Haven't posted in super long because I was so busy with uni! Went back to Singapore for a couple of weeks during Winter break and made an impromptu trip to JB from 2-3 July (Sunday-Monday). There are some vegan eateries and lotsa nice cafes in JB but since it was a family trip we didn't go to any of them. Mum & I were there for about 24 hours while my aunt and her friend stayed a few hours more and went to a night market!

(lol I just needed a cover photo)

We just went to City Square mall and KSL mall haha. It seems like there used to be vegetarian eateries in these malls which have since closed down? So we just ate at non-vegan places with vegan options! Several places really don't have anything remotely vegan so we settled for these places:

✧Arashi Shabu-shabu (City Square mall)✧

It's at the basement of the mall and we went there for our first meal! I guess this place is supposed to be Japanese(-inspired?) but it didn't seem like it at all haha. They have 3 pages of 'vegan' items in their menu but I'm pretty sure that they think that vegan is just a short form of vegetarian. So make sure to confirm with them that what you order has no dairy or egg!

It's supposed to be individual sets but Mum & I shared the Stuffed Tofu Shabu Shabu set (RM21.90) + 1 rice since we were going to snack later haha. We got a confirmation from our waiter that it didn't contain dairy or egg (he checked with the kitchen) but I suggest you check again lol. Not that it tasted like dairy or egg but the answer was slightly uncertain ^^; The safest would be the Healthy Mushroom Shabu set which has no mock meat!

There was 6% GST and 10% service charge but it was just about S$5 each since we shared hehe.

✧Sushi King (KSL mall)✧

This is a chain outlet so I guess you can find this in many malls! Like Arashi, this has very un-authentic Japanese food haha. Their menu states the allergens for all items which is pretty handy - without that I wouldn't have known that many non-meat items (eg. soba/udon sauce) has fish! 

So I had 4 plates inari sushi (RM3 each) and a mushroom salad (RM10.80) with the egg separated and without the sauce (it was a sesame sauce which looked like it had dairy). They don't have sushi that's normally vegan - like those plain cucumber or avocado ones - but I love inari so I didn't mind! This is also subjected to the 6% and 10%.

✧Auntie Anne's✧

This is at both City Square and KSL and probably many other malls. I googled for vegan options and it seems like many of the Specialty pretzels are vegan if you ask for no butter, but they said they can only do the Original (RM3.50) without butter. So that's what we had (without salt too) and it was guuuud

✧Gong Cha✧

I rarely drink bubble tea but since they're gone from Singapore at the moment and it's much cheaper in JB I had a 0% sugar roselle tea with ai-yu jelly (RM7.50). It was great! ^^

We stayed at Grand BlueWave hotel which had a hotel breakfast! The hotel was pretty okay - at first we had a large suite(?) room but it had mosquitoes and a smoking smell (though it was a non-smoking floor) so we switched to another room. The pillows were really flat and un-fluffy (though to Mum they were too high lolol) so I hardly slept - luckily it was just a night! 

The shopping was not bad though! Maybe next time when I'm back I'll try the veg eateries there!

✧ Tim Ho Wan ✧

We went to eat at the North Point branch for breakfast because my parents wanted to! Tim Ho Wan's in Singapore also but we've not been there. Lol I never knew that they won a Michelin star. I ate some hotel breakfast earlier because I didn't expect to find vegan items here. I ended up getting chee cheong fun (not on the menu, you have to ask for it (素肠)) and osmanthus cake (on the menu it's Tonic Medlar & Petal Cake) which is this sweet agar jelly with petals. 

The chee cheong fun was smooth and wobbly and the osmanthus cake was herbal-y and refreshing! 

My parents had the non-vegan fried carrot cake here and it wasn't great? Later in the day we went to Three Virtues Veg Restaurant and they thought the fried carrot cake there was better ^^

(I just Googled 'what dialect is chee cheong fun' LOL it's Cantonese. I didn't know that omg I suck. There's this Singapore TV show which mum & my grandmas love and they speak different dialects and I can't tell the difference omg lol)

✧ Galo Portuguese Food ✧

In Macau now! This is Taipa Village (search Rua do Cunha on Google Maps).

This restaurant is right opposite Starbucks. Mum & I were looking for 2 veg places I found via Google but they were closed/non-existent T.T

So we settled for this place.

Fried rice HK$95

Nai bai veggie HK$60

Coconut HK$40

The waitress didn't seem so happy that we were eating there because normally people eat meat and seafood lol so they can't earn much from us? :( So we also ordered the coconut.

But their food is expensive omg the fried rice is like S$18????? And it was so oily?????

(By the way HKD and MOP can be used interchangeably!)

Steamed cabbage HK$60

This looks unassuming but it's actually the best cabbage dish I've ever had?? It's like 3/4 cabbage steamed until it's super soft and sweet omg Mum & I were amazed. Not oily too!

But we spent like almost S$50 here omg. 

I think the waitress was surprised that we ate so much veg because normally several people share a dish ^^; 

If you're hungry in Taipa Village and on a budget just go to all the souvenir shops and eat their samples of candied peanut/sesame LOL

 ✧ Seng Kei Congee 盛記白粥 ✧

I found this place after an extensive search of #macauvegan #veganmacau etc. on Instagram! It's like a traditional Chinese style breakfast place.

One day I was bored and did this lol. 

It'll probably help if you can't read Chinese because they don't have an English menu.

Those I subbed are vegan (as far as I know). Just a correction to the first one, I think it should be plain congee instead heh.

I was actually just here for the 炸肠 aka rice noodle rolls with fried dough fritters aka chee cheong fun with you tiao.

They have peanut sauce which was nice and fragrant!

Search for Seng Kei Congee, Macau instead of 盛記白粥 on Google Maps. They open at 7.30am - we got there at about 8.30am and it was pretty crowded!

✧ Hong Kong International Airport ✧

I've been to HKIA twice before to transit but didn't really eat a proper meal before.

I was surprised to find this at the food court! It's at Cafe de Coral which is a chain restaurant. 

Ok so Mum asked the cashier if there was any cheese and she said 起司 qi3 si1. After a while I was like "...then what is 乳酪 ru3 lao4?" And Mum was stunned that she said 起司 lol. But apparently 起司 is like a modernised way?? When I use Google Translate it's the first suggestion omg I am outdated

It's a really generous portion!!

And more 素肠!

That's it for the 4 places listed but here are a few more!

On the first night we arrived we had supper near our hotel (South China Hotel) at North Point. It was 9+ I think. We ate at this place called Nam Kee 南記 which is a chain restaurant. This one in particular smelled SO MEATY eww you can smell the meat from outside. The cashier was SUPER RUDE omg the rudest cashier I have ever encountered in my life. Like she kept on rolling her eyes and asking us to read the menu ourselves when we asked her for suggestions??

This was plain boiled noodles and lettuce for HK$25.

More 素肠 at Hai Wang Porridge 海皇粥店 (chain restaurant) near our hotel at North Point another day.

Rice and boiled veg at some duck place in Macau. It's a Chinese place with Chinese menus but when we sat down the waitress gave us an English menu and talked to me in English omg how did she know hahaha

That's it for my Hong Kong + Macau trip! Hong Kong is #6 on Peta's Top 10 Vegan-friendly Cities in Asia list and I guess I agree! There's quite a lot more vegan food to try and places to go in Hong Kong and Mum & I feel that it's worth another visit. 

Macau on the other hand...maybe not. I thought that the casino would be fun. I traded in my personal info for HK$38 at Casino Taipa (below our hotel, Regency Art Hotel) lol and used it at the slots machine... nope that wasn't fun. If I go back it'll just be for Blissful Carrot haha ^^; 

✧ Three Virtues Veg Restaurant ✧

Three Virtues Veg Restaurant has 2 branches, one in North Point and one in Jordan. We went to the latter one after some shopping at Ladies Market and Fa Yuen Street Market (nothing much worth buying)

Sorry for all the ugly photos in this post heh

On the first floor of JD Mall there's this small takeaway stall.

Really affordable - prices starting at HK$5 (S$0.90)! Also most importantly the items names are in English too lol

The restaurant is on the 4th floor.

Mum & I went (the rest went to eat meat lol) around 3pm and it was still pretty crowded!

Anyway this is probably the second place I was most excited to try (1st was Loving Hut) because DIM SUM who doesn't like dim sum

Menu is all in Chinese. I don't think there was an English one? Lol my Chinese reading skills suck so I got Mum to read it for me T.T

Those in the box on the top are the dim sum. The large, medium & small size are all HK$17 each but the specials (1st 5 on the left) are HK$26 each.

Those at the bottom are noodles, fried rice and porridge etc! A neighbouring table ordered the second last one on the right (I think) and it looked super good! Too bad we didn't have stomach space.

Here's what we got! It took a while to be served though so the dishes on the left are partially eaten lol

The one on the left is Fried Carrot Cake HK$17 (in the menu it's the last one in the middle column) and the one on the right is Fried Chee Cheong Fun HK$26 (4th item, 1st column)

The fried carrot cake was really good! We were at Tim Ho Wan for breakfast that day and Mum and Dad (he came to eat our leftovers hahaha) agreed that this tasted better - which is surprising because this vegan version lacks the tiny fried shrimp which is supposed to add flavour?

This fried chee cheong fun was recommended by Dad's veg friend who loves it. He normally has it at the North Point branch so maybe it's kinda different? Mum & I didn't like it.. it was like oily and tasteless :(

If you didn't know, chee cheong fun is 猪肠粉 or simply 肠粉. Literal translation is pig intestine noodle but it means rice noodle roll! You can order 素肠 su4 chang2 at many places and it's always vegan as far as I know!

The buns on the left are Mushroom 'Chicken' Baos HK$17 (2nd item, 3rd column) and the one on the right are 'Prawn' Dumplings HK$26 (5th item, 1st column). 

Nothing really spectacular about these and I think there are better items worth eating!

THIS. Mum talks about this to everyone who asks about out trip lol!

Shanghai Xiao Long Bao HK$17 (3rd item, 2nd column)

Y'know I can't remember what the texture and taste of xlb is. Mum says this is shockingly realistic though! I thought the meat is normally firmer but apparently it's mushy? It's shortcoming is that there's just a tiny bit of soup though! But still, it's amazing wow how do they do it

Overall, it's definitely worth coming for the xiao long bao and fried carrot cake! There are probably other yummy items too - would love to go back!! If only they'll open a branch in Singapore T.T

Three Virtues Vegetarian Restaurant

九龍彌敦道233-239號佐敦薈4樓及地下 D舖

(佐敦 C1出口)

Shop D, G/F & 4/F, JD Mall, 

233-239 Nathan Road, Jordan, Kowloon

Tel: 3622 1888 Fax: 3622 1833

✧ Veggie SF ✧

Veggie SF is an expensive Western/International cuisine restaurant modelled after a San Francisco diner (hence the name). It's 100% vegan since 2016! There's a minimum spending of HK$150 (about S$28) per person.

We went with 2 of Dad's friends who recommended this place - they've been here a few times even though they're not vegan/vego!

We ordered a main and it's and additional HK$58 for a combo meal which includes a soup and a drink. The soup of the day is tomato soup - it tasted really fresh and nothing like Campbell's!

For starters we had the Korean Spicy Salad HK$78

And the Garlic Herb Grilled Portobello HK$88

I can't remember what they taste like now but my impression is that both were really good!

Light Combo HK$138

Seemed really fresh and healthy and not as light as it sounds!

Fisherman's Wharf HK$168

I saw on Instagram that many people order this! If I remember correctly, the 'fish' patty tasted better  than most I've tried!

Trip to Bali HK$158

I wanted the All Day Breakfast but they were out :( This was not bad but not like spectacular? Hmm. Like every part of this dish was good but not something I'll go back for.

As part of the set I also got the non-alcoholic beer (usual price HK$48). I thought bitterness comes from alcohol but for this alcohol-less beer it was really bitter!

Overall, I don't think that Veggie SF is a place that I'll go back to eat at. Actually 50% of the reason is that it's so dark and I don't like eating at dark places. So maybe lunch would be more enjoyable haha. 30% because I was (and I'm still) very partial to Chinese food (after 10 months in Australia lol). 20% because it's expensive (not like I paid but still).

So if you want a break from Chinese food and aren't fussed about the price then this is probably a suitable place to go to! Food quality and service is definitely good!

Veggie SF

10/F, 11 Stanley Street, Central, Hong Kong

Mon - Sat 12nn-2.30pm 6-9pm

Reservations recommended

A random addition:

After Three Virtues Veg we had some time to spare before going to Veggie SF. I wanted to go to MANA Fast Slow Food but it was kinda crowded :/

This is super cute though!

So we got a drink at this place opposite called Kasa - not a veg place, serves meat. I had the almond milk (I was expecting the Western type but it's the Chinese almond lol), mum had the soymilk. The pudding at the front isn't vegan. I thick-skinly asked if I could keep the bottle but now I regret keeping it because I've not used it yet haha.

We sat upstairs and the whole shop was so quiet lol. The decor was retro and pretty! A good place to rest your legs heh

✧ Loving Hut ✧

My initial plan was to go to Loving Hut for dinner but we were meeting Dad's friend (who's a vegetarian) and he suggested Green Veggie.

So mum and I went to Loving Hut for a pre-dinner snack lol

It's on the second floor of this building

Surprisingly not very crowded

They have a really affordable dinner set!

They have a very extensive menu but all I was there for were the egg tarts!!!

They have vegan pet food too!

And ice cream! Too bad we had to save space for dinner lol

Handmade vegan egg tarts (2 pieces) HK$18

Vegan dreams come true omg!! The filling is like that of an average non-vegan egg tart which is impressive! If the crust was less dry it'll be perfect!

We also had this Sago Pudding with Caramel Topping HK$20. Looks like creme brûlée but it's not haha.

Should've ordered the fried 'egg' (Over Easy Vege Egg (2 pieces) HK$16) which Mum wanted instead ^^;

And we had Blueberry Herb Tea HK$28

The view was lovely ^^

If I'm ever back in HK I'd love to try their set meal, desserts and other menu items!

Loving Hut 愛家素食網

2/F Luen Tai Building

93-99 Wanchai Road

Daily 11.30am-9.15pm

✧ Green Veggie ✧

After Loving Hut we walked to Green Veggie, also in Wanchai!

Their menu is colourful and has an English translation too! Those with eggs and milk are labelled with E and M respectively.

Seasonal Vegetables and Beancurd in Soybean Soup HK$58

 This looks like a random jumble of ingredients but it's pretty yummy! It tastes very strongly of soy though so if you hate soy don't order this.

Baked Rice with Black Truffle in Whole Pumpkin HK$108

This was stated in the menu as having both egg (in the fried rice inside) and milk (probably in the cheese on top). So Dad's friend asked for this without the egg and cheese and the waitress said they could do it. Then it was served like this which looks suspicious so we confirmed with the waitress again...

But then there was egg! I had a mouthful before realising :( She offered to change it for us but we said it was okay so I just didn't eat more of it.

There was a table of Caucasians beside us who seemed to have a similar issue with another dish. Maybe it was the language barrier? But in our case Dad's friend ordered in Cantonese so I don't know what the issue was. 

Steamed Mountain Head Mushrooms with Black Fungus and Lily Buds HK$78

I didn't know that monkey head mushroom is also called mountain head mushroom! Or maybe it's an error because in the Chinese name it's monkey lol. The black fungus was really tender. I cook black fungus all the time but they're alway crunchy ._.

Braised Taro and Vegetarian Pork in Pot HK$58

Really enjoyed the taro! The veg pork had the 3 layer 'meat' 'fat' 'skin'

Barbecued Vegetarian Pork Buns HK$78 (6 buns)

This was super yummy! You can see the portion size in the previous photo - looks quite little but the 'pork' is more than enough to fill the buns. I think this is a must-try if you're at Green Veggie, it comes in a half set of 3 buns for HK$48 too!

Lol I say that I'd rather eat food without mock meat... but then it's so exciting to experience cruelty-free innovation and creativity haha ^^

This Barley Beancurd dessert is complimentary! I think the dessert changes from day to day according to some reviews I've read

Overall I'm glad that Dad's friend brought us here and recommended so many delicious dishes! Best to stick to menu items originally without egg and milk to be on the safe side though ^^

Green Veggie 天然齋

Room A-B, 1/F Finance Building

254 Des Vouex Road Central

Sheung Wan, Hong Kong