Loving Heart Cafe 3

Instead of returning to the good vegetarian eateries as promised in the conclusions of my posts, I ended up covering Loving Heart Cafe for the third time. Apart from the pragmatic reason of being within walking distances from my office, it had a revamp recently. Spotting an entirely new menu, it has finally shed the image of being a mere copycat of its neighbor, Kwan Im Vegetarian. The most significnt change is the total removal of their economical rice section. For a blogger like me, this means new material for my posts.

The Food

Ignorance is bliss best summarized my experience with the pumpkin mee jawa at Loving Heart Cafe. Throughout my meal, I was under the impression that I was eating mee rebus which had "mee jawa" as its other alias. For the information of people who are not familiar with mee rebus, it is scalded Chinese yellow noodles mixed with a curry like gravy that contained a sweet undertone from mashed sweet potatoes. Had this been all I knew, I would have easily accepted this dish as not too bad a replica of its non-vegetarian version, which contained shrimps. The use of cheap ingredients like yellow noodles and bean sprouts allowed the vendor to serve generous portion without incurring additional cost, hence keeping the price fairly low at S$ 3.00. Further improvements could be made by adding more pumpkins so as to give the gravy more "pumpkin flavor" as promised in the dish name.

Unfortunately, my habit of going in-depth into the dish after comsumption had unearthed some facts which altered my initial opinion. Despite sounding like "Java", mee jawa does not originate from this Indonesian island. On the contrary, it is considered a Malaysian dish. More importantly, mee jawa is not another name for mee rebus. What distinguished the two is the use of tomato based sauce on top of mashed sweet potatoes in the case of mee jawa. Although I was alright with replacing sweet potatoes with pumpkins for a little twist, the omission of tomato sauce made the dish underserving of its name. I had to admit that the latter feeling arised from knowing a little too much.

Then again, I did not think the pumpkin mee jawa from Loving Heart was a total failure. It was flavorful enough for me at least, but I would definitely not recommend it to anyone looking for authentic and high quality mee jawa.

Several posts ago, I revealed my intention to populate my blog with different kinds of Indian breads. Even though I did not state it explicitly, roti prata was not on my list. Due to my preference for writing about the less common types of food, the relatively ubiquitous roti prata failed to garner my interest. It was a different story when an eatery got innovative and decided to add a little more value to the usual plain prata. While wrapping raw vegetables with roti prata was not exactly an ingenous idea, I did not see any food establishments selling it other than at Loving Heart Restaurant.

Being a fan of raw greens sandwiches and wraps, salad prata instantly clicked with me. Comprising of basic vegetables like lettuce, carrots and cucumbers, the cruchiness of this salad combination complemented well with the roti prata, reminding me of eating a garden salad tortilla wrap. Sweet chilli sauce dominated salad prata with its sweet (duh!) and slighly hot taste, but upon paying a closer attention, one could detect a hint of plum sauce. If the latter flavor was not a figment of my imagination, I might request for the chilli sauce to be left out should I order salad prata in future.

My greatest fear concerning roti prata was being served one that was too soggy and greasy, like the ones sold in my primary school canteen many years ago. Thankfully the roti prata at Loving Heart showed little signs of oil. The characteristic charred sweetness of roti prata was definitely there, which separated it from tortilla and of course the other Indian breads, but it could be better with a crispier exterior and fluffier interior. This S$3.00 dish made a decent side dish, but do not expect it fill you up for a proper meal.

Conclusion

Overall the standard of the food here does not make this eatery a must-visit, even if you live on the other end of Singapore like Jurong or Boon Lay. However for the people nearby in Geylang or Aljunied, it is definitely a viable place have a meal.

Address	:	Blk 134 Geylang East Ave 1 #01-219 Singapore 380134
Opening Hours	:	Mon - Sat, 10.00 am - 10.00 pm Sun 7.00 am - 10.00 pm
Bus Service	:	2, 13, 21, 26, 40, 51
MRT Station	:	Aljunied
Website	:	-

A1 Padmini's Restaurant Pte Ltd

(Note: This is not a 100% vegetarian restaurant)

Just when I was planning to explore vegetarianism in Thai cuisine, Yuan Yuan Thai Vegetarian Restaurant ceased operation in Geylang Lor 27. To make things worse, the new occupant is no longer a 100% vegetarian eatery. Had this been a Chinese or Western eatery, I would simply give it a miss. However its signboard which bears an Indian name stops me in my track to examine its menu at least. Being a race with a vegetarian friendly culture, many Indian restaurants encompass a selection of dishes specially for the vegetarians. I was glad to see A1 Padmini's Restaurant Pte Ltd being one of such restaurants.

Despite being lunch hour, the restaurant was rather quiet. Even the enticing opening promotion failed to draw a crowd. Could this be a reflection of the standard of their food or mere poor marketing? Let's find out.

The Food

No one knows for sure the origins of Biryani. Many historians speculate that this dish has its roots in the Muslim kitchen because the name "Biryani" seems to be derived from the Persian word "Birian". "Birian" means fried before cooking, which roughly matches the way Biryani is cooked. As far as Singapore is concerned, we tend to associate this dish with the Indians who usually include it in their restaurant menu. Although there are numerous variations of Biryani, the common ingredients boils down to just rice and spice. Hence biryani can easily be customised for the vegetarians by excluding the animal products such as chicken and mutton.

One of the characteristics of a good biryani is that the rice grains do not stick to one another. A way to achieve this free flowing fluffiness is to use basmati rice. Due to the higher cost of this premium grain, it is substituted with normal rice grains at places that sell biryani set meal at a cheaper price. Thus I was surprised to see it being used in the S$ 3.50 vegetarian biryani set by A1 Padmini's. After eating biryani cooked with normal rice (Mostly at the Chinese stalls) quite a number of times, this was indeed a nice change. Except for the fact that the rice was a little too moist which somewhat offset the aromatic flavor, I could tolerate the standard here.

Out of the vegetables I had chosen, I particularly liked the cucumber and pineapple salad. Judging from the taste, I doubted that any dressing was used. Instead it relied on the pineapple juice that was appropriately diluted by the natural water from the cucumber to enhance the salad. Its refreshing taste served as a counterbalance to the extremely hot curry and the dreadfully saline spinach side dish.

While the use of basmati rice did won me over a little, I still considered the vegetarian biryani here to be average. Until I find something more superior, I still prefer the more expensive vegetarian biryani at Prata Wala (NEX).

Naan is not usually my choice of flatbread when I dined in Indian restaurant, not after a misadventure with a oily and soggy curry naan from Breadtalk several years ago. However my desire to populate the Indian cuisine section of my blog with a variety of Indian flatbreads made me give naan a second chance. One striking difference between naan and other flatbread lies in its relatively thicker volume. Also naan is baked in the tandoor as opposed to being fried on a skillet.

One could go no wrong with food served piping hot, like it was done at A1 Padmini's. I was almost fooled by the crispy appearance of the naan which turned out to be pleasantly soft and chewy. Just as the name suggested, plain naan did not contain any stuffings, hence it stood no chance of being overly greasy. For me, naan tasted better when baked separately from the curry, and the mixing of the two should be done just before they entered my mouth.

It remained to be seen, after trying naan at a few other places, if the naan here could be considered good. Nevertheless it was decent enough to rekindle my interest in this thick Indian flatbread.

Conclusion

The vegetarian food at A1 Padmini's has a mixture of hits and misses. Its problematic areas mainly attributes to the overuse of salt. No wonder the boss kept asking me to buy the drinks. Hmm... smells like a conspiracy here. Anyway, if the actual price of the food is not too far from the promotional ones, I might consider returning due to the proximity between A1 Padmini's and my work place.

Address	:	45 Lor 27 Geylang
Opening Hours	:	-
Bus Service	:	-
MRT Station	:	Aljunied
Website	:	-

Kampung Senang Eco-Friendly Kitchen

{Note: I would like to thank living-vegan and Sunny for bringing this place to my attention in their blogs.}

Eco-friendly Kitchen is one of the projects by Kampung Senang, a registered charity in Singapore. With a humble beginning as a day-care activity centre for the elderly in 1999, Kampung Senang is the brainchild of Ms Joyce Lye. Its story can be summed up as a high flyer whom, after reaching the pinnacle of her career (Ms Lye was the General manager of HSBC, Asia), decided to contribute back to the society (Setting up an organization to promote holistic wellness and inner peace.). Most of the time, the turning point was triggered by an event (2 of our Deputy Prime Ministers were diagnosed with cancer during the 90s). Although there are several similar stories, each one is inspirational in its own right.

Kampung Senang is a place which practises what it preaches. The workshops it organizes do not just educate its participants about health related issues. During lunch breaks, the participants are provided with organic vegetarian meals prepared in-house. I believe Eco-friendly kitchen was set up to serve this purpose initially. Later on, the homely cafe is opened to the public so as to create more awareness in this area. Being a non-profit organization, the food is prepared by volunteers. "Payment" is collected in the form of donations, hence no change is given. To prevent cheapskates like myself from abusing the system, a minimum amount is set. On the day I went, it was S$6.00 per meal.

Speaking of the meals, choices are limited to whatever they cook for that day. From this fact, I infer that the menu itself is not fixed. Anyway, I was given a choice of brown rice set or noodles set. Not one to follow the default arrangement, I tried to bend the rules a little by asking for half a serving each of brown rice and noodles. They allowed it. Cool!

The Food

Over-generalization is not my intention, but my experience thus far with organic eateries is that they tend to be stingy with the portion size. Do they think that all their patrons are on a weight loss mission? Therefore I was pleasantly surprised when my plate was heaped with abundant amount of food. Just the quantity alone already made me feel I had received the value I had paid for.

The fragrance of Chinese roasted sesame oil dominated the flavor of this set meal. It also explained the aroma that greeted me when I first entered Eco-friendly Kitchen. I especially liked how the oil greatly enhanced the the taste of the blanched vegetables. Being a mediocre cook myself, I often bluff my way through with a few sprinkles of Chinese sesame oil. That's not to say the volunteers here were as amateurish as me. In the hands of a good chef, this oil can do wonders.

Another thing to note was that the salad contained no dressing at all. Since there was plenty of cooked foods around, such as the tofu, shimeji mushroom and snow peas, condiments or sauces were unnecessary in my opinion. Besides, it was nice and healthy to appreciate the natural sweetness of the raw julienned carrots and beetroots once in a while.

On the whole, this was a meal relying on basic seasonings like salt to bring out the flavor of the food, which was very much like homecooking. Apart from the noodles that was a little too oily for my liking, I was pretty much left satiated after this meal.

Conclusion

The payment by donation system of Eco-friendly Kitchen reminds me of 5 Sights Hall. To further amplify the deja vu feeling, I only had large notes on that day. Thankfully, they had a corner retailing organic groceries, where I could buy something to get small changes. On a more postive note, both places share similarities like serving good food from their hearts and generous portion size. It's a shame that they only operate from 12pm to 2pm. It's also a shame that my post barely scratches the surface of Kampung Senang, which has much more to offer. If you are interested, do visit their website to find out more.

Address	:	Blk 106 Aljunied Crescent #01-205 S(380106)
Opening Hours	:	Mon - Sat, 12.00 pm - 2.00 pm
Bus Service	:	-
MRT Station	:	Aljunied
Website	:	http://www.kg-senang.org.sg

Loving Heart Cafe 2

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Geylang is a haven for vegetarian food, more specifically Chinese vegetarian food. As far as I know, it seems like all the vegetarian eateries in this area are owned by the Chinese. Fortunately, many of them diversify their menu by offering a few common non-Chinese cuisines, particularly those of Malay and Indian ethnicity. Speaking of Indian food, it is always just nasi briyani.

Loving Heart Cafe is an exception to the above rule. After reviewing its sweet potato porridge in April, it becomes one of the places I have lunch at on working days. Since I frequent this cafe, I get to witness the measures it implements to distinguish itself from the neighboring Kwan Im Zhai. The most significant one is the introduction of a range of Indian dishes apart from briyani (Briyani is there as well though). Loving Heart goes one step further by hiring Indian chefs to whip up these dishes. While it does not offer much varieties of Indian breads, I see quite a few flavored rice dishes, all of which I have never heard of. That gives me enough reason to do a second review on it.

The Food

Please pardon my feeble attempt at creating an Indian-Chinese fusion cuisine. The Indian and Chinese components of this dish were coriander rice and the vegetables from the economic rice section respectively. I was supposed to eat the rice with potato mock chicken (Based on my observation) curry and achar. Although I was assured by whom I suspected was the lady boss, that the curry was not spicy, the scorching hot weather deterred me from trying anyway. In the end I picked the amaranth greens and hairy gourd side dishes to go with the coriander rice.

Since the star of the dish was coriander rice, allow me to take this opportunity to share something interesting about coriander leaves which I read online. Due to genetic factor, certain people perceive the taste of this herb to be soapy. Needless to say, they hate coriander leaves to the core. On the other hand, lovers of coriander detected a more pleasant citrus overtone. In the case of this dish, I tasted neither. Apart from giving the rice a green hue and packing it with plenty of health benefits, the ground coriander leaves did not contribute much in terms of taste. Instead, the rice was dominated by the nutty and peppery flavor of cumin seed, which I found appetizing nonetheless.

Although it was not compulsory to use basmati rice, the texture of this dish could have been further enhanced if done so. The chef could also go a little easier on the oil.

Unlike the coriander rice, the lemon, or rather its juice, did impart the expected citrus taste to the rice, so that one knew he or she was indeed eating lemon rice. The mild sourness actually went very well with the Indian spices. I found it a pity that the rice was not thoroughly mixed, hence I did not get to relish this delicious blended flavor in every mouthful.

While having achar as one of the sides bestowed a more “Indian” identity to the dish, its strong sweet and sour taste eventually overpowered the savoriness of the lemon rice. Ironically, the hopelessly mismatched Chinese vegetables coriander rice combo had the relatively lighter tasting vegetables sitting at the sideline, hence allowing the flavor of the rice to stand out more.

I also preferred basmati rice to be used in this case. It would be great if all the flavored Indian rice dishes made use of this grain, but I guessed the boss wanted to save money, so he or she decided to use the same long grained rice used for the Chinese dishes.

Conclusion

There is certainly rooms for improvement with regards to the Indian dishes. However for people in the Geylang area who crave for Indian food but are too lazy to travel elsewhere, I would say whatever Loving Heart Cafe has is decent enough.

Address	:	Blk 134 Geylang East Ave 1 #01-219 Singapore 380134
Opening Hours	:	-
Bus Service	:	2, 13, 21, 26, 40, 51
MRT Station	:	Aljunied
Website	:	-

Lovingwell Vegetarian

Good news for the vegetarians who live, study, work or simply hang out near Aljunied MRT station. The renovation works at Choice Coffee Shop is finally completed and guess what, one of the new tenants is a vegetarian stall. For the past few weeks, I had been tracking its progress whenever I passed by that area. According to my analysis, if an eatery with multiple stalls (hawker center, food court, etc) undergoes renovation or upgrading works, there is a chance of finding new occupants, and one of them may sell vegetarian food. Although the probability of that outcome is not high, there’s no harm hoping.

From afar, Lovingwell Vegetarian looked like a typical economic rice stall. If I had not bothered to step inside the coffee shop to explore further on Thursday, I would have missed this one because its sign board was blocked by a protruding beam hanging down the ceiling. On close-up examination of the menu, I could see that Lovingwell had much more to offer beyond the standard fare such as hor fun, fried rice, ... you get the idea. I made a mental note to bring my camera the next day.

On the day itself, I saw a the word “Su” displayed in a more prominent position of the stall. Guess they realized the problem too. Initially I planned to order bittergourd steamed rice. Unfortunately, bitter gourd was not available, so the stall assistant politely suggested that I could choose another side to go with steam rice. After much contemplation, I finally settled for braised bean curd.

The Food

One could see that the cook made an effort to present the dish nicely. He drizzled the entire content of braised tofu around the mound of steamed rice in the middle, painting a picturesque image of a garden surrounding a small hill.

I particularly liked the way the cook handled the bean curd, whereby the surface was pan-fried lightly for the fragrance while maintaining the softness and moisture inside, thus creating a very light and smooth texture. This was certainly not an easy feat, considering that silken tofu was used. Timing and the control of fire was crucial too.

Apart from the bean curd, the steamed rice deserved some mention too. It felt softer than the usual version boiled using rice-cooker. Being a lover of soft food, I thoroughly enjoyed this one. The rice was very appetizing when eaten with the umami “oyster” sauce, which also endowed the rest of the ingredients with its savoriness.

Another commendable factor of this dish, to me at least, was the use of an assortment of mushrooms instead of mock meats. Chewing the succulent mushrooms was a delightful experience as I felt the oyster sauce juice oozing out with each grind from my molars.

In terms of taste and texture, I could not find any fault with this dish. I only found it a shame that they gave so little of the fresh and crisp broccoli.

Conclusion

Lovingwell Vegetarian is certainly off to a promising start, and I sincerely hope it is here to stay. After all I have yet to try my bittergourd steamed rice.

Address	:	56 Geylang Lorong 25A 388248
Opening Hours	:	-
Bus Service	:	2, 13, 21, 26, 40, 51
MRT Station	:	Aljunied
Website	:	-

Loving Heart Cafe

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While vegetarian economic rice is quite common, serving plain porridge as an alternative to rice isn't the case, unlike its non-vegetarian counterpart. Therefore to find plain porridge with sweet potatoes added to it becomes even more challenging. Speaking of sweet potato porridge, there are mainly two types in Singapore, namely Teochew porridge and Taiwanese porridge. The difference between them lies in the type of rice used. Taiwanese sweet potato porridge uses short grain rice, which is the staple of the Taiwanese, hence the name. Short grain rice has a high amylopectin content, so it becomes quite adhesive after cooking. In short, the rice in Taiwanese sweet potato porridge is stickier than the Teochew one.

Loving Heart Cafe is one such eatery that serves this rare dish, at least the vegetarian version is. Actually there isn't much differences in the porridge itself, since rice and sweet potatoes are vegan in nature. Basically vegetarian sweet potato porridge is eaten with vegetarian side dishes (Ok I know the description is a bit "duh"). The eatery itself is conveniently located along the main road of Sims Ave. With Kwan Imm See Temple just across the road, Loving Heart is assured a steady stream of vegetarian customers, although it may have to share this customer base with the neighboring and seemingly more established Kwan Inn Zhai. Due to the proximity in location between the two, I can't help but draw some comparisons between the two. In terms of size, variety of food and even cost, Kwan Inn Zhai clearly wins hands down. However Loving Heart does offer dishes that Kwan Inn Zhai does not have, such as Taiwanese sweet potato porridge and roti prata. Apart from savory dishes, Loving Heart also sells traditional Chinese desserts, namely red bean and mung bean soup. Even though there are overlapping dishes, Kwan Inn Zhai does not offer some of these dishes everyday, so one can have them at Loving Heart instead.

The Food

To be honest, I had never eaten the real Taiwanese sweet potato porridge before, so I did not have a precedence to compare to. Based on my theoretical knowledge of this dish, the porridge served by Loving Heart was fairly close in terms of texture. There was some degree of stickiness. On closer examination of the rice grains, I spotted some long ones, which led me to suspect that the cook was not using the short grain rice, at least not 100%. Another flaw in the dish was they added too little sweet potatoes, therefore I could hardly detect the fragrance of this lovely root vegetable. Despite the lack of authenticity, I was not totally disappointed because the porridge was cooked the way I liked, whereby the grains were broken and soft, giving it a melt-in-your-mouth consistency.

When it comes to the side dishes, I tend to pick the ones cooked using light methods (Boiling, blanching, steaming, sauteed, lightly stir fried with clear broth instead of thick sauces). Among the three items I had selected, my favorite was the wakame (sea plant) stems. It was the least oily, yet most delicious of the three. I liked its chewy texture and the slight hint of sweet vinegary taste (Not as strong as the one you found in the Japanese sea plant salad, chuka wakame) added a zest to the dish, making it a good appetizer. The stir fried yin choi (The leafy greens that resembled spinach) was not too bad either. The cook added just enough seasoning without overpowering the natural taste of the vegetable. In addition, it was cooked just right, not too mushy or hard. Compared to the other two, the cauliflower and broccoli was rather average. In fact the broccoli was overcooked, but since I was given more cauliflowers (Thank goodness), I did not mind overlooking this weakness.

Despite a little imperfections here and there, I still enjoyed my lunch on the whole. The wakame dish and the porridge simply did it for me, that I could ignore the rest of the faults.

Conclusion

I envy the vegetarians living around this area as they have not one but two 100% vegetarian coffee shops to choose from. Based on what I have read in the blogs under the "Blogs I Follow" section, there is another such eatery at nearby BLK 129, so that comes up to three. Moreover the price range is quite affordable. As for me, I do see myself frequenting this area often since the office I work in is rather near here.

Address	:	Blk 134 Geylang East Ave 1 #01-219 Singapore 380134
Opening Hours	:	-
Bus Service	:	2, 13, 21, 26, 40, 51
MRT Station	:	Aljunied
Website	:	-