Tuesday, February 11, 2020

[Review] 天之樂素食 Tempeh Burger

Tempeh comes from Indonesia, so you will know what it is if you have tried it.
If you haven't it is basically fermented soy beans that form a soy bean cake in the fermenting process. Tempeh is popular in the West as it is high in protein which makes it a good vegetarian ingredient.
I like it the way the West have taken it to the next level by making modern Tempeh with green peas, quinoa and even peanuts.

As well a Tempeh, Jackfruit is another fruit from the East which is popular in the West.
In the East, Jackfruit is just a fruit, while in the West they use raw jackfruit as a vegetarian ingredient in dishes.
In the UK, we have Tempeh Man which serves Tempeh Curries and you can also buy ready to eat Tempeh at the supermarkets available in original and curry flavoured as well as Tempeh kits to make your own Tempeh at home. The fermentation process is started by culture that contains Rhizopus mold which grows and binds the beans together.
Think of the white mold like the white mold for Brie depending on what culture they use.  The prices of Tempeh in Hong Kong vary from a few dollars at Indonesian shops to a whopping HKD78 for a few tiny pieces which I had at NatrualLead in TST.

Finally, Hong Kong has a specialist Tempeh shop in Central where the owners have lived in the US before which makes sense.
Hence their menu is quite comforting for expats offering pizzas, baked potatoes and the signature burger.
It was really difficult making a choice as I wanted to try everything but clearly the baked potatoes is not a popular choice for locals because they just don't eat starchy things.
As much as I would have wanted to try the burger, I ordered the curry tempeh rice so that I could compare it to the UK but unfortunately I was given the baked one with broccoli and cheese but according to the receipt it was what I ordered but I didn't check at the time because the curry was also hkd48.

Although it wasn't the one I wanted to try but it was still delicious.
The tempeh pieces were sticky and firm yet soft similar to refried beans in a tomato sauce that was really tasty. Beneath it was quinoa rice which is healthy as well so overall I was extremely pleased with my lunch.



I was really lucky, they gave me a bag of original tempeh to try which I happily munched as a snack. The pieces of tempeh were nice and soft.


Also had some for dinner paired with marmite and the two go together so damn well.

Definitely coming back for more!
Will probably try the jacket potato and burger next time.
The menu:










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