Riding the wave of interest in meat alternatives in Asia, plant-based chicken Tindle made its debut in Hong Kong last month following its launch in Singapore earlier this year.
Created by Singaporean food tech start-up Next Gen, Tindle—stylized capriciously as TiNDLE—uses less land and water, and produces less greenhouse gas emissions than traditional chicken, according to the company.
It’s now available at 16 restaurants across Hong Kong, including the 2-Michelin starred Bo Innovation, craft beer bar Second Draft, DoubleShot by Cupping Room and bagel joint 404 Plant, featured in dishes from orange chicken to fried rice to croquettes.
Coconuts gave Tindle a try during a media tasting at Kaum, the Indonesian restaurant at Potato Head in Sai Ying Pun, last week.
An excitable vegan friend in tow and a four-on-an-alcohol-scale-of-three cocktail (according to Potato Head’s drink menu) in hand, this Coconuts editor was very ready to try a chicken addition to a plant-based market dominated by beef and pork substitutes.
Potato Head offers two burgers with the meat alternative, TiNDLE Kiev and TiNDLE Hustle.
Decidedly the more indulgent of the pair, the TiNDLE Kiev features a deep-fried “chicken” patty, with the roasted garlic, miso, pickled onions and truffle aioli adding a nice touch. The Tindle on its own was cleanly fried, and its texture resembled chicken fairly closely. The “meat” itself is quite bland, made up for by the punchy flavors of all the other ingredients.
The TiNDLE Hustle uses a seared patty, so it was easier to suss out its taste and texture without the crispy distraction of its Eastern European counterpart. The “chicken,” we can confirm, is on the bland side (but at the same time—isn’t all chicken?), though its texture wins points for being tender and not at all rubbery, which the meat tends to be when overcooked.
With kung pao ketchup, ginger soya milk mayo and crushed cashew among the other ingredients in the TiNDLE Hustle, the burger won a thumbs-up from aforementioned vegan friend. According to its menu, the burger also consists of “inferno sauce,” but said sauce was a modest spice level at most.
It was, however, slightly disappointing to learn that the burger buns contained egg and were not vegan, given that literally everything else in the burger was.
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Overall, we enjoyed TiNDLE and found the burgers to be a satisfying, filling meal. Sandwiched between all the other flavorful ingredients in the burger, the “meat” was virtually indistinguishable from the real deal. We look forward to trying more Tindle dishes and hope this will inspire more conscious eating habits in the city.
If burgers are not quite your thing, Tindle has also been fashioned into a garlic mushroom fried rice at Gaijin, deep-fried “chicken”-filled wonton at Uma Nota, Sichuan-style tacos at Bo Innovation and more. Check out the full list on Tindle’s website here.
Editor’s note: Our writer received a media invitation to try TiNDLE as part of its Hong Kong launch. However, TiNDLE had no editorial involvement or oversight in this article. Read our Editorial Policies here.
