InterContinental Grand Stanford Hong Kong
It’s hard when you get to a city like Hong Kong; arriving somewhere that has so many options to choose from can leave you lost amongst the hustle and bustle. But look no further than the InterContinental Grand Stanford Hong Kong and you can rest easy knowing that you’ll be well looked after in this vegan friendly, Kowloon favourite.
The InterContinental Grand Stanford Hong Kong has an enviable harbour-side location in Tsimshatsui East where transport links, shopping, restaurants and more are all within a stones throw. Enter the hotel through a grand lobby, with huge floral displays and chandeliers. At certain times of the day you can hear live piano music drifting across the air. This is a well run, multi-award winning hotel where guests visiting for business or leisure will have their needs met.
Our InterContinental Sea View Room, as the name suggests, provided captivating views of Victoria Harbour and Hong Kong Island. It was fully equipped with a 46 inch LED TV, high-speed internet, BOSE sound system and even a complimentary smartphone, loaded with useful information for sightseeing. There was an easy to use coffee machine, fully stocked mini-bar and a desk to work at if needed.
Our InterContinental Sea View Room, as the name suggests, provided captivating views of Victoria Harbour and Hong Kong Island. It was fully equipped with a 46 inch LED TV, high-speed internet, BOSE sound system and even a complimentary smartphone, loaded with useful information for sightseeing. There was an easy to use coffee machine, fully stocked mini-bar and a desk to work at if needed.
Our room type gave us access to the Club InterContinental Lounge, located on the first floor of the hotel with stunning views across Victoria Harbour. The staff here were exceptional, helping us with everything from organising a special vegan afternoon tea to helping us get some yoga equipment delivered.
At night we enjoyed sipping vegan champagne and relaxing in the comfort of this exclusive part of the hotel.
The Vegan Food
Our room type gave us the choice of eating in the Club InterContinental or heading down to the main restaurant, ‘Café on M’, for breakfast. We ate in both, enjoying Western and Asian favourites alongside steaming pots of green tea and coffee as well as a whole variety of fruits, berries and freshly squeezed juices.
We loved the Asian dishes on offer that were already vegan, like traditional vegetable filled dumplings. Tasty diced vegetables encased in a thick, steamed gelatinous rice wrapper, dipped in soy sauce with fresh chillies. We’ll openly admit that we ate a steady stream of these because they were just so moreish.
The helpful restaurant staff also went out of their way to make us some other dishes that were free from animal products as many of the traditional Hong Kong breakfast items had something we couldn’t eat (pork, lard and oyster sauce being common non-vegan ingredients to watch out for). This is a frequent problem for vegans wanting to eat in Hong Kong with these hidden ingredients popping up in places you might not usually expect.
Luckily for us the staff at the InterContinental Grand Stanford pulled out all the stops and made giant bowls of fried rice or noodles with tofu and vegetables.
Our final ‘go to’ breakfast was a traditional plain congee, or rice porridge. Topped with indulgent pieces of fried Chinese donut, nuts, spring onions, and liberal dashes of soya and chilli sauce; this was a delicious vegan way to start the day.
At night, vegan guests shouldn’t miss out on the opportunity to eat at the award winning, michelin starred Cantonese restaurant Hoi King Heen. We enjoyed at six course vegan menu full of delightfully healthy and tasty Cantonese food prepared by Chef Leung Fai Hung, here is a full review of our vegan fine dining experience at Hoi King Heen.
The Vegan Essentials
There wasn’t just the option to swap feather pillows for vegan ones, but a whole pillow menu.
We could select from a range which included choices like a ‘Classic pocketed coil pillow’, a ‘Visco elastic pillow’ that moulds to the shape of your head and neck and a ‘Wellness pillow’ that was scented with lavender.
The in room amenities were from luxury brand Agraria, a wonderful selection of totally natural, high quality, vegan spa products. It’s always an added bonus to come across luxury vegan products in your hotel room; top marks to InterContinental Hotels!
There is a pool and a gym in the hotel but no spa so we can’t comment on spa products or treatments available.
The Vegan Food Quest Verdict
Check-in to the InterContinental Grand Stanford Hong Kong to experience exceptional service, delicious vegan food for breakfast and a convenient location in Tsimshatsui East.
Book a Club InterContinental room to enjoy the extra benefits of the Club InterContinental Lounge where vegan breakfast, afternoon tea and cocktails and canapés await.
Don’t forget to squeeze in dinner at Hoi King Heen for a vegan meal that will take you on a delightfully healthy and tasty Cantonese food journey.
We were guests of InterContinental Grand Stanford Hong Kong but please rest assured that their generosity in hosting us didn’t influence our views
InterContinental Grand Stanford Hong Kong
Tsim Sha Tsui
Kowloon
70 Mody Rd
Hong Kong
Email: grandstanford@ihg.com
Telephone: +852 2721 5161
Cost From: £180 / $240 (September 2016)