Tuesday 30 August 2011

New Green Pasture Cafe

Unless you are a recent convert of vegetarianism, New Green Pasture Cafe needs no introduction. Sophie Teh, the lady behind the helm of this vegetarian eatery, used to be a fashion designer. After being praised time and again for her healthy and delicious cooking, she decided to open a cafe. Aside from business, New Green Pasture also represents Sophie's childhood dream of owning a place where one gets to experience Mother Nature. An organic cafe certainly fits the bill.


Different individuals have different reasons for dining at an organic cafe, with health being the most common motivation. Then there are others who enjoy its down-to-earth and laid-back ambiance. On top of these reasons, organic cafes typically feature unconventional dishes on their menu to amuse my curiosity.

The Food

Cold Charcoal Noodles Salad, S$ 8.50

Winter Melon Soup that comes with Cold Charcoal Noodles Salad

Charcoal is not likely to cross the minds of the hungry ones. In fact its mere appearance which spells filth has already made its edibility questionable. Then again, if charcoal noodle dares to show up on the menu of one of the more reputable vegetarian eateries in Singapore, ingesting it shouldn't land me in hospital. Novel dishes like this one deserves a spot on my blog.

Due to its high porosity after “activation”, charcoal finds uses in numerous absorption and adsorption processes. It is believed by some health enthusiasts that this property of carbon extends to detoxification of our colon. Before you decide to take my word for it and start to binge on the charcoal from the barbecue pit, do note that not all charcoal is created equal. The variety that is fit for human consumption comes from bamboo. When combined with noodles, like what I had at New Green Pasture, the end product resembled squid ink pasta. Other than that, charcoal noodles tasted like any regular noodles. This time round, I considered the lack of any “special” taste a blessing in disguise. After all, I had enough of the burnt coal smell from all the burning of joss papers during our lunar seventh month. On the other hand, the common mayonnaise lookalike sauce was what that gave this dish its own character. Reaching the finishing line first at my tongue was the sweet and tart flavor of the plum sauce. This was the flavor that dominated the entire dish. Occasionally the citrus undertone from the pomelo pulps slipped in to add some tang. Once in a while, there was some umami taste due to the Japanese seaweeds garnishing. Towards the bottom of the dish, I detected a strong menthol aroma which contributed yet another level of complexity to the overall flavor.

Priced at S$ 8.50, I initially complained silently to myself about doing another costly review. When it was my turn to collect my order, the large portion size (Especially the raw vegetables) made me eat back my words. The excellent standard of this cold noodle dish was merely a bonus. Selling this dish at any price cheaper would be doing the chef a disservice, not that I mind.

Conclusion

New Green Pasture Cafe is not the first eatery one will spot when he or she enters Fortune Center at Bugis. If I have not read about it from the other vegetarian food bloggers, I would remain clueless about its existence. In spite of not having the best location, the cafe manages to survive for more than a decade, and judging from the crowd, still going strong. That certainly speaks volume about the standard of the food served. I had a pleasant first hand experience myself. Even if it means climbing all the way to the 4th floor on an empty stomach, I definitely do not mind returning.

Address:190 Middle Road, #04-22 Fortune Centre, Singapore
Opening Hours:11.00 am - 8.00 pm (Closed on Mon)
Bus Service:-
MRT Station:Bugis
Website:-

3 comments:

  1. Hi Prefer Vege! Yes, Sophie's food is good. It's the service that sucks. Btw, like your "flexitarian". I am like that too. Eat vegetarian for one to two meals a day. The rest I'm not fussy, to simplify things for those I eat with.

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  2. Hi Prefer Vege, Sophie is in service line for so long, yet she doesn't bother to improve her staff's service. Super long waiting time, whether it's crowded or not. Today I decided to stop going there after they made us wait for more than 30 minutes for our food, despite only a few customers on a Friday lunchtime 1 to 2pm. And when I asked the auntie at the counter about my order, she didn't seem to be apologetic about it. Did her shop really survive that long? I wonder...

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  3. Thanks for creating this wonderful post :)

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