Po Lin Monastery awakens the Palate

My trip to Hong Kong was not intended to be spiritual. It was one of those trips I did during my early travel days while I was till getting a hang of managing myself alone in a new city while working.

I had seven days to spend in Hong Kong, out of which I decided to spend a day at the Lantau island; extremely popular for its Po Lin Monastery and Giant Buddha seated on top of a plateau. Visitors climb a long flight of steps (268 steps says a Wikipedia source) to reach the Giant Buddha; a task not for the faint hearted.

After building an appetite by climbing up and down those stairs, I decided to try the vegetarian restaurant at the monastery. I chose to buy the deluxe meal ticket. The restaurant also had an option of a regular meal which was lesser in cost, and the food served on communal tables in a different room.

In the room serving the deluxe meal, I had a table of my own, so after glancing around the room, I settled in waiting for the food to arrive. After a short while, in came a huge pot of dark and clear liquid with an accompanied smaller empty bowl.

The display confused me and I scanned around the other tables looking for help on how to start my meal. I was lucky to locate a Chinese family on the table adjacent to me. They guided me through their hand gestures to pour the drink from the pot to my smaller bowl and then lift the smaller bowl to the mouth to drink directly from it. This drink was interesting which I later identified as "the Chinese tea".

The happiness of discovering a new drink didn't last long because I was then served a big bowl of soup to finish by myself. The soup was clear with a mild flavour. I don't quite remember the flavour at the moment, but I think it was ok. I also realised that I would not get served any other food till I completed the soup ( a task unattainable by me alone), so I requested them to bring in the rest of the food while I sipped on my soup.

Within minutes I had an array of food laid out in front of me. A sweet corn, green peas and tofu dish, steamed rice, some really light and crispy spring rolls, a dish with shiitake mushrooms and chinese cabbage, and another stir fried vegetarian dish with tofu.

The ingredients in the food were new for me then. I really liked the spring rolls and the combination of rice and sweet corn, but not much of the rest. This probably had to do with my limited knowledge about the flavours and vegetables used for the other dishes.

I'm sure that if I were to have the same meal again today, I would appreciate it better now because these ingredients have grown on me over the years after trying them at various other restaurants.

The afternoon spent at the restaurant at the Po Lin Monastery was great cultural experience. Much of the food was new for my palate but it awakened a new dimension within me to always keep trying new cuisines wherever I go!