Vegetarian Options at CUHK

CUHK's sensitivity for people with special diets is abysmal. You may be surprised, but I rank it under Beijing. Even though Beijingers have no concept of vegetarianism whatsoever, they can custom prepare food however you want it. At CUHK, you pick from what's posted on the bulletin board, no ifs, ands, or buts. (On rare moments, I can get them to go "outside-the-box" and not include meat in a dish, but that's only when the cook is in a good mood and ONLY when he understands my Mandarin or English.)

The best places on campus I've found are ranked in order below:

Chung Chi College - Sandwich Cafe - 3rd floor of the Sino Building, walk thru a hall to an adjacent building. I enjoy the vegetarian sandwich selections here as well as the availability of salads and fruit.

Chung Chi College - Orchid Lounge - across the street and down the stairs from the Sino Building. They can custom make something vegetarian for you for around HKD $35. This is far above student pricing, but at least its veg. I had this pasta dish the other day which was delicious.


United College - Student Canteen. They have about 4-5 vegetarian meal options which are listed under a "Vegetarian" category.
Vegetarian Combo Sandwich - HKD$18. I end up ordering this a lot.
Vegetarian Ham Sandwich - not filling enough
Vegetarian Chicken Hamburger - good, I order two for HKD$30.
Vegetarian cooked rice dish - HKD$15. Always written in Chinese handwriting which I can't decipher and find impossible to order. Must be explicit with the servers that I am vegetarian. It's hit or miss, sometimes the vegetables are severely overcooked.

John Fulton Centre Coffee Corner. I am perpetually ordering the spaghetti with vegetables and the vegetarian sauce choice. HKD$14.

John Fulton Centre Staff Restaurant. They have 3-4 dishes which count as vegetarian. Service is good but prices are high for a student. HKD$38-$42. Here is a dish I ordered.


The Worst Options are below:

Chung Chi College Student Canteen: this one is absolutely the worst. Vegetarian items aren't marked. Sometimes they will tell you a dish is vegetarian when it's not. The vegetarian items that do come out are heavily doused in meat-cooked oils.

New Asia Canteen: one cooked bok choi plate. That's it.