Vegetarian Food on Nathan Road

Although various types of vegetable only food are easily available in Hong Kong you do have to be careful about exactly what you mean by “Vegetarian Food”.  The main cause of misunderstanding is that most Hong Kong people when asked in English about “Vegetarian” will translate this to “Jai”   which is actually a Buddhist dish which is almost entirely vegetables, but includes  Dried  oysters  .  Presumably when the Buddha was alive they didn’t realize that oysters were an animal as I’m sure the Buddha intend to not eat animals.

But there you go, if you go into a typical Hong Kong Chinese vegetarian restaurant beware that while 99.9% of what you will eat is entirely vegetable, and doesn’t include milk or egg products, there may be a dried oyster or two in there.  Very rarely dried shrimps or quail eggs may be included, though today this is rare.

For vegetarian non-Chinese foods you will find many vegetarian restaurants in the area.  Many restaurants have both meat and vegetarian menu though the vegetarian one tends to be a bit limited.  But it does provide the flexibility if you have a mixed group of eaters.

In particular there are plenty of vegetarian choices of Indian food in Chunking Mansions like the Smrat Pure Veg which serves Indian, Punjabi and Jain Food.

Other non-Chinese vegetarian restaurants along Nathan Road includes:

• Woodland International restaurant at Mody Road in Tsim Sha Tsui
• Greenwoods Raw Cafe (Tsim Sha Tsui) - they serve western vegetarian food including dessert
• Branto Pure Vegetarian Indian Food in Lock Road in Tsim Sha Tsui