Picture of the Day: Plant-based Nuggets

The dish is served in a box that is reminiscent of an American fast-food chain

Yesterday I went to visit Kind Kitchen, a vegan/vegetarian restaurant in Sheung Wan, though there are other locations in Wan Chai, Tuen Mun, Tseung Kwan O, Tsim Sha Tsui, and Mongkok.

The restaurant is run by vegan/vegetarian shop Green Common that brings together Western and Asian plant-based ingredients, condiments and packaged foods in one space and Kind Kitchen uses many of those items on its menu.

Here are the chicken nuggets -- oh wait these are plant-based

One item I tried was the "Happy Nuggets" and they were presented in a box, much like the chicken McNuggets in McDonald's, except these ones are vegan and come with a honey garlic sauce.

They really did have a fibrous texture similar to chicken, but these were made of various soy and wheat proteins. The nuggets are lightly coated in a batter before being deep-fried then frozen. At Kind Kitchen they are reheated in the oven, giving them a fast-food kind of look and feel. They tasted delicious.

This dish is mostly to appeal to kids who think they are getting chicken McNuggets, but these are quite close to the real thing. Pretty cool way to get kids eating less meat but just as much protein.

Kind Kitchen
Shop 1, 1/F, Nan Fung Place
173 Des Voeux Road, Central
2110 0055

Tried: Cashew Ice Cream

Strawberry ice cream made from cashew milk!

Back in San Francisco, my cousin took us to a food court in Emeryville, and told us about a cashew ice cream place. I was so intrigued I had to try it.

It's called Mr. Dewie's Cashew Creamery that has ice cream that is dairy-free, gluten-free and soy-free. The shop was started by two Berkeley-native brothers, Ari and Andrew Cohen in 2011. They wanted to create an ice cream to meet their dietary requirements of having no dairy, soy or gluten, only use organic ingredients and not have any preservatives either.

The shop is in a converted shipping container

Sounds like a tall order, but they did it. The cashews are ground into a fine powder then mixed with water to create "milk" and then the other ingredients are added to create the flavour, then it is put in the freezer to set.

Mr. Dewie's Cashew Creamery have three locations and the shop we visited in the food court is actually in a repurposed shipping container which is cool. It has a refrigerator, the ice creams on display, and even marble countertops.

On display were many different flavours, like tumeric spice, roasted cashew, coffee, chocolate orange chip. What to try?

In the end I had the strawberry flavour, but the strawberry and cashew taste seemed to fight each other and so I mostly tasted a thick, dense ice cream with a hint of strawberry.

Meanwhile my mom had the tropical trio -- pineapple, mango and coconut -- and it worked very well, tasting very refreshing.

There are several interesting flavours including tumeric spice

Nevertheless it was fun and interesting to try ice cream made from cashews!

We sat at a communal table by the store and for the next few hours watched a steady trickle of customers, and at times a crowd waiting to buy the cashew-based ice cream (after dinner). It shows that this kind of ice cream appeals to men, women and children regardless of it being dairy free.

While we do have a brand of dairy-free ice cream in Hong Kong called Happy Cow, it would be good for pastry chefs and even entrepreneurs to come up with non-dairy ice creams as a healthy alternative.

Mr. Dewie's Cashew Creamery
Emeryville Public Market
5959 Shellmount Street
Emeryville, CA 94608
(510) 350 8171

Picture of the Day: Oat Milk

Swedish oat milk! Have you tried it? Tastes yum!

I read about oat milk recently and went to a vegetarian grocery store here called Green Common that opened a few years ago. It sells a variety of Chinese and Western food products, some are vegan, some are vegetarian.

The items are moderately priced for the most part, though I must say the 250ml box drink of Oatly cost HK$15 (US$1.92)!

The company likes to make you feel good

However, I enjoyed the drink -- sipping it through a straw it was like drinking milk but not creamy per se, with a subtle oat flavour. Maybe because I was thirsty, I had no trouble finishing it either. There's plain and chocolate flavours, but I opted for the plain one to see what it was like.

Oatly comes all the way from Sweden which probably explains the exorbitant price. The company promises its oats are non-GMO and don't use many pesticides to grow the oats.

I have yet to try other alternative milks like almond and rice milk -- has anyone else? Soy milk, especially those made outside of Asia, are quite sweet, but oh so creamy!