Po Lin Monastery Vegetarian Kitchen

We had the standard set meal for 98 HKD per person. As a group of three, we got tea, rice, soup, and four dishes.
The soup was light and tasty — a nice change from the heavy veggie fare that we’ve been having in HK the past week. The dishes were crispy fried veggie rolls, veggie chicken and bell peppers, black mushroom and bok choy, and soft tofu and corn. All of the food was delightful.
There was a lot of food, so it was very good value for 98 HKD.

My friends and I came here to eat lunch after seeing the Big Buddha that’s nearby. After climbing up 200+ steps to see the Buddha, we were hungry. You have to buy a meal ticket first. There is a spot at the Po Lin Monastery that sells tickets and a spot at the bottom of the steps to the Big Buddha. If you have a meal ticket, it also grants you admission into the museum that’s at the top of the stairs of the Big Buddha. We didn’t know this, but once we got to the top of the Big Buddha, the lady said we could buy the tickets to the museum and then upgrade and pay for the meal ticket. We skipped the museum and just bought meal tickets back at the monastery. The service lunch until about 4:30, so you just need to redeem your meal ticket with the hostess before then. You have two options, the regular vegetarian meal and the «deluxe» vegetarian meal. We asked what the difference was, because you don’t get more in terms of the the number of dishes. From what I could tell, one of the vegetable dishes was different from the other. The lady said that the deluxe meal was better and than we get our own table inside. We ended up getting the deluxe meal. The restaurant was pretty full, so we had to wait a few minutes. And we had to share a table, which was fine, but contradicted what the lady selling us the ticket had said.
We were given steamed rice and a big pot of tea. We got mixed mushroom soup, which was delicious, fried veggie egg rolls, mushrooms on a bed of cooked greens (they were like bok choy but I don’t think that’s what they were), a mixed veggie dish that had asparagus, mushrooms, celery, snap peas, and bell pepper, and fried bean curd sheets in a sweet lemon sauce (dessert). I thought the food was really tasty. The vegetables and the mushrooms were delicious. The egg rolls were nothing special but also tasted food. The bean curd dish was interesting because it was a dessert. In the end, we finished it all.
Don’t forget to check out the monastery as well. There’s also a vegetarian snack café adjacent to the restaurant that serves other things, but we didn’t get to check that out.

I wanted to try vegetarian food at a real monastery. My husband didn’t like the idea of eating just vegetables but he accompanied me so that I would not be alone. The food was bland. Where are the spices for flavoring? No meat should not mean no taste. Afterwards I found out that larger groups are given more varieties of dishes while smaller groups are offered less number of dishes. For example, we did not get the dish of tofu curd in lemon sauce. It was a bad choice to eat their set menu. There is a restaurant next door that sells a la carte dishes. I should have gone their instead.

Another reviewer said that the food here at the monastery is «insipid» (bland) and «bad». I would respectfully disagree. I would concede that it is overpriced. For what I paid (vip option), I should’ve gotten way better food. It’s about the same quality as the vegetable dishes that Maxim’s sells. If you’re from the states, it is still way better than Panda Express. They do have some dishes that I’ve never had in any other restaurant. The tofu curd in lemon sauce, for example. All the dishes are tasty and some are actually unique. Their biggest sin is serving cold and lukewarm food. Food is very funny. The exact same dish served hot could be very tasty but taste kinda crappy if served cold. I suggest that you slip the waiter 20 HKD and tell him/​her to make sure to hurry out your food while it is still hot. I would still recommend this restaurant or the food stall just outside this restaurant over any of the chain restaurants in Ngong Ping «Village» as some of the dishes here are unique whilst the «village» is mostly just chain restaurant food you can find anywhere else in Hong Kong. So, although this restaurant only gets 3 stars, I would give them 4 stars if they had served me my meal hot.
P. S. Years ago, before they built the tram car, you had to get to the Tian Tan Big Buddha by boat, then bus, and finally by hiking. Back then, there were a lot less tourists, so the veggies served here were grown organically by the Monks on the premises. Now that they’re literally overrun by tourists, this is no longer true. They now source their groceries from a grocery store. Back then, their vegetarian dishes were heavenly. You could taste the sweet freshness of the veggies. It was like eating veggies with the flavor of morning dew. Unfortunately, this is no longer true. Sigh…
P. P. S. If you cannot afford to eat in the restaurant because it is too expensive, do not despair. The food stall next to the restaurant is actually better than the food served in the restaurant because they serve it hot while the restaurant served the food at a tepid temperature. However, if you’re dining at the food stalls, then you won’t have comfy chairs and tables with clean tablecloths. You’ll have to dine on STONE chairs and tables that you bus yourself after you finish eating. Also, the food served at the food stalls and the food served in the restaurant are different. So, if you’re a piggy like me, you can eat at the restaurant, then eat another meal at the food stalls afterwards so you won’t miss out on anything, ha, ha! I suggest that you get the «tofu flower» (delicate tofu with cane juice, served hot) at the food stall. It is very good.

DO NOT EAT HERE.
I’ve had food prepared by monks elsewhere, and it was delicious. The food they serve here is insipid, overpriced and probably not touched by the monks. If you do still want to eat at the restaurant, pick the cheaper, non-​VIP option. We picked VIP and it was still pretty bad.