Po Lin Monastery's Vegetarian Kitchen (Hong Kong)

After visiting the Tian Tan Buddha at Lantau Island, if you decide to visit Starbucks for lunch, I think you deserve to get knocked on the head! Instead, why not try some vegetarian food at the famed Vegetarian Kitchen at Po Lin Monastery? 

You will be able to get a meal ticket at the entrance of the Big Buddha Statue or at the reception of the Vegetarian Kitchen. I think prices have increased though, because various reviews I have read state that they paid 60 HKD. However, we paid 70 HKD. Nonetheless, instead of the 1 pm that they stated in the reviews, we were told that meal times could be any time from 1130 am to 430 pm. You could also opt for the deluxe option. 

It was crowded but comfortable in the restaurant. Servers would be going around with metal trolleys and serving plates after plates of the standard set meal. 

The first dish was Winter Melon Soup. It's a very sweet soup but I didn't really fancy it.

I liked the Vegetables with Mushrooms. Loaded with flavourful mushrooms, this dish also provided the necessary greens for us to keep healthy!

If only the peas weren't there! But we still liked this Tofu with Corn because the sauce was slightly spicy and the corn was sweet. Both my friend and I also liked the tofu which was very smooth.

The best dish of the lot was the Deep Fried Vegetarian Spring Roll. I really liked the skin because it was very layered. Instead of your usual wonton skin which is used to wrap the spring rolls, the way this spring roll was done gave it an added crunch! Word of advice though, don't leave it to the last to savour it. The oil taste starts to feature and that would ruin your impression of this dish!

I didn't touch most of this dish because I'm not a fan of the greens in this Mixed Vegetables with Beancurd. I think it's meant to be mock chicken, but I'm not sure. Anyway, the mock chicken was chewy and light in flavour.

While there might be some misses in the set meal, I still think it's worth it because of the generous portions of food, coupled with the fact that this is a healthy option that actually tastes rather good.

Po Lin Monastery's Vegetarian Kitchen
Po Lin Monastery, Ngong Ping, Lantau Island
Tel No: 2985 5248