emmapark's Profile

Location: pretty difficult to find - I relied heavily on Google Maps. If you're going for the first time, don't go on a rainy day. The place itself is quite nice with a relaxed, modern decor.Price: This place showed up on Openrice when I searched for vegetarian places with prices less than $50 - so I was of course shocked to find that prices were actually well over $100 if you want to eat a proper meal. But if you go in without those expectations, the price isn't unreasonable considering it is a delicious vegetarian cafe in sheungwan, with huge portions.Service: quite friendly! It was the reason I decided to stay even after realizing that this restaurant was much more expensive than I had expected.Taste: I had the Lao Tzu, which comes with barbecue sauce, roasted potatoes, scrambled tofu, red peppers, red onions, kale, and garlic mayonnaise. I have to say, the barbecue sauce steals the show! The vegetables were very fragrant and tasty too. The scrambled tofu and garlic mayonnaise were new to me, but I enjoyed them.However, I really wasn't a fan of the flat bread. It was dry and tasteless, with almost a wood like texture. It's hard to cut with a knife and hard to eat with hands without spilling all the toppings. I think I would've enjoyed the dish more in taco form, or with a softer type of bread, or with no bread at all.OMG the portions were so huge, though the dish doesn't look big on first glance. And I was really hungry too - I had not eaten a proper meal for about 24 hours when I went there, plus all the walking I did trying to find the place. I took my sweet time eating and writing this review as I ate.Others: there was free wifi, which is always a nice bonus. The fact that it is a mostly vegan place (some dishes have eggs, but the dish I had did not and their coffees use non-dairy milk) is great on the conscience too.Overall: The food (minus the flat bread), service, and decor are pretty good. It is however a bit pricey - again, not unreasonable per se, but I've had better vegan food with similarly good ambience and service with lower prices before. I might come again if I were in the area, but I probably wouldn't go out of my way to eat here again. I would recommend the place if you're newly vegan or interested in vegetarianism and looking for flavor inspirations.…Read More

I was just taking a walk around my neightborhood when I found The Elephas. I was sooo lucky – I don't even go to that area for walks usually but I managed to find this new gem that recently opened!First, the decor was wonderful. It looks modern, simple, and relaxing. Just the kind of place I would go to relax/study/work, or grab coffee with friends. Nicely air-conditioned in the hot weather.When you walk in, the first thing you see is a coffee bar with a dessert menu. I had actually been planning on grabbing lunch elsewhere and I didn't think I should have coffee or dessert before a meal, but I was very intrigued by the menu. After some internal debate, I finally decided that I just had to give vegan chocolate tart a try. I love chocolate desserts (who doesn't?), it looked magnificent, and I had always wanted to try vegan desserts, though none of them looked quite that glorious. I thought $58 was a hefty price for a slice of dessert, but it was well worth it. The tart was rich and chocolate-y but not overly sweet. There was a subtle coconut aftertaste, which I didn't mind.At this point the staff came over and asked how the dessert was. They were very friendly and receptive towards comments, which I loved. They also told me some more about the place – they were a new place just starting out (soft opening for now, with the official opening in early September), and that there was also a salad bar (and gym!) I could try out if I was interested. With the nice environment, friendly service, and awesome dessert, I decided to cancel my previous lunch plan and try out the salad. You choose from a menu of 4 salad bases, then you choose a meat, a nut, and a sauce to go along with it. I had the quinoa base with salmon, pine nuts, and sesame, not sure whether that would make a good combination.The salad well exceeded my expectations. Every spoonful was so flavorful that it just made me want to eat more with each bite. They mentioned that the chef was Thai, and I would assume Thai food was the inspiration for the wealth of aroma and tang in the dish. In any case, it was enough to win me over and more – it was worth canceling earlier plans for sure! I never would have thought such a cool, health-focused and tasty place would open up around this area, but now that I know I will definitely be going back soon!…Read More