Do your part for the environment — and your health! — by eating better. Here are six plant-based meat alternatives available in Hong Kong — and where to find them.
Maybe you’re a steadfast follower of the 3Rs. You bring your own shopping bag, your own reusable bottle, even your own refillable lipstick. You take shorter showers than everyone else and never leave the light on when you’re not in the room — you’re pretty environmentally friendly. And while that’s a pat on the back for you, there’s always a little bit more you could be doing. Like, with what you eat.
We’ve come a long way since the the debut of the plant-based burger that completely revolutionised our perception of plant-based meat alternatives. A long, long way since the market was dominated by just Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods. There are lots of interesting choices to choose from now! And many restaurants have embraced the wave and added plant-based meat alternatives to their menus. Here’s where to find them.
Do Your Part. Where to Find Plant-Based Meat Alternatives in Hong Kong:
Plant Sifu
Hong Kong-based food tech company, Good Food Technologies, founded by Joshua Ng and Dr Andrew Leung in 2020, introduces Plant Sifu, a home-grown plant-based gourmet food brand focused on reimagining pork with their own fat technology, AROMAX™. Designed to replicate the pork fat and lard which they identified is essential in Chinese and Asian recipes, AROMAX™ is entirely plant-based with zero cholesterol, hormones, antibiotics, MSG and preservatives by using a non-GMO soy as its primary plant protein and konjac gelatin structures that’s high in fibre and low in sodium, calories and fat.
Since AROMAX™ was engineered according to Chinese recipes, in particular the dim sum favourite of steamed pork dumplings, Plant Sifu’s marks its initial launch with three plant-based Chinese dim sum: two dumplings and a shiitake mushroom and plant-based pork shaomai. Plant Sifu also introduces more plant-based pork products, Mince, Ground and Slices for food services use, which has received a stamp of approval by a bevy of top Chinese chefs in Hong Kong.
Find at:
- Hana-musubi
- Ikea
Karana Foods
Launching first in Singapore, then Hong Kong, and most recently San Francisco, Karana Foods, founded by Dan Riegler and Blair Crichton, gained traction as a leading meat alternative made with whole plants. Sri Lankan jackfruits, in fact, make up a main portion of the very short ingredient list of the plant-based product which not only offers the similar meaty texture of shredded meat but also helps to promote a sustainable food chain by working with local smallholder farmers, while maintaining biodiversity in the nurturing of the jackfruit trees, an efficient low-water-high-yield crop.
Engineered with as little processing as possible, the jackfruit-based meat-substitute — high in fibre and low in fat and calories, and no cholesterol — is able to retain the nutrients and natural qualities to the fruit, keeping to a high-quality flavour.
- Beef & Liberty
- CHAAT
- Elephant Grounds
- Hot ‘N’ Meen
- Sip Song
Impossible Foods
Impossible Foods needs no introduction. Possibly one of the earliest plant-based meat alternatives on the market (the Impossible™ Burger debuted in 2018 in Hong Kong), Impossible was charged — and still is — by the idea of reducing environmental footprint through a better diet. Created with a plant-based heme (typically extracted from the root of soybean plants) through a their own process of fermentation and genetically engineered yeast, the range of products has expanded since the initial Impossible™ Beef, to Impossible™ Pork, Impossible™ Sausage and impossible™ Chicken.
- AWA AWA
- Beef & Liberty
- Check In Taipei
- Cô Thành
- Dumpling yuan
- Forbidden Duck
- Good BBQ
- Happy Paradise
- La Paloma
- Little Bao
- Mián
- Mo Bar
- Potato Head
- Quiero Más
- Ruby Tuesday
- Sake Central
- Years
Beyond Meat
The Beyond Burger is no stranger to the world of meat substitutes. Created by Beyond Meat, which has now expanded their range from burger patties to meatballs, chicken and jerky, the plant-based meat company continues its messaging of eating better — and healthier. Their no cholesterol, no antibiotics and no hormones, protein-rich products are made of five key components: proteins, from mung beans, faba beans and brown rice; fats, from coconut oil, cocoa butter and expeller-pressed canola oil; carbs, from potato starch and plant fibres; mineral, including calcium, iron and salt; and finally, natural flavours and colours like beef juice and apple extract.
- Madame Fú
- Sweetpea Cafe
- Pizza Express
- Butchers Club
- Knockbox Coffee
- Foxglove
TiNDLE Foods
Perfecting a plant-based meat of its own, TiNDLE, founded by Timo Recker and Andre Menezes, doesn’t focus on the usual beef or pork, but rather has a hand in recreating chicken from plants. Free from antibiotics, hormones and cholesterol, each of TiNDLE’s plant-based chicken is fuelled with 17g of protein, all while created with a short ingredients list of just nine products.
Engineered with a plant-based product they have named Lipi™, it consists of a blend of plant-based fats and flavour that replicates the aroma and taste of a traditional chicken. If you were wondering about the numbers, TiNDLE chicken is able to save on average 74 percent less land, 82 percent less water, with 88 percent lower greenhouse gas emissions. Not to mention, the brand refers to their plant-based product as “ridiculously delicious”.
- Graceland
- Pablo
- Four Seasons
- 404Plant
- Doubleshot by Cupping Rooom
- Big Birdy
- Eatology
- Hemingway’s
OmniFoods
Founded under David Yeung‘s Green Monday, OmniFoods was first known for its plant-based meat alternative OmniPork which was engineered by food scientists in Canada for over two years. The ingredient list in Omni’s own blend of plant-based proteins, including shiitake mushrooms, non-GMO soy, peas and rice. Since then, OmniPork has extended into its own dedicated range of pork substitutes: OmniPork Luncheon, OmniPork Strip and OmniPork Patty.
OmniFoods has also since developed OmniSeafood, a plant-based range of seafood that’s omega 3-rich, including OmniTuna and OmniSalmon, made from a similar blend of non-GMO soy, pea and rice.
- Gyukaku
- Megan’s Kitchen
- Pizza Express
- Nara Thai
- Sensory Zero
- Years
- Yum Cha
Header image courtesy of Karana Foods
Lorria Sahmet
Editor
After two years writing in luxury retail, Lorria now covers food and drink happenings in Hong Kong. When not taste-testing for the best fries in the city (shoestring, always!), find her at home obsessing over tableware and attempting a fruit garden on her tiny bay window. She is happiest by the ocean with a giant fishbowl-glass of Aperol Spritz.
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