• 4
• delicious and very decently priced

after watching a movie at metroplex@kitec, where the only veggie options in the building are probably subway or starbucks, i made my way through the kowloon bay industrial area, arriving just before cafe la fresco veggie's last order time. there was a bilingual menu with seven main dishes and a very systematic pricing table according to whether you add on a drink or drinks/salad/soup (2 of 3 options) to your main. two of the dishes were sold out, and when i said it was my first visit the boss recommended "soba with great burdock in japanese sesame sauce salad" (曰式芝麻汁牛蒡素雞絲蕎麥冷麵), which he said was a cold dish many customers enjoyed especially during summer. a colourful variety of lettuce, cherry tomatoes, mock (probably soy?) chicken strips, sesame seeds and crunchy burdock bits made for a satisfying lunch. the portion was just right - though the soba could still be reduced slightly, in my opinion, as, mixed with the sesame sauce, it was starting to get a tad heavy towards the end of the meal. after adding coffee and soup, lunch today totalled an extremely decent hkd52. the boss was very friendly and when he found out i was vegetarian we started chatting about eateries nearby. its only bane is its short opening hours, which is understandable as it caters mainly to neighbouring workers. if you're interested in eco-building design, you might want to visit zero carbon building (http://zcb.hkcic.org/Eng/index.aspx) just across the road from cafe la fresco. tours in cantonese/english/putonghua can be prebooked online.