarian food at reasonable prices.

For vegetarians who are put off by the veggie-unfriendly menus at the usual fast food restaurants, Buddha Hut is like an oasis where your challenge is to have such a wide variety of dishes from Chinese to Western cusines to choose from.

After a bit of shopping, I couldn’t stop myself from returning to grab a mushroom pie for a snack before heading home.

Paramita vegetarian restaurant offers fushion food that looks and taste a little too much like real meat and is definitely for the more adventourous food lover. Some carnivores don’t understand why vegetarians want to eat veggie meats but these are designed to lure new converts who have decided to go vegetarian for merciful reasons yet still crave for ‘meat’ without having to kill animals.

For starters, the cold dish offers a selection of sashimi, japanese green salad and snail meat. I’m not really a big fan of veggie snail meat because I find the texture kind of rubbery but love the sashimi, which I usually dip with wasabi and soy sauce.
After the starters, the main courses includes the duckmeat and lotus hotpot. I like hotpots that usually comes with lots of gravy but this dish is relatively dry as if it’s been stir-fried. The lotus root is fresh and crunchy while the duck meat tastes good without tasting fake.
Next comes the beef tomato rice that looks like the typical “char chang teng” dish and it’s tasty despite being overload with tomatoes and tomato sauce that usually make it too sour.
The prawn in curry sauce goes well with rice, not your typical Southeast Asian rich and spicy curry but good enough to make you want more.

We ended dinner with a plate of kueh-kuehs – local desserts.

There are 2 Paramita restaurants – one located in the hustle and bustle of Tsim Sha Tsui on Haiphong Rd and the other in Victoria Tower shopping mall on Canton Rd.

A cafe named after its sports brand. Lafuma Cafe positions itself as offering traditional alpine food from France.

When you enter the premises on the 3rd floor, the cafe transports you to a wooden cottage lodge where the walls are filled with pictures of famous mountain climbers. It gives a cozy feeling and makes you forget you just trudged out from the hustle and bustle of Mongkok.

There are many different types of cheese fondues available and we ended up with the tomato cheese. I love dipping the potatoes into the fondue although bread tasted just as good.

Yvonne kept complaining that the fondue tasted too strong of wine but I thought it’s alright. And thank goodness the japanese curry eggplant baked rice was so yummy that even Yvonne was won over!

It’s a pity the service wasn’t exactly excellent as the waitress misunderstood me a couple of times and kept giving me cold drinks even after I requested for warm ones.

I’ll still want to go back again to try its other dishes particularly the risottos.

Since Cart noodles or 车仔面 has the create your own noodles concept, it’s seldom you end up with food you don’t like.

However, I was being a little adventourous and ticked the vegetarian curry squid which I didn’t end up liking its rubbery texture.

On the return visit, I ordered the mini sausage with cheese again. You could taste the cheese when you bite into it but it’s not too much to ooze out of your mouth.

I wanted to try the tom yum flavour for the soup base but I got satay flavour again. It’s good but would have loved to try different soup bases. Next time…

Special thanks to Serain who recommended me to this vegetarian cart noodles at Tsim Sha Tsui.

Cart noodles came about in the 1950s in Hong Kong as street vendors operate on roadsites and in low-income districts of public housing estates via carts. It has since become a cultural icon.

There’s just so many burger restaurants in Hong Kong, you are not short of choice! But I’m still hunting for that perfect veggie burger in town! I know meat eaters are going to roll their eyes but the good thing about hunting for veggie burgers is you become very focused on tracking down the only option available at the various burger restaurants. David recommended me to try Burger Republic and I decided to check it out one evening. I ordered Veggie Galore plus egg and a set meal that comes with chips and coke. It was good, definitely better than Fat Burger and a little bit better than Shake ‘em Buns but on par with Gourmet Burger Union. I’m comparing only the veggie options, of course and can’t speak for the rest. As for the sides, the chips is thick and fresh but I didn’t manage to finish the generous portion. Located on Gough Street, it’s a cozy restaurant and I would definitely visit again.

There are 3 Al Dente restaurants in Hong Kong. I’ve tried it during lunch but enjoyed my experience better during dinner when I get to choose from the menu. This is my first time at the Al Dente at Sun Hung Kai, which is more spacious than the one I usually frequent on Jaffe Street in Wanchai. This restaurant is dog-friendly too so Pamela and Charlotte brought Bailey along to have dinner with me. The mozarella sticks taste good as it was not too over-fried and I like to eat it with plum sauce that gives it that added touch. We had 2 sticks each so we didn’t have the chance to get too sick with an overdose of cheese.
The portabello mushrooms topped with cottage cheese and tomatoes was yummy too. I initially thought it would come with the shrooms only but it turned out there were other toppings and it helped that the shrooms were juicy and succulent.
The mixed vegetable pasta is generous with its ingredients such as capsicum and zuchinni. It was a little dry but nice when you sprinkle it with tobasco.
We had Tiramisu for dessert and it sure perks me up! The three of us were attacking the tiramisu and finished it very quickly. All in all, a most enjoyable and relaxing dinner.

I love hanging out @ Elements on weekends since it’s just 10 minutes walk from home. And whenever I pass by Petits by Deschamps, I can’t help to check out its wide array of cupcakes. Many flavours to choose from – chocolate, bailey’s, lemon and tiramisu. But my all time favourite is the cheesecake flavoured cupcake. The cream cheese on top is decadent, you can’t help digging in for more. Size is just right – not too little that makes you crave for more nor is it too much that makes you want to puke. Definitely worth a stop if you head to Elements shopping mall level 2, shop 2004 – Kowloon station.