Raw Vegetarian Meal

Dinner


No awards for guessing that it would be.. well...raw vegetables and fruit. Cucumbers in both the main and appetizer were crisp and fresh tasting. In the main, the bell peppers also held up to standard. Tomato slices slimy, flavorless and lacking anything redeemable. We still can't seem to get tomatoes right in America... Fruit platter of mixed quality. Grapes plump and ripe, but melon and canteloupe not ripe, cut way too early. Pineapple was ok.

 Breakfast 

Fruit plate same as dinner. Okra pieces sadly tasted of some sort of chemicals, (or is that how unflavored/unripe stuff tastes?). Celery was crispy and fresh other bed of veggies likewise. Although not ideal, a step up from dinner. Creme de la creme of the course was a dessert of applesauce. Glorious memories of being a grade school kid...

Date of travel:  December 2014

Flight: CX 899 EWR (Newark) - HKG (Hong Kong)

Vegetarian Vegan Meal

Lunch

Very solid. Baked beans tasty, almost like one would have at a hotel breakfast. Mixed well with mashed potatoes, which were decent. steamed carrots and zucchini still somewhat crisp. All pretty plain, as expected (no salt/pepper etc). No salt/pepper was provided. Cucumber and tomato salad was fresh, accented nicely with lemon wedge squeeze. Standard grain roll with imitation veggie spread/margarine. Dessert tofu (lower right side) standard packaged sweet stuff.

Dinner

A repeat of lunch's quality - very impressed. No idea why I was given OJ and AJ as beverages, never asked for them. Note the two green tags. One says Vegan, the other says Vegetarian Lacto-Ovo (includes dairy and eggs), so not complimentary... hmm. A word of caution for the strict Vegans, perhaps? Main also lacked salt/pepper or added flavors. Fritatta/quiche/ whatever nicely balanced with mushrooms and spinach. Good texture. Grilled squash and eggplant a nice compliment with porridge/cream of wheat and red pepper. Fruit salad fresh and crisp. Cantaloupe and water melon pieces better than melon pieces. Standard roll and imitation vegetable spread or margarine as in lunch, ditto sweet tofu. Didn't touch either.

Date of travel:  November 2014

Flight: CX 806 HKG (Hong Kong) - ORD (Chicago O'Hare)

Pausa

New take-out place with limited seating in Wanchai where BeautiFood used to be. Go for gelato (pictured below). Best I've had in Hong Kong, and soft serve. Co-founder Francesco gave me a small sample when I was trying pizza and got me hooked. Flavors change daily. At HKD 53 for a small cup (cone is HKD 40), not cheap, but worth it and time it takes to prepare. Gelato creamy, flavorful, not too heavy. Bottom of cup had some biscuit-like crumbles, with gelato layered on top, then a layer of honey/syrup and cornflakes, then another layer of gelato, topped with some mixed nuts (peanuts and pistachios?) and a chunk of strawberry. Epic stuff. Like OMG.

Otherwise, mainly does take out foods, Italian-style "pizza al taglio" (essentially by the slice), focaccia, pasta (made ready in 5 minutes). Pizza crust bread-y almost Sicilian in thickness, quality of the sauce and cheese good. Ok, and for a snack and friendly enough on the wallet. Have not had pasta or focaccia.  

Cash/Octopus, Credit Cards accepted (V/MC - I think) 
HKD 30 - HKD 100 per person 

G/F, J Senses 60 Johnston Road, Wanchai (Across from Ham & Sherry)
灣仔莊士敦道60號J Sense 地下3號舖(船街入口)
2523 4168

http://www.pausa.com

Vegetarian Oriental Meal

Dinner

What is Vegetarian Oriental? Well I figured it would be East Asian food but with no meat. Apparently Cathay takes a more strict definition: "Vegetarian food prepared in Chinese style, along with fruits and vegetables.  No meat, poultry, fish, seafood, eggs, dairy products, roots or bulbous vegetables including ginger, garlic, onion, spring onions, etc." - Seems more strict that the Jain Meal.

 

We have a winner for the 3rd best airline special meal (a tie with BA's Kosher Meal). Main of imitation Char Siu (HK-style Roast Pork) on top of fried bee hoon (rice vermicilli). Tofu Char Siu tasted nothing of pork, but not objectionable, bee hoon almost al dente and nice to the bite, Chinese veggie soaked in sauce nothing special. Thoroughly enjoyable bee hoon. Veggie salad of mushrooms and baby corn, latter being nice and crisp and seemed heavily flavored of ginger (despite restriction?). Mushrooms better than corn. Dessert was the treat. Sort of Pandan tapioca pudding with coconut cream on top. Awesome dessert all around.

 

 

 

 

 

Date of travel: 21 September 2014

Flight: CX 734 SIN (Singapore) - HKG (Hong Kong

Vegetarian Lacto Ovo Meal

Breakfast

What is Vegetarian Lacto Ovo? Cathay Pacific defines the meal as having:  food high in protein, iron and calcium, along with dairy products, eggs and vegetarian-type of cheese (without rennet).

 

Eggs clearly the powder-mix stuff meh. Steamed veggies on right side pretty nice some added salt did the. The potatoes on the left were soggy. Fruit up top was ripe and crisp. Nothing too special overall, but nothing to really complain about.

 

 

Date of travel: 17 September 2014

Flight: CX 691 HKG (Hong Kong) - SIN (Singapore)

炊豕店

So this place has no English name. Even if I made one up, it would be of no use. To those who don't speak Chinese - best to find the address and do some copy-pasting.

Kudos to my friend, MW, for taking me here for lunch. Simple hole in the wall joint that seats about 20. Menu completely in Chinese. Not much variety. One can choose a fried pork cutlet, a fried pork cutlet, or a friend pork cutlet... Can choose a number of carbs to accompany the main. I went with thicker egg noodles, added a side of curry sauce and a sunny side up egg on top. Cutlet tender, noodles perfectly al dente. Mixed well with curry, which was not too strong but flavorful. Egg added texture and color to the dish. Well worth a visit but be ready for lines.

Cash only 
HKD 50 - HKD 75 per person (Lunch)
 
G/F, 122 Leighton Road, Causeway Bay
銅鑼灣禮頓道122號地下
2806 6665

Vegetarian Jain / Strict Indian Vegetarian Meal

Note: Some clarity to differentiate Indian Vegetarian and Jain Vegetarian. CX defines Jain Vegetarian as "No meat, poultry, fish, seafood, eggs, root or bulbous vegetables, dairy products and mushrooms"

Dinner

Second-best airline meal tasted to date for this blog. Spinach thick and stodgy, but edible, rice relatively moist, and okra quite tasty. Not too salty, went well with slightly soggy roti. Vegetable "salad" (ok, 4 pieces) was fine and the pineapple/grape fruit dish was nothing to scream home about (ie. just fine). Probably best to stick to regular Indian vegetarian for more variety (I like dairy and mushrooms, happy to skip meat on flights...)

Date of travel: 3 August 2014

Flight: CX 831 JFK (New York) - HKG (Hong Kong)