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• ng hung vegetarian

happy is it when one accidentally stumbles upon a new vegetarian eatery. i had peeked into "veggie senses", saw how packed it was and decided to take a walk before returning after the lunch hour crowd had petered out. strolling down shau kei wan east main street, lined on both sides with meat-based eateries, i did a double-take when i saw the chinese characters for "vegetarian": 素／齋, juxtaposed with what looked very much like meat and photos of steamed rice/meat. a quick chat with the friendly staff (co-owners?) assured me that everything was vegetarian, and seemingly vegan-friendly: from what i understood, the only dish that egg is added is "minced beef with egg on rice". i didn't specifically ask if the mock meats contained egg/dairy/honey, so please enquire if you're vegan. i asked for something with more veggies and was recommended the "steamed rice with pumpkin and spareribs" and "mushroom, black-eared fungus and chicken with rice". if i still wanted more greens, i could order a plate of veggies separately, but as what was available that day was only lettuce i declined. at hkd28, the piping hot metal bowl of steamed rice with pumpkin made for a quick and simple meal, which i imagine would be especially satisfying during winter. one bowl may not be enough if you're a big eater though. the "spareribs", i learnt later, as with other of their mock meats, were made from scratch with no preservatives and consisted mainly of beans. the shop is only about a month old and staff are taking things slowly, preferring to get into the swing of things with a small menu first. there's no english name on the shopfront, but look out for the yellow and green words and the monkey face.