CLOSED: Fantasy Vegetarian Restaurant

We first ate here in '97 - delighted to find it again thanks to HappyCow.

I notice some difference of opinion in previous reviews, so i'll attempt to help you navigate the perspectives to reach a clear picture about what Fantasy Vegetarian is and isn't.

Is it high-class dining? No, it's a bit of a greasy spoon - rough around the edges. But it's an authentic HK Buddhist veggie joint loved by locals.

Is the food good? Yes, if you like old-school Chinese vegetarian food (not just modern, health-conscious Asian fusion cuisine), we expect you'll love Fantasy Veg. We think it's fantastic.

Is the service good? Really sweet, in our experience, and at least one person speaks good enough English to do the needful.

So, if you're looking for a very casual spot, popular with locals, that excels at the centuries-old tradition of making vegetarian (mostly vegan) versions of Chinese staples, we strongly recommend Fantasy Vegetarian.

We are pretty health-conscious people - we like real vegetables that look and taste like real vegetables - but we'll also admit that we do enjoy those tasty chunks of fried faux meat when they're done well - and at Fantasy Vegetarian they are very, very well done. Two strong recommendations for vegan-meat connoisseurs:

- The mashed taro 'fish' filet is unbelievable - or, rather, too believeable! First time we had it, we had to double-check to make sure it wasn't a sea creature.

- The 'chicken satay' is exceptional and comes with a side of steamed broccoli, making it a perfect 'yin and yang' in our book. (Or did they call it a 'chicken shish kebab'? Sorry, we can't remember now - but either way, this isn't your ordinary tofu on a stick.)

Also, please don't leave without trying several of the very tasty and affordable dim sum and other little bites in the front display case. You can just stand on the street and point at what you'd like and they'll add it to your bill if you're dining inside.

I have eaten at this restaurant twice in the past few months, and found the food to be quite good. I usually order from the last page because I find it to be more descriptive of what you will end up getting. I had veg noodles with coconut sauce there and it was quite tasty, but it took a long time to prepare. Actually, I initially had a feeling that there was some sort of prejudice involved because people who had arrived later than me had been served already. I had to wait about 10-15 minutes for the food, as it happens, I was told after 10 minutes wait that it would take awhile to prepare so I felt much better about the situation.

I intend to go back again because the times I've been there it hasn't been crowded and have had overall a good experience. I especially like the take away dim sum, there's just one thing I would like to suggest is that they not use styrofoam containers for their take away food. I know that people are veg for different reasons, beyond environmental, but I found it really offensive that a veg. restaurant does that.

In spite of the varying previous reviews on HappyCow we headed down to Fantasy with open minds. Although it's located next door to a dog bakery (I know) the menu was definitely and exhaustively pleasingly vegetarian.

The environment was clean and bright - looked as though it had received a recent make-over - and the staff attentive and naturally courteous. On Sunday evening around four tables were occupied which was probably a quarter of the cover, and take-away trade seemed to be steady.

From the huge menu we chose crispy noodles with braised eggplant, a spicy mock-meat dish (with peppers, carrots, mushrooms, celery) and mashed lotus root with sweetcorn. Perhaps by happy chance we'd selected well matched dishes, each was tasty and different and between two of us were more than sufficient in terms of quantity.

We liked Fantasy Vegetarian very much and will be going back to sample more.

Based on the reviews on Happy Cow we checked out this restaurant. It was not worth the trip. The menu was in English which was a plus but the descriptions of the dishes did not fit what arrived at the table. We ordered Fried Vegetables with Fried Beancurd, usually a simple mainstay chinese dish, but what arrived was some beancurd in a gloppy sauce on top of what appeared to be deep fried seaweed or spinach with strings of what appeared to be ginger. The beancurd tasted so heavily of fish that I spit it out and asked the waitress to verify that this was indeed dish that we ordered. "Yes" she said, it was.

Next, on to the Hot and Spicy Eggplant that was neither hot nor spicy. This dish was served in a hot pot and was so saturated in sauce and oil and was so overcooked that it was more like brown eggplant mush. Next, on to the Fried Rice with Broccoli and ginger. Sounded great but instead of broccoli flourettes there were just a few small slices of broccoli stalks, no ginger flavour, and the dish was very oily.

My husband ordered a beer and the glass it came with was filthy, warm and wet.

The decor was as bad as the food. Cheap chairs with rusty metal frames and the posters on the walls had parts of their frames missing. Our table cloth had a cigarette burn in it.

There are so many better vegetarian restaurants in Hong Kong, I highly recommend giving this one a pass.

Restaurant clearly signposted in English as you approach. Dim sum counter to the street existent.
This is a fairly small, quiet restaurant - not due to lack of people - with tasteful decor. Clientele is groups and couples, suitable for singles also. Wait staff is pleasant, speak no English.
Menu is in English. Good quality food, fresh and delicious.
Good value at just over $100 for a set menu for two consisting of decently/ healthily sized portions - not heaping portions.

Walk out of the Tin Hau MTR Station Exit A2 - Electric Rd is pretty much straight ahead of you - walk past the turn to Yacht St - Fantasy is on your right side - clear sign in English. Take away / dim-sum / sweets counter on the street. 60+ seat restaurant inside on the ground floor. Decoration is "Guanyin" images / old Chinese framed paintings - very pleasant. Had a superb Cantonese lunch there last Saturday - my 3rd recent visit - dish of salted peanuts with 5-spice as the simple starter - corn & rice congee - deep fried crisp tofu pieces on a bed of crunchy raw cabbage - seaweed & noodle soup with vegetable slivers - soya bean skins with grated ginger & steamed broccoli - chilli pickle - Pu-erh Tea - a sweet made from coconut milk / rice flour & adzuki beans - an absolutely perfect combination - 2 people satisfied for HK$ 110. Staff not so used to Europeans - solution - we become more Chinese! 95% vegan menu - a few dishes with eggs clearly shown on the English menu. Really good experiences on each visit.

The restaurant is open from 9am till 11pm. In the mornings they serve delicious dim sims with full menu service starting at lunch time. There is also a take away counter that has all the delicious dim dims on display, making it very easy to choose.


We were the only guests for our breakfast dim sims but the restaurant was packed at lunch time.

Electric road is right behind "Tin Hau" MTR station. From the station it's only a two minute walk to the restaurant.