Vegetarian Breakfasts in Hong Kong

As much as I enjoy a big American breakfast, or a breakfast burrito, or even an Irish breakfast, there is something about noodles for breakfast that I just love. When I was in Hong Kong in 2015 I found a couple of out-of-the-way vegetarian restaurants where I ate breakfast, and on a recent return trip I made sure to revisit them.

Fook Luk Sau is just a few minutes walk from the Central MTR station, but it feels a world away. It’s down towards the end of a narrow alley, and there is no English language menu. On my first visit I got some assistance from another customer, who helped me order some fried noodles. It was good, but I couldn’t help notice that the other customers were all eating bowls of noodle soup. I knew that if I ever returned to Fook Luk Sau I wanted to get that soup.

It was pouring rain the morning I arrived, and I was the only customer. The woman at the front took one look at me and shouted for someone in the kitchen to come out an help. A man emerged, looking confused, but he spoke English well and I was able to finally order the noodle soup. I even got the optional egg (it would have been vegan without it). The broth itself was a little bland, but with some soy and chili oil it really brightened up. There were big chunks of pressed tofu and mushrooms, as well as a couple of vegetables. While I was eating another customer came in and ordered — he got a different kind of noodle soup.

Three days later I was back for more. Again, the man had to come out from the kitchen to help me, and he seemed excited to see me. Unfortunately, he said, all they had that day were rice noodle — was that ok? Fine with me, I said. My bowl this time had a lot more veggies in it, and some fake meat this time. Then the man asked me if I liked rabbit. “Rabbit?” I said. He said he didn’t remember the English word, but he pointed at an object in my bowl. “Ah.. radish,” I said. Yes, that was it, said the man. He brought out some fried radish cake and asked me if I wanted some. Of course I did. They were great — crisp on the outside, soft on the inside, and packed full of flavor.

I chatted more with the man, and let him know I had been there three years before. He told the woman up front that, and they had a good laugh about it. Oh, did I mention that breakfast (including tea) was roughly US$4?

Po Lin Yuen Vegetarian is even farther out of the way. In addition to the restaurant they have a ton of vegetarian dim sum that you can take out. On my previous visit I got some rice rolls with soy sauce, and they were good — but not noodle soup good. Just like at Fook Luk Sau I was the only customer when I got there. Unlike there, however, they have an English language menu. For roughly US$3 you can get the rice rolls, or for a little more you can get other things. I pointed to something called “jai lo mei”, not knowing what it was, only knowing that it was served with noodles in soup. I was asked if I wanted rice noodles or “yellow” noodles (I went with yellow). What came out was a plate heaped with various fake meats, plus an enormous bowl of noodle soup. Again, the broth was a little bland but there were sauces to add. I also dragged some of the fake meats through the broth as I ate, so their sauces were added to the bowl as well.

I went back for a second visit as well, and was asked if I wanted the same thing as last time. I got the same thing, only with the rice noodles. It was good, but the yellow noodles were better. I also got a couple of steamed buns to go, both savory. Once had a tasty mix of mushrooms and noodles, the other had a vegetarian char siu filling. Cheap and tasty, but I preferred the noodle soup.

As much as I like seeking out new places I’m glad I took the time to revisit these two restaurants. And making repeat visits within the week I was there meant that I got to make a more personal connection with the people working there. If I’m ever back in Hong Kong I want to go back to both restaurants. If for no other reason, then to make the couple at Fook Luk Sau laugh again.

Fook Luk Sau — 8 Tit Hong Ln, Central

Po Lin Yuen Vegetarian — 308 Queen's Road West, Sai Ying Pun

On The Safety Of Street Food

When I was in Kathmandu I met up with a friend of a friend for breakfast near Durbar Square.  She offered to buy me some sweets and tea from her favorite vendor.  It was Mother's Day (a few weeks earlier than Mother's Day here in the States), and there were crowds of people buying sweets in bulk for celebratory meals.  The sweets, which came in dozens of varieties, were piled up high on tables in front of the ancient store fronts.  And the tables were swarming with flies, attracted by the sugar.  Did I eat the sweets?  Of course I did, and they were delicious.

I've eaten street food in cities all over the world.  And yes, there's plenty of vegetarian street food out there.  Have I ever gotten sick from eating it?  Not even once.  I've gotten sick from food in a few countries, but never from the street food.

I should mention that there are some common sense guidelines to avoid getting sick.  most people know that in some countries you shouldn't drink the water; the risk of encountering some water-borne pathogen are just too high.  Remember that this extends to things that may have been washed in water, including some fruits and vegetables, and ice.  If you find a fruit or veggie that has a peel or removable skin, you should be good to go.  One of the most delicious things I ate in Thailand was this green mango, sliced and served with a mix of chili-sugar-salt.  And I bought it from a vendor next to a gas station outside of Bangkok.

The other guideline to keep in mind is to be aware of the street food culture of the country you're visiting.  In most of Southeast Asia fruit vendors can be found all over the place, selling the best and freshest fruit you'll ever eat.  In Taiwan you'll find the celebrated night markets, where (among other things) I found a vendor grilling king oyster mushrooms like sausages, then brushing them with a sweet and savory sauce, slicing them, and topping them with sesame powder.  It was amazing.  At the night markets thousands of people eat street food every night.  To paraphrase Anthony Bourdain, no one is going to stay in business if they're giving people food poisoning.  (See my experience with the sweets in Kathmandu above.)  In Egypt there's a huge street food culture as well -- my experience with koshary, the popular national dish, was way more delicious when I had it from a street vendor than when I got it in a restaurant.

In short: when you're traveling, eat the street food.  It's often the most delicious food you'll find on your trip.  Use some common sense, but there's no reason to fear it.

Seeking Govinda's

One of the questions I get most frequently is, "Isn't it hard to travel as a vegetarian?"  The short answer is an emphatic NO.  I won't get into the entirety of the long answer here, but one of the reasons it's not hard is the Hare Krishnas.  Yes, those people that were the butt of airport jokes for the duration of the 1980s.  I should mention that it's properly called ISKCON (the International Society for Krishna Consciousness) but for the sake of familiarity I'll continue to refer to the movement as Hare Krishna.  They've opened restaurants -- vegetarian restaurants -- in cities all over the world.  Most of them are called Govinda's; Govinda being one of the names of Vishnu, a Hindu god.  I ate in a few of them while traveling recently, and at one here in Brooklyn.  I should note that not all Govinda's are affiliated with the Hare Krishna movement.  In Cusco, Peru, tucked away in a corner of the Mercado San Blas, is Govinda Lila.

Run by the charming Lila, it's not officially a Hare Krishna restaurant.  It is, however, where I had the best meal of my week in Peru.  Lila serves a multi-course meal that changes daily, based on what's fresh in the market, and it's dirt cheap.

A continent away is the Govinda's in Sydney.  It's a completely different kind of setup -- for starters, it's paired with a movie theater that shows Bollywood films, which you can pair with your dinner.  There's a menu, but the real attraction is the large buffet stocked with vegetarian and vegan options.  It's a mix of Indian and western foods; everything from pakoras to potato salad.  It's all-you-can-eat, but it's a lot more expensive than Govinda LilaThe Sydney Govinda's is an affiliated restaurant.

Here in Brooklyn the Govinda's is also affiliated; it's in the basement of a Hare Krishna temple.  It's also in Downtown Brooklyn, and a poplar lunch spot for people who work in the neighborhood.  The Brooklyn Govinda's is cafeteria-style.  You line up and order piece by piece, or you can get a "full meal" and get a bit of everything.

Govinda's are a boon to vegetarian travelers.  Even the affiliated ones seem to have some free rein in the type of food they serve.  As long as it's vegetarian, it's fair game.  You can find a complete list of affiliated Govinda's here.

Govinda Lila -- Mercado San Blas, Cusco
Sydney Govinda's -- 112 Darlinghurst Rd, Sydney
New York Govinda's -- 305 Schermerhorn St, Brooklyn

Vegetarian Okonomiyaki And Memories Of Japan

Back in 2003 my sister and I visited Japan.  This was back in the day before I was a food blogger, and I didn't take photos of any of the food we ate.  That also means that I didn't really do any research into vegetarian restaurants before the trip.  The internet was a "thing" by 2003, of course, but we didn't have smart phones and while traveling the best way to use the internet was to pay for time at an internet cafe.  Both of us are vegetarians, and Tokyo can be tough for uninformed vegetarians.  Consequently, we ate almost exclusively at restaurants that had English menus.  This includes a Chinese restaurant (that was actually quite good) and an Italian restaurant (I'm not proud of that one, and anyway it was terrible).  But we did eat a few meals at Japanese restaurants -- in a few cases we ate around meat, etc. -- and some were quite good.

Perhaps the best meal we had was when we wandered into an okonomiyaki restaurant.  Okonomiyaki, if you don't know, is an egg pancake-like food that's usually customized to the customer.  They are usually filled with meat and/or seafood, and topped with multiple sauces (including mayo) and dried fish flakes (called bonito).  Not particularly veg-friendly, of course.  We took our seats at a large communal griddle, which was down at floor level (our legs were below floor level), and somehow we managed to explain that we were vegetarians.  Did I mention that we don't speak any Japanese?

And yet as soon as we made ourselves clear to our fellow diners, they were falling over themselves to help us out.  At the restaurant they bring you the batter (usually made with flour, eggs, and water) and you get to choose what to add.  Our dining companions helped us get as many veggies as possible into the mix, and even helped us cook our okonomiyaki on the table.  To be honest I don't remember how it tasted, but I do remember how much fun the experience was.

This past weekend I went to the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival in Chinatown, here in NYC.  There was Japanese, Korean, and Taiwanese food for sale.  At the Osaka Grub booth I saw they were selling vegetarian okonomiyaki, filled with mushrooms instead of pork.  They leave off the bonito flakes, but topped with seaweed powder, red pickled ginger, and mayonnaise.  It was rich and moist, and the sauces made it even richer.  Not the best dish for a hot summer day, perhaps, but it did remind me of that trip to Japan all those years ago.

Bonus Japan face!

Cultural Festivals Show The Changing Face Of Queens

Astoria, Queens, has long been associated with the Greek community.  Back in May I went with some friends to the annual Greek Festival at St. Demetrios Cathedral, which has been going on for almost 40 years.  But on the same day we also went to a mosque about a mile away from the cathedral, where they were hosting an Indonesian Food Bazaar.  Just two weekends ago I went back to Queens, this time for Burmese food.  I don't know what's going on up there in Queens, but I love it.

The Burmese food festival started as a fundraising event for victims of a typhoon in Myanmar, and is now in its eighth year.  I went the first year and loved it, but kept forgetting about it in subsequent years.  Lucky for me, my friend Donny reminded me this year.  It was packed, held in a high school up near Long Island City.  My favorite dish of the day is pictured above: samusa thohk.  A potato samosa was cut up in the bottom of a bowl and topped with an herb salad -- cilantro, mint, cabbage, and onions.  Then that was covered in a split-pea broth, and I added a sprinkle of chili flakes and a squeeze of lime.  So many fantastic flavors and textures combined in each individual bite: crisp raw veggies, smooth potato, deep notes from the spiced broth, bright pops from the herbs.  For more information on the charitable foundation check out the Moegyo Humanitarian Foundation.

I know, I know, it looks like brown lumps on a plate.  The vendors at the Indonesian Food Bazaar were very excited for me to try them, after I asked for vegetarian food.  The big hunks are spiced tempeh and tofu, and they're paired with a peanut sauce.  I'm not usually a fan of tempeh, but this was a good one.  The tofu was firm and chewy, and the peanut sauce was phenomenal.  I also had a great veggie curry over rice, not pictured.

The Greek Festival was one of the more traditional NYC street fair.  There were rented mechanical rides, and games of chance (win a live goldfish!), and of course food vendors.  I was a little put off at first, and the spanikopita wasn't great.  I was thinking that there was something to be said about the vibrancy of the Indonesian festival versus the tired cookie-cutter feel of the Greek one, and the changing demographics of Queens.  But as we sat there, I started to notice the similarities.  On a food level certainly - there were stewed meats with rice at both places, and both had desserts so sugary they could melt your teeth.  On a bigger level there were similarities as well.  Being able to converse in your native language was a big deal -- at the Greek festival there were men singing songs in Greek; at the Indonesian festival the main language being spoken was (no surprise) Indonesian.  Yes the culture of Queens may be changing, and new traditions are taking root, but it's easy to miss just how similar the traditions are at their core.

Vegetarian Po'Boys In New Orleans

New Orleans has a lot of great nicknames.  The Big Easy.  Crescent City.  The Sliver by the River.  My favorite, which I came across when looking these up: The City that Care Forgot.  No matter what you call it, it doesn't have a reputation for being vegetarian-friendly.  Almost all of the city's iconic dishes feature meat and/or seafood.  Gumbo and jambalaya are made with sausage and shellfish.  Muffulettas are piled high with deli meats.  Po'boy sandwiches are stuffed with fried oysters or shrimp.  Except when they're not.  According to my friend Chris, who lives in New Orleans, almost every po'boy shop has a vegetarian option which is stuffed with french fries.  As appealing as a french fry sandwich is, I was in search of something better.  I found two vegetarian po'boys worth seeking out, and neither one has french fries on it.

When researching vegetarian po'boys one name popped up almost immediately:  Killer Po'boys, which serves sandwiches out of the back of a bar called Erin Rose.  And when I asked my friend Chris for a recommendation for vegetarian po'boys, he recommended Killer as well.  We met up at Erin Rose, which is just off of Bourbon Street but feels a million miles away.  After downing a few beers, we made our way to the back where Killer Po'boys has their kitchen.  They were a little overwhelmed with orders, so it took about 15 minutes for our food to come out.  The vegetarian sandwich features roasted sweet potatoes, topped with a black-eyed pea spread and sauteed greens.  The filling was rich, well-seasoned and slightly spicy, but the bread was way too dry.  I don't know if this is always the case, or it was because of the backup in the kitchen, but it detracted from my enjoyment of the sandwich.  Still, the filling was good enough to make it seeking out if you're nearby.

Not so well known (outside of New Orleans, anyway) is Frenchmen Street.  It's not the zoo of humanity's rejects that is Bourbon Street, and it's lined with bars featuring live music every night, many of them with no cover charge.  During the day it's a quiet little street, and it would be easy to overlook 12 Bar & Restaurant.  Step inside and you'll find a great bar with a huge beer list, plus a menu that appeals to omnivores, vegetarians, and vegans.  I got the BBQ Tofu po'boy (which you can get with vegan mayo, though I did not).  This was a truly great sandwich, and one I'd gladly eat again.  Sometimes I don't like BBQ sauce because it's too sweet and can overwhelm everything else that it's served with.  In this case, though, the mayo combined with the sauce tamed it, making for a perfect fit.  Oh, there's seasoned tofu as well, and lettuce-tomato-pickles, and I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.  My sister (who ordered the tofu banh mi, which was also great) described the BBQ sandwich as tasting like "summer."  I can't think of a better way to put it.

Killer Po'Boys/Erin Rose Bar -- 811 Conti Street
13 Bar & Restaurant -- 517 Frenchmen Street
 

A Full (Vegetarian) Irish Breakfast

Walking through Dublin you'll pass dozens of pubs advertising a "full Irish breakfast" -- usually eggs, bacon, multiple sausages, fried tomato, mushrooms, and beans.  The I even saw one that had a sign out front: Anthony Bourdain Loves Our Full Irish Breakfast!  I was pleased to notice that a handful of them also made a big deal about having a vegetarian version of this breakfast.  But what does that mean, exactly?

The plate above was at a restaurant near Dublin Castle called The Larder.  Instead of bacon and sausages they offered sauteed spinach and fried halloumi cheese (the Greek cheese famous for its ability to be grilled without melting through the grates).  The spinach was not seasoned at all, but the halloumi was an inspired choice.  Both salty and chewy, the halloumi makes total sense as a meat replacement.  Unfortunately the poached eggs were lukewarm and pretty much everything on the plate (minus the halloumi) needed a generous sprinkle of salt.  The tea, with milk and sugar, was pretty good.

Much better was a riff on the the traditional breakfast, which I found at a small coffee shop called Brother Hubbard.  This kept the beans and the poached eggs, but topped them with whipped feta and za'atar (a spice mix containing sumac and sesame, among other things).  This was a satisfying and successful mixture: sweetness from the beans, richness from the eggs, offset by the tangy saltiness of the cheese.  I know it's not traditional, and Anthony Bourdain might scoff, but when it's so delicious who cares?

The Larder -- 8 Parliament St, Dublin
Brother Hubbard -- 153 Capel St, Dublin

Pinglin: The Town That Tea Built

In Pinglin, outside of Taipei, I came across a Buddhist monk feeding fish in the river that runs through the tiny town.  The monk was accompanied by an American man, who looked surprised to see me but happy to have someone to speak English with.  He was in town to try the tea.

Pinglin is famous for tea, specifically for a honey-flavored variety called bao chung.  The town is decorated with tea-themed trinkets; the main street is lined with tea shops; the big attraction in town is the Tea Museum.  The American man was a tea connoisseur, and traveling around Taiwan sampling different types.  After chatting for a bit, I bid the two farewell and went to explore the rest of the town and to try some tea.

As I mentioned there were several tea shops, with fronts open to the street, so I picked one at random.  I figured I would buy some tea as a souvenir to take home with me.  The woman behind the counter greeted me warmly, but didn't speak any English.  I pointed to one of the cheaper bundles of tea, and the woman pointed to a chair in front of the counter.

To my surprise she opened the bundle and then began to perform an elaborate preparation process.  She rubbed some tea leaves between her fingers and let me smell them.  Then she added some tea to the cup and poured hot water over it so that it overflowed and spilled out.  She swirled it around and poured some out.  She then gestured for me to smell the steeping tea.  This went on for a while in two different cups, before allowing me to taste the tea.  It was good, though I didn't detect any honey in the flavor.  The woman drank from the second cup, and refilled mine when I finished.  I thanked her and took out some money to pay for the tea, but she refused.  No matter how I tried to give her money, she shook her head and refused to take any.  After thanking her profusely, I went back out to the main street in search of some food.

Not much farther down the road I found what I was looking for.  In many countries with Buddhist populations you'll spot restaurants with a swastika -- not a Nazi symbol, but a Buddhist one.  If you see that symbol at a restaurant it's a good sign that you've found a vegetarian restaurant.  I walked in to the small, open-air space where there were only a few large tables.  At one of those tables was the same Buddhist monk I'd seen on the riverbank.  He was with the American man, another Buddhist monk, and a bunch of Taiwanese men and women.  They greeted me warmly, and confirmed for me that this was a vegetarian restaurant.

The American man got up and helped show me how the restaurant worked.  Once again, the owners didn't really speak any English -- and in case it's not clear, I speak no Mandarin.  I could choose between rice and noodles with tea oil (I chose noodles), and they had some pre-made food like tea-smoked tofu.  There were also huge piles of leafy greens, of many different varieties.  They handed me a bamboo tray and told me that I could choose which greens I wanted; I should pick up some leaves and put them onto the tray to demonstrate which I wanted.  I'm a sucker for leafy greens, particularly ones that are unfamiliar to me.  I felt like a kid in a candy store -- I picked up some dark, saw-toothed ones, some lighter-green fern-like ones, and some that had a green-purple tint.

At this point the people who ran the restaurant were looking at me like I was crazy.  One woman said something that the American man translated as, "You're only one person."  I wasn't sure why she said this, but I took it as a not-so-subtle hint that I'd chosen enough food.

Well the reason she said that was because for every green I chose, they cooked up an entire plate of it.  So I ended up with a plate of noodles, a plate of tofu, and three giant plates of greens cooked with ginger and garlic.  It all looked great, but as has been previously noted I am only one person.  I ate as much as I could, and I was particularly taken with the color of those purple-green leaves after being cooked.  It was all delicious, but I couldn't finish everything.

After my meal I decided to walk up to the Tea Museum, on the other side of town.  I went a few steps before a van pulled up alongside me.  It was the Buddhist monk and his friends, and they wanted to know if I wanted a ride -- they were also headed to the tea museum.  So I got into a van full of strangers in this small town in Taiwan -- don't tell my parents.  On the way to the Tea Museum the American man helped translate the conversation between us.  The Taiwanese wanted to know if I'd tried stinky tofu and did I like it?  I asked for recommendations for vegetarian food back in Taipei, and the monk suggested Raohe as the most vegetarian friendly of Taipei's night markets.  But that's a topic for another blog post.