The Herbivores | Hong Kong

Rating: ❤❤❤❤

I love meat and I don't like veggies, so when I heard my friends raving about the good vegetarian food at The Herbivores, I was intrigued to say the least. I never made it to the Soho branch since that was out of the way for me but when I found out that they opened one in Hysan Place, I decided to drop by for lunch. 

Located on the 9/F in the Eslite Bookstore, the restaurant was big and spacious with one long table in the center and smaller tables against the wall. There was also a bar area and a coffee corner as well where you can order drinks and take-out. 

They had a huge chalkboard wall where they had written down their menu. Everything just sounded so interesting from the vodka tomato to the pumpkin steak!

For lunch, they offer weekday lunch set which is a pretty good deal with 3 courses at $128 + 10% service charge. You have a choice of soup or salad, main, dessert, and drink. There were 3 choices for the main course which changes daily apparently. Between the club sandwich, creamy mushroom linguini, and tomato sauce fusilli, I went with the tomato sauce pasta.

For the appetizer, I chose the daily soup which turned out to be corn soup. The soup had a lot of flavor and texture from the abundant amount of corn bits in it, which made it a delight to drink! My only qualm was with the fancy yet flat soup spoon I was given, which made it a bit hard to scoop out those last few bites. 

The service was pretty efficient as my tomato sauce fusilli pasta came out shortly after I finished my soup. I realized that the pasta was really hot after I took my first bite. The tomato sauce was pretty flavorful while the pasta was not overcooked. I love the fun texture of the fusilli! As I started to dig into my pasta, I discovered lots of chopped eggplant and zucchini which contributed nicely to the flavors and textures as well. It was a simple dish made well. 

On to my favorite part of the meal - dessert! The dessert of the day was a green tea panna cotta, and it was unbelievably scrumptious! The green tea flavor was mild yet appealing while not overly sweet. It was light and refreshing - the perfect ending for my meal. 

Since I noticed that they had a Synesso machine, I decided to add $8 to upgrade my drink to a latte. The microfoam had a nice sheen to it while the texture looked consistent and fine. As I took a sip though, I thought the microfoam was rather thin and not thick enough. Nonetheless, the latte had the right kind of balance between the bitterness of the expresso and the sweetness of the milk for me. 

Verdict - the lunch set at The Herbivores left a good impression on me, even though the food I tried was a bit simple and basic. The service was prompt and friendly as the food came out quickly. Maybe because it is located inside a bookstore, but I thought the casual ambiance would be perfect for grabbing a cup of coffee while catching up on some reading as well. They had written their goal on the wall which is to bring vegetarianism to everyone, especially to meat lovers! I think they succeeded into making vegetarian food fun and exciting as I had always thought that vegetarian food was light and bland. I would love to come back to try the 3-tier tea set or the veggie brunch next time!

The Herbivores
9/F, Hysan Place, 500 Hennessy Road, Causeway Bay
2613 2920

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