Archive for the Category » Fusion «

Zen Palate, Red Bamboo & Soma – New York Eats

Featuring 2 veggie restaurants in New York City and one with Korean veggie options.

Red Bamboo 

Butterfly Soy Chops

Butterfly Soy Chops

First encounter with veggie pork chops, basically it’s lightly breaded soy pork chops served with apple-raisin sauce and sauteed collard greens including veggie ham and sweet corn mashed potatoes. Love the combo although the soy chops were a little dry and massive portion too.

Recommended by my colleague Kate, Red Bamboo serves delicious vegetarian meat dishes. Click more to find out about their Buffalo Wings and Almond Coconut Chicken nuggets.

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Greenfeel Vegetarian – Assortment of Asian Cuisines

Apart from good shopping, Mongkok is home to a number of delicious vegetarian eateries and Greenfeel Vegetarian (素食一家) is one of them. It’s location might be a little out of the way, but it’s definitely worth the trip.

seafood salad

seafood salad

 

For starters, you could try the seafood salad. Strips of crunchy cucumber and carrot with vegetarian meat topped with sesame seeds and chili in the mix. Refreshing appetizer to wake your taste buds.

Greenfeel offers an eclectic selection of cuisines, from Chinese, Thai to Korean and Asia Western. Click to find out what they are.

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Tofu Delight at O Green Cafe

tofu sandwich

Generous tofu servings

Real men eat Tofu and now you can get your tofu fix at O Green Cafe in Sheung Wan.

O Green serves Organic food but it’s not completely meatless. Ask for veggie options and you’ll be quite spoilt for choice ranging from soup, salads, sandwiches to brown rice sets. As you can see, it’s generous with the tofu servings and ingredients are fresh and wholesome.

For more mouth watering pictures, click here.

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Hello Kitty Sweets in Taipei

If you’re a Hello Kitty fan, you would not want to miss this Hello Kitty themed restaurant in Taipei on Da An Road.

Hello Kitty door decor

kawaii mecca

Be prepared to drool at the decorations even before entering.

And because it is Taipei, this Hello Kitty restaurant offers 4 main course options for vegetarians.

Find out what they are.

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San Francisco Eats

San Francisco is one of those enlightened cities that supports Meatless Mondays, advocating “more tofu, and less steaks“.

Special thanks to my friends Ross and Paul, owner of Veggie SF cafe in Hong Kong, who recommended a good selection of restaurants I had to try while there.

Here’s the top picks:

Greens Restaurant

greens platter

Summer Sampler

Farro salad with Mediterranean cucumbers, sweet cherry tomatoes, eggplant relish with pine nuts, capers and basil; summer beans with tarragon;hummus; spicy tomato jam; olives and grilled pita.

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Private Kitchen @ Veggie Palace

cold dish

The concept of private kitchen is quite unique to Hong Kong.

The ‘kitchen’ usually decides the menu for you and you need to book in advance.

Veggie Palace (貴德宮皇廷素宴) has a Zen atmosphere, decorated with calligraphy, Chinese paintings and Buddhist altars.

We started our ‘banquet’ with a cold dish that includes a selection of pomelo salad, century eggs, vegetarian ham and sushi rolls.

Click more to find out other mouth watering dishes we had at Veggie Palace.

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Hippies unite @ Veggie SF

A new veggie cafe opened in the heart of Central, which makes you feel like you’ve time- travelled back to San Francisco in the 50s.

peek into the kitchen

During that period, it seems the Beatnik movement thrived.

The Beat philosophy was generally anti materialistic and stressed the importance of bettering one’s inner self over and above material possessions.

However, most customers who frequent this place are more yuppies than hippies.

Click to find out the wide array of fusion cuisines served in this cosy cafe.

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Return to innocence @ Naive

Most meat eaters would smirk if their friend suggests bringing them to a restaurant that serves purely plant based ingredients with no meat, no seafood, no eggs, no onion, no garlic and no MSG.

To my delight, my friends who are not vegetarians have recommended to catch up for lunch at Naive.

Once you step into the clean and cool interiors, you’ll notice that the restaurant is filled with artwork by local artists.

Before we began our meals, we had to take part in a sesame seed blessing ceremony to de-stress so we could experience its food to the fullest.

sesame seed blessing ceremony

sesame seed blessing ceremony

The Japanese inspired ‘bloss’ ceremony encourage diners to grind the sesame seeds using the mortar and pestle for a few minutes that can then be sprinkled onto their food.

Naive has some of the most creative names for its dishes, click more to find out what is Cheeky Monkey, Autumn Cloud or Pocket of Treasures.

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What size do you prefer – SML?

SML entrance

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

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Power lunch @ Red Restaurant

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

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 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

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.