It was a national holiday in Hong Kong that day so the place was packed with tourists as well as locals.

Right under the Giant Buddha.

We had originally planned to have the vegetarian meal here but since it was a holiday, the restaurant was packed and the wait seem days. I was bummed because I was looking forward to having lunch at the restaurant on the temple grounds. However, we discovered a walk up and order cafe next to the restaurant. We were hungry and the line was short so we ditched our place in line at the restaurant and headed over. No meat was served on temple grounds so everything at the cafe was vegetarian. I was delighted to the case of [crispy] pastries!

They had a “prix fixe” menu for the price of HKD 25 per person (around USD 3.50) which includes a  plate of vegetarian vermicelli or noodles, 2 pastries and hot or cold tofu (the sweet kind that you get at dim sum) We also ordered a plate of vegetarian meat (veggie pork, veggie squid,tofu)  for HKD 20. So our entire meal only cost us USD 9! A steal even in Hong Kong.

For the pastries, we ordered vegetarian egg roll, mochi with sesame filling covered with coconut shavings, cream of mushroom tart and veggie barbeque chicken pastry.

Hmm.sweet tofu. We ordered one hot and one cold. Since the weather was warm that day, I preferred the cold tofu. The consistency was also less jello-y like the hot tofu.

After lunch, we decided to take the local shuttle bus to Tai O, an old fishing village where people still live in houses on stilts over the water.

We walked through the outdoor marketplace where most of the vendors were selling dried fish/sea creatures and their skins.

Of course there were street vendors selling food such as dried squid so we stopped to grab a quick bite. You pick out the dried creatures and the ladies will grill them over an open flame. It’s like a mobile yakitori on a cart!

Before grilling it over the coals, the ladies brush the dried squid with some sort of teriyaki sauce.

Taste like squid jerky.

What is the facination with things on sticks in Hong Kong. Here is something that I had to get because it was on a stick. Can you guess what it was?

Another example of food on sticks, molasses sandwiched between crackers.on a stick.

Ready to eat.

I mentioned a couple posts ago that I went to this awesome vegetarian Chinese restaurant that is not Happy Family. I managed to eat my way through everything without a single picture. I ahd to go back again to get the some pictures.

The Hubs and I are eating vegetarian about 3-4 days per month for religious reasons. Our vegetarianism restricts us from food with garlic, any type of onions, peppers and alcohol. So during the veggie days, we couldn’t just go to our favorite restaurants and order dishes without meat. Because chances are, those dishes will mostly likely at  least one of the forbidden ingredients.

This has prompted us to venture out and find vegetarian restaurants that follow these guidelines. My mom suggested this new place in the Focus Plaza in San Gabriel called Gourmet Vegetarian. This is one of my favorite vegetarian restaurants so far because the food taste like…well real food! And we don’t have to ask the waiter/waitress the ingredient of every dish because they are Buddist vegetarian friendly. They do not season their food with garlic or onions.

In my experience, Chinese vegetarian food tend to taste the same. It’s always chewy with some sort of skewed version of kung-pao tasting sauce slathered all over the said chewiness. But Gourmet Vegetarian restaurant has a refreshing take of Chinese vegetarian foods well as a good selection of Japanese dishes such as hand rolls and California rolls. The Chinese dishes are very much Taiwanese influeced and the taste is pretty close to their meatier counterparts.

One of the must orders on the menu is their hand rolls. They used lettuce, dried bean curd and pickled daikon (turnip).

vegetarian hand rolls

close up of vegetarian hand rolls

Next up is the fried “chicken” strips or nuggets. For those of you that read Chinese, it’s their vegetarian version of 咸酥雞, translated literally, it’s saled crispy chicken with basil leaves. This dish is made with gluten and fried in a light batter, sprinkled with some MSG salt.

"fried chicken nuggets"

My mom is a fan of their sesame pancake but I’m just meh about it. It’s just fried dough with a sprinkle of white sesame seeds. I rather waste my calories on another dish.

sesame pancakes

I think the best dish on their menu is the sesame-oil-wine chicken thin rice noodle. In Chinese: 麻油鷄麪綫. It actually taste like the real thing!  Gluten is used again for the chicken chunks but they got the ginger and the sesame oil essence of the dish down. Of course, there is no rice wine in it or it would not be vegetarian in Buddhist beliefs.

sesame-oil-wine-chicken noodle soup thingamageeg

close up

As I mentioned, the menu has quite a few Japanese inspired dishes. This  was one of them. Stir fried vegetarian udon.  It was a little over peppered and a tad on the greasy side. But overall, it’s a good dish for people who are a little apprehensive to try the before mentioned items and great for kids because it’s really just a normal dish you can get at a Hong Kong style cafe.

stir fried vegetarian udon on hot plate

he restaurant also offers many puff pastry selections. The one that caught my eye was the puff pastry almond soup which is more like dessert. However, I was stuffed that day and didn’t order it. My mom did order the puff pastry pumpkin bisque which is a savory dish.

puff pastry pumpkin bisque

Of course, what’s a vegetarian meal without vegables! Here is their take on the Taiwanese style of pairing vegetables with minced meat (meat made with mushrooms).

An Choy with minced "meat"

Gourmet Vegetarian is not your ordinary Chinese vegetarian restaurant. The restauarant is spacious, has nice decor and is clean. The price is not cheap though. A dinner for 4 will run you about $100, high in San Gabriel/Monterey Park/Alhambra vicinity. However, it’s definitely worth a trip.

(626) 280-