Vege Sense

MacDonalds and its clones have given burgers a bad name. If we analyse a generic burger based on basic nutritional knowledge, it is actually a reasonably balanced food containing carbohydrates (The buns), protein (Typically a meat patty) vitamins, minerals and fibre (raw vegetables). A deeper cross-examination of the burger reveals its uglier side. First of all the buns are usually made of refined flour that has been stripped of nutrients, leaving only the calories behind. Then, the condiments that dresses up the raw vegetables contribute superfluous additives to our body. Finally, the way the meat patties are cooked, deep-frying or grilling, rendered the protein less digestable and in some cases, carcinogenic. And we have not even entered into the animal-based versus plant-based protein argument.

Sandwiches have a relatively more wholesome image than burgers though. In reality, depending on what goes between the two pieces of bread, it can either make a genuinely healthy meal or junk food in health food's clothing. For someone like me who has grown conscious of health these days, it is heartening to see fast food joints like Vege Sense offering healiter versions of burgers and sandwiches. What makes it even better is that Vege Sense is a 100% vegetarian eatery, which helps to trim my list of ommision request of certain ingredients.

Housed inside Fortune Centre of Bugis, Vege Sense specialises in vegetarian breads, particularly its deriavatives such as burgers, sandwiches and toasts. While contributing diversity to the vegetarian food scene of Bugis, which is already flooded with Chinese cuisine, Vege Sense is aware of the older demographic of its location. Thus it offers some Oriental food of Chinese origins like porridges and rice vermicilli soup. At one corner of the eatery, it also retails vegetarian bakery products from Yes Natural. Among the burgers and sandwiches, flavors range from the classic (tuna sandwich, chicken patty burger, etc) to the unusual (burdock patty burger, corn patty burger, mashed sweet potato sandwich, etc).

The Food

My English certainly had room for improvement. When I saw the word "corn patty", I interpreted it as a disc-shaped cake of compacted corn kernels. What I was served eventually was a far cry from my speculation. The patty was made of the less imaginative textured soy protein, with a sparse distribution of corn kernels and peas inside. Cooked with intense dry heat, it bear a morbid resemblance (From a vegetarian's POV) to deep fried meat minus all the greasiness. Still I had to laud the creativeness of this method of "frying" the patty. Besides the patty tasted quite good if one ignored the store bought processed food feeling that came with it.

Compared to the patty, the buns were the relatively more wholesome wholemeal bread. I was assured by the service crew that all the breads used at Veg Sense were "Su" (Vegetarian in Chinese). Since the Chinese language does not have an equivalent for vegan, I'm not sure if dairy is used in baking the burger buns here. Then again such information, though useful for blogging, had little relevance to my diet preference which allowed eggs and dairy. Anyway the buns were pleasantly soft. Due to the presence of the raw greens, tomato and vegetarian mayonnaise, the dryness of the bread hardly mattered.

Despite its imperfection, the corn patty burger at Vege Sense was decent enough, and I was referring to the version without the kechup and chili sauce (I requested for them to be left out). More raw vegetables, ala Subway, would be great for me but that boiled down to personal preference. Since I have not eaten burgers for at least a year, I have lost touch with its market price these days. However I do not consider paying S$3.50 for a meal that didn't quite fill me up as cheap.

Mashed potato is easily available in Singapore. On the other hand, mashed sweet potato is much less common. Hence, even when the service crew persuaded me to try their popular vegetarian tuna sandwich, I remained unbent on my decision to opt for this one.

With a texture almost akin to kaya (egg jam), just slightly less creamy, the sweet potato paste was thankfully not as cloying. With the inclusion of raisins to the sweet potatoes, both being naturally sweet, sugar was unnecessary (I would like to think that's really the case). The hint of nutty flavor attributed to the presence
of black sesame seeds imparted more dimensions to the overall taste, making me feel more grateful about trusting my own gut instinct instead of adhering to the recommendation by the service crew.

It also came to my surprise that flavor wise, the sweet potato paste hardly clashed with the raw cucumbers and lettuce beneath it, separated only by a slice of
wholemeal bread. If the sandwiches were made on the spot, like the burgers did, I would have requested for the omission of mayonnaise. Not that it had ruined the sandwich in any way. In fact, all the ingredients were in harmony. It was just that I preferred the natural taste of food as opposed to that derived from sauces.

At a price of S$2.50 per sandwich, one was apparently paying for the effort that went into making the mashed sweet potato sandwich rather than the portion size. It certainly made a good breakfast or teabreak, but to fulfil your hunger for lunch or dinner, forget about it.

Actually I had a higher expectation for the pumpkin sandwich after listening to the service crew's description of it. According to her, the dressing used on the raw carrots and beetroots was a special blend of in-house made almond sauce. My hopes immediately sank upon tasting it. As if failing to be "special" wasn't bad enough, it tasted just like mayonnaise which I had enough of for the day. Luckily, the steamed pumpkins above managed to salvage the situation. Like the sweet potatoes, pumpkins were blessed with a natural sweetness that was easily brought out by any light cooking methods. Furthermore, steamed pumpkins were hard to find when one dined outside, therefore I would rather focus on relishing the soft chunky bits of it instead of finding fault with the dressing, that was not exactly awful afterall.

Conclusion

To consider the food at Vege Sense to be at the "die-die-must-eat" level of excellence is a little over-rated. Still it is good enough for me to like it. What prevents me from dining there more often is the small portion size. Bugis is approximately a half an hour trip from where I stay, so by the time I reach there, a light meal can hardly satisfy my hunger.

Address	:	190 Middle Road, Fortune Centre, Level 1
Opening Hours	:	-
Bus Service	:	-
MRT Station	:	Bugis
Website	:	-

Sam's Budget Food

July almost becomes an organic food month for me (Nutrihub during the first week, Kampung Senang on the second, plus a string of undocumented vegetarian meals at Ci Hang and Yes Natural in between) if it isn't interrupted by Sam's Budget Food. Brought to my attention by Vegetarian Society Singapore (VSS) via email while I was slogging away in my office, this was what the e-newsletter said about this eatery:

"SG is lucky to have many great veg Indian restaurants, but we do not have so many Indian veg food stalls. Fortunately, a new one recently opened near Tanjong Pagar Plaza, beside the wet market. It's called Sam's Budget Food. The address is Blk 7, Level 1, Stall #5. Contact 6222.4458, 9471.6384, samsbudgetfood@singnet.com.sg ."

As I was skimming through this paragraph, I could not help but imagine reading in between those lines that Indian vegetarian food in Singapore is generally more expensive. As the name of the stall suggests, Sam's Budget Food sells its food at a lower price. Had this been a Chinese vegetarian stall, it often means resorting to cheap MSG, adding more salt and other what-nots to bring you dishes that at least taste decent. At Sam's however, they promise to cook using less oil and only natural ingredients. Shoba, the kind lady who served me on that day, added that their dishes were Indian home cooked food, something for the Indian foreign workers to feel nostalgic about. Since this stall was opened not too long ago, the boss was a little apologetic about his limited menu. He said that more dishes would be introduced as they went along. To a newbie to Indian cuisine like myself, the so-called limited menu already looked more exciting than that of the neighboring Chinese vegetarian stall.

The Food

Chappati is the Indian version of unleavened flatbread. Made from whole wheat flour, it is then roasted on a preheated dry skillet. Without much taste on its own, it is meant to be a staple to go with dishes such as curry and vegetables.

As opposed to the flaky layered texture of roti prata, which non-Indian Singaporeans are more familiar with, chappati consists of a single thin layer. Chewy and doughy, it is closer to an unsweetened pancake with lower moisture level. At least this was I gathered after trying the plain chappatis at Sam's. In my opinion, it complemented well with the dhal (A curry using pulses as the main ingredient), that was part and parcel of this set. Although I would not rate the dhal here as exceptional, I would choose it over the local Chinese rendition of curry anytime. In fact I generally prefer the curry of other races (Including the Japanese) because they tend to place more emphasis on the curry powder flavor instead of being overshadowed by the spiciness of chili.

Apart from two plain chappatis and dhal, I got to choose two vegetables side dishes to complete the set. The cauliflowers, broccolis and potatoes were not overcooked hence maintaining the crunch in them. I could not say the sides I had picked were not spicy at all, but the hotness was still within my limited tolerable level. True to their words, the dishes were not too greasy.

Just like the ubiquitous economic rice in Singapore, the overall standard of this set meal was undermined by the coldness. It had probably seen better days, or rather hours, when they were just cooked. I also wondered if it was a common practice of Indians to serve very small portions of their side dishes because they vanished a little too soon, leaving me to force the remaining plain chappati down my throat.

This was a variation of chappati, with boiled mashed potatoes stuffed inside, hence it was called potato chappati. In contrast to the chapati set, this dish was served hot, a vast improvement indeed. This was what a good chappati should taste like, soft on the inside, and subtly crispy on the outside.

If you had started carving the bread from the edges like I did, you would felt a little letdown by the absence of a quality that set it apart from plain chappati. It wasn't until I hit the location where the potatoes were buried, that I began to savor the goodness of it. Flavored by the right mixture of spices, the potato chappati only got better as I proceeded towards the center.

By serving as a dip, the curd helped me to get through the less interesting seams of the chappati to where the potatoes were. Even when taken on its own, it was no less weak. It might resemble coleslaw with all that shredded carrots bathed in viscous white sauce, and almost taste like one, but the yogurt forced the similarity to end here. The additional tartness the yogurt contributed to the curd hit it off beautifully with the rest of the ingredients, making this dip an extraordinary one. Shoba revealed that chili was grated into curd as well but because the seeds were left out, the overall mixture was not spicy. Normally too much dairy made me feel a little sick, but this curd was appetizing throughout.

At the back of my mind I wondered if this was one of the traditional Indian dish or an invented recipe by Sam's Budget Food. Whichever it was, potato chappati was more than a redeeming factor for the cold chappati set. It totally left me smitten. What's more, it only cost S$2.00. Due to its time-consuming recipe, it would only be made on days when Sam's is not expecting a crowd. Anyone who is interested in this dish should call them beforehand (Contact 84499145) to check its availability.

Conclusion

I may be a little critical about the coldness of some of the food served at Sam's Budget Food, but because this is a common quality among other vegetarian, or should I say, any food stalls in coffee shops, I can easily forgive it. Moreover, my mind is more preoccupied with the excellent quality of the potato chappati. My trip specially to Tanjong Pagar on that day was certainly worth all the while because of it.

Address	:	Blk 7, Level 1, Stall #5 S(081007)
Opening Hours	:	Mon - Sat, Morning - 8.00 pm
Bus Service	:	-
MRT Station	:	Tanjong Pagar
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

Nutrihub The Organic Vegetarian Cafe

Based on what I gather from the blogs I follow, Nutrihub is not a new kid on the block. What's new is its recently opened outlet that has moved out of Cuppage Plaza to Temple Street. The exact reason of this relocation is not clearly stated, but I do observe that compared to Cuppage Plaza, Temple Street has a more accessible location within a short walking distance from Chinatown MRT. Even the human traffic is heavier.

When Nutrihub was still in Cuppage Plaza, I had wanted to visit it. Unfortunately its was closed on Sundays and public holidays, which happens to be the time when I am free enough to venture out of Aljunied for vegetarian food. At its new site, Nutrihub is still closed on public holidays, but at least it operates for shorter hours on Sundays. Just like a hub it called itself, Nutrihub offers a range of services, namely operating a cafe, retailing various health products and conducting cooking classes.

I had wanted to try their popular brown rice set but it was only available from Mondays to Saturdays. Then again it was better off that way, because this misfortune led me to try a dish from their raw food cuisine section, which I hardly blogged about.

The Food

Ordering Asian pizza (A new item according to the menu) for lunch was a mistake. Its wafer-thin crust hardly filled my stomach. I was to learn later on that this was a unique characteristic of raw vegan pizza. In raw food diet, it is believed that important nutrients and enzymes cannot survive temperatures beyond 40 degrees Celsius, thus rendering cooked food “dead”. One of the means to make the ingredients more palatable is to dehydrate them. Due to the temperature constraint, the drying process is carried out under extremely low heat. As a result, the “cooking” time is ridiculously lengthened. Imagine trying to “bake” a thick pizza crust. According to the boss (I think) at Nutrihub, they took 19 hours just to make the crust!

Since the pizza had decided to be Asian, one would not find the usual tomato paste applied on the traditional version. Instead the chef concocted her own sauce, which was indeed special in taste. Slightly sweet with a mild alcoholic flavor, I suspected that Hua Diao Jiu (A variety of undistilled Chinese wine used in cooking) was used. In my opinion, this house blend coordinated very well with the crust, that was nothing much on its own in terms of flavor. Another Asian feature of this dish, the shredded leaves either belonged to chye sim or bok choy. Whatever it was, this had to be the first time I took Chinese vegetables uncooked. While no attempt was made to mask the raw taste, the thin sauce did help to make the bitterness more bearable.

The rest of the ingredients included Chinese black mushrooms and a slice of tomato per crust. Although the juice that oozed out of the tomatoes upon biting contributed some moisture to the pizzas, they somewhat reduced the crispiness of the crust. I personally enjoyed these raw pizzas on the whole, but I had to admit that the flavor was an acquired one.

Traditional bo bo cha cha consisted of diced sweet potatoes and taro cooked in coconut milk. Due to its high saturated fats content, the coconut milk was replaced by oat milk to imitate the thick consistency. Although coconut milk is perceived to be unhealthy (Recent research seems to to show otherwise), the oil from the same fruit does not share its notoriety. On the contrary, coconut oil possesses numerous cosmetic and therapeutic benefits, such as hair care, weight loss, proper digestion and maintaining cholesterol levels. One of the service crew at Nutrihub even claimed that her relative treated her thyroid problem by consuming coconut oil regularly. Fortunately, yours truly does not have any of the abovementioned health issues. Hence what I find most beneficial about coconut oil was how it impart that crucial coconut flavor to the bo bo cha cha dessert.

Refined sugar, another villian in the realm of health and nutrition, was substituted with organic molasses, which explained the brownish color of the dessert. Nutrihub understands that taste is subjective, hence they are willing to add more molasses for customers with sweet tooth. As for me, I was satisfied with the default recipe.

Apart from the usual ingredients, one could also find kidney beans and konjac jelly. A jelly made from konjac plant, konjac jelly, was another nutritious addition to the dessert. More commonly known as konnyaku jelly in Singapore, this jelly is high in fibre content and so it can play the role of cleaning up the waste in our bodies. Unlike what one might find outside, the jelly in this dessert neither had taste nor did it absorb the flavor of the oat milk. In fact I thought it was extraneous in this dessert. It would be better if the chef could increase the quantity of the relatively cheaper sweet potatoes and taros. Other than that, I was impressed with the ingenius modification of the dessert to make it healthy and tasty at the same time.

Conclusion

As with most organic eateries in Singapore, price is a sore point of Nutrihub. No matter how justifiable the cost may be, when it comes to money, the emotional side of me deters me from dining at such places on a regular basis. Still, I had a good time at Nutrihub on that day. Besides the generally delicious food, the boss and service crews were generous in sharing their health knowledge, thus providing me with valuable materials to write about in this post.

P.S.: I wonder how raw foodist filled their stomach with those kind of food.

Address	:	46 Temple Street
Opening Hours	:	-
Bus Service	:	-
MRT Station	:	Chinatown
Website	:	http://www.nutrihub.blogspot.com

Zhai Ga Li Fan

Browsing through the photographs I took this afternoon made me recall why I even had my lunch at this stall in the first place. While I was at Albert Centre Market & Food Centre in Bugis, I walked past a man who was having brown rice with mixed vegetables for his lunch. The chunks of chrome yellow pumpkins on his plate left me mesmerized. From where he was seated, I deduced that he ordered his food from the nearby Zhai Ga Li Fan stall. Sure enough, I saw this dish among the selections of vegetables.

Operated by a group of Chinese ladies, Zhai Ga Li Fan does not bother translating the name of the stall, which literally means vegetarian curry rice. In the Singaporean Chinese context, curry rice simply means plain rice drizzled with curry gravy. However if you do not take curry, you can order other sides. At S$2.30, one is entitled to white rice and 3 dishes. Brown rice is also available at an additional cost of 50 cents.

The Food

Judging a book by its cover might not be a wise thing to do, but I was glad that the pumpkins did not fail to meet my expectation. Quite a common selection in both vegetarian and non-vegetarian mixed vegetables rice stalls, the pumpkins were usually stir fried. Dried shrimps was, in my opinion, unnecessarily added in the non-vegetarian version. Personally I enjoy the natural sweetness of pumpkin, thus I do not appreciate the way the shrimps taint it with its fishy staleness. At Zhai Ga Li Fan, the pumpkins had a clean sweet flavor. With a general lack of oiliness, I reckoned that the pumpkins were steamed rather than stir fried, which happened to be my preferred way of having this vegetable. In addition to the good taste, the pumpkins were extra smooth and creamy.

Unlike the pumpkins, the cabbage and bitter gourd were normal tasting, with the bitter gourd being a little oily. Still they deserved some credit for contributing their brilliant colors to the meal that had somewhat compensated the sloppy arrangement of the food items.

Conclusion

The way Zhai Ga Li Fan presents itself creates an illusion that their food is dirt cheap. If you think rationally, this is the market price of mixed vegetables rice. Still, with the price of practically everything inflating in Singapore, a meal that costs below $3.00 can be considered inexpensive. I can't say the food at Zhai Ga Li Fan is impressive, but it is certainly a good place to have a budget and quick meal for the people hanging around that area.

Address	:	270 Queen Street
Opening Hours	:	-
Bus Service	:	-
MRT Station	:	Bugis
Website	:	-

Healthy Vegetarian Handmade Mee Hoon Kueh, Ban Mian, U Mian

Sometimes one thing leads to another. While I was at the Vesak Family Day Funfair, the boss of Healthy Vegetarian was distributing the flyer promoting his food stall. Just like the way I deal with email advertisements, flyers given to me usually end up in the nearest trash can. On that day, I managed to hold back this reflex. Otherwise I would have missed this vegetarian stall. Instead of me having to actively search for relevant places to blog about, it's definitely more convenient for the mountain to come to Mohammad.

Initially I planned to visit this stall a week after my post about Vesak Family Day Funfair. However I was distracted by other vegetarian eateries, either because they are newly opened or they serve what was considered exotic to me, a.k.a. foreign cuisines. At this point you probably guess that Healthy Vegetarian sells local dishes. Yes, the stall sells local Chinese food in Berseh Food Centre along Jalan Besar. Going there by bus is the easiest since the nearest MRT, Farrer Park Station, is at least a bus stop away.

Instead of selling a medley of cooked foods, which has become a typical style of vegetarian hawker vendors in Singapore, Healthy Vegetarian more or less focuses on handmade noodles. As the name suggests, handmade noodles are crafted by a human’s hand, as opposed to mass production in factories. Somehow there's this belief that food made by bare hands has a more superior texture. Nowadays, in order to speed things up, most hawker vendors invest in machines to speed up certain processes, hence handmade noodles are seldom 100% handmade. It seems like as long as the vendor prepares the dough from wheat flour in-house, he or she is eligible to carry the name "Handmade noodles" name on the stall. In a typical handmade noodles stall, one gets to choose Ban Mian, U-mian or Mee Hoon Kueh. The shape of the noodles determines its identity. Ban Mian (Board Noodles) and U-mian (Fine Noodles) are strands of Mee Pok (Or Fettuccine) and Ramen lookalikes respectively. Mee Hoon Kueh (Flour Cake), the odd one out, are hand-torn from the dough and flattened into pieces of distorted squares.

The Food

By now a reader who has been following my blog will notice that I have a habit of deviating from the traditional way of having my dish. Even though the result may not always be positive, I enjoy the experimental nature of it. Mee Hoon Kueh is a soup dish, but I requested for the dry version, despite the boss' warning that it would not be as nice.

The major difference between Healthy Vegetarian's mee hoon kueh and the ones I used to know was the extreme flatness of each piece of flour cake. I could not help feeling that I was eating chopped up pieces of hor fun. Then again, making mee hoon kueh this thin might not be a bad idea after all. At least I did not get the sick and bloated feeling characteristic of eating too much of thick starchy dough.

My primary reason for having dry mee hoon kueh was to try the sauce, which the boss revealed was a blend of Chinese sweet sauce and ketchup. Not exactly a one-of-its-kind of formula, but the hint of ketchup flavor instantly won me, a tomato lover, over. At the same time, I discovered why mee hoon kueh is typically cooked in soup. The dry version became dehydrated and sticky after a while. I managed to salvage it by adding a few spoonfuls of the accompanying soup. Actually the mixture of soup and the oil from the sauce rendered the mee hoon kueh smooth and slippery. Of course the boss attributed this positive quality to his excellent noodle making skills. Well, as long as I enjoyed the dish, it did not really matter.

With the exception of economic mixed rice, hawker food tend to be lacking in vegetables. Therefore I always make it a point to ask for more. In order not to pay extra, I exchanged the mock meats, especially the deep fried ones, away for more greens. As with most vegetarian vendors, the boss of Healthy Vegetarian was more than happy to accommodate. He even added that he used locally grown chye sim, hence it was fresher and healthier. I definitely agreed with the fresh part. The health aspect was questionable. Locally grown and organically grown did not mean the same thing. Nevertheless, I am someone (Probably the only one) who like blanched greens, so the chye sim was the first to disappear from the bowl.

Due to the omission of mock fish maw, which happened to be one of the deep fried items, the soup was not as brothy as it should. Thankfully, the presence of seaweed and mushrooms provided some seafood flavor to the clear soup. Since my palate is light and it happened to be a scorching hot day, this would do for me.

Time and again, I complained about mock meats. More specifically, it was the gluten variety that I detested. At Healthy Vegetarian, they used the soy based ones, which was slowly growing on me. In fact I like the way they tasted more like tofu rather than meat. The vendor from the neighboring vegetarian store retorted that non-fried soy based meat tasted awful when I asked if they served steamed chicken rice. Well taste is subjective. As far as I'm concerned the soy based fish cake found in this bowl of soup was delicious.

Rojak is a traditional fruit and vegetable salad dish commonly found in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. The non-vegetarian element of this side dish lies in the dressing which contained shrimps. Even before I adopted a predominantly plant-based diet, I seldom took rojak because I did not like shrimp paste, due to its stale flavor that arises from fermentation. Thus I had less reason to try the vegetarian version. However, rojak seemed to be one of the signature item of Healthy Vegetarian, I decided to sample it.

In my opinion, the most outstanding point of this side dish were the red and green apples. Being a non-traditional ingredient in rojak, I was amazed at how well they complemented with the sweet peanut sauce. Apart from the apples, the rojak contained cucumbers, turnips and you char kway, pretty much the usual stuffs. Ironically the absence of the shrimp paste flavor in vegetarian rojak made me a convert of this Southeast Asian salad.

I have to admit that the boss is not lying when he boasted about the popularity of his rojak. However I do not consume rojak regularly, so I am not sure if his rojak is really phenomenal or this is the typical standard you get from every decent vegetarian rojak vendor.

Conclusion

Very much like its non-vegetarian counterpart, handmade noodles are generally considered the relatively healthier dishes in hawker centres. Generally clean flavored, Healthy Vegetarian deserves its name if you do not compare it to the more expensive Organic cafes.

On a sidenote, the neighboring vegetarian stall has a greater variety of richer and deep fried dishes to offer. I remembered the vendor raving about her deep fried char siew that tasted like the ones from Hong Kong. Then again, which businessman would insult his own product? Well, if that kind of food is your cup of tea, you may want to try it.

Address	:	166 Jalan Besar #02-35 Berseh Food Centre S(208877)
Opening Hours	:	11.00 am - 8.00 pm Closed on Sat
Bus Service	:	23, 64, 65, 66, 67, 130, 139, 147, 857, NR6
MRT Station	:	Farrer Park
Website	:	-

Cafe Le Caire

(Note: This is not a 100% vegetarian eatery. Their interpretation of a vegetarian diet includes eggs and dairy product.)

One Man's junk may be another Man's treasure. This saying is particularly true in email advertising. Every morning, my first task of the day in my office is to delete such emails before I start to read the ones relevant to my work. I choose to remain subscribed because once in a while, there may be some offers which interest me.

This time, the lucky ad that catches my attention comes from Groupon. Normally their food related advertisements end up in my trash folder, since the participating eateries usually serve conventional meat based food. Cafe Le Caire, the eatery featured in Groupon, is no different, however the second point of its highlights reads “Vegetarian options available”.

Situated along Arab Street, Cafe Le Caire specializes in Middle Eastern cuisine. Since this is not a culture I am familiar with, I can only rely on its menu to infer what their dishes are like. After all this cafe claims to serve authentic Middle Eastern cuisine. It seems like quite a number of their dishes, particularly the dips and salads, are made with plant-based ingredients, like chickpeas and sesame seeds, hence no modification is required to make them vegetarian. Olive oil is their preferred form of fats and spices are used to flavour the dishes. Hopefully that translates to little or better still, no MSG added. Although the vegetarian/non-vegetarian split is not even, with the scale tipping more towards meat based dishes, there are enough choices for the vegetarians. Upon request, they are also willing to omit cheese or eggs from some of the dishes to cater to the vegans.

The Food

Mezze is a good set meal to introduce Middle Eastern cuisine to someone new to it. Comprising of an assortment of dips, salads and pickles, they are served in small quantities so that one gets to sample as many different kinds of appetizers as possible, while leaving enough stomach space for the main course. At Cafe Le Caire, seven items from their dips menu are chosen to make up their mezze. All of them are generally suitable for the vegetarians. The only questionable item is Gibna Mahrus, which contains feta cheese. According to the waitress, it could only be substituted with one of the other six appetizers, instead of a totally different dip or salad of equal or lesser value. What a boring alternative! In the end, the dish was ordered as it was.

Anyway, here’s the dishes, with the menu description in italics (Starting from top right hand corner).

1. Gibna Mahrus - Tangy feta cheese and tomatoes dip.

One has to like cheese to enjoy this salty and milky dip. There was hardly any tomato flavour. On hindsight I should have taken the waitress' advice to get this replaced.

2. Arabic Salad - Refreshing mix salad of feta cheese, green and black olives, capsicums, tomatoes, cucumbers and pine nuts.

When served as part of this mezze, feta cheese was omitted, much to my delight. As promised in the menu, this salad was indeed refreshing, making it an appropriate counterbalance to the richer dishes. Sighing at the cheesy Gibna Mahrus, I deeply regretted not exchanging it away for an extra serving of Arabic salad.

3. Babaganush - Dip made of oven roasted eggplant pureed with tahini, a sesame seeds paste. Served on a plate with olive oil drizzled.

According to the menu, this dish is one of the boss' favourite. I shared the same sentiment. The smokey flavor exuded by the roasted eggplant blended surprisingly well with the touch of sourness provided by the lemon juice, leaving me yearning for more.

4. Plate of Tahina - Smooth and thick sesame paste of ground sesame seeds

I was no stranger to Tahina. Afterall, I had a jar of Melrose brand Tahini at home. However I had to admit that this freshly in-house produced version was smoother and the bitterness was even fainter.

5. Hummus - Smooth chickpea dip with hints of tahini and mixed spices. Drizzled with lemon and olive oil

I would not be surprised if the mixed spices used here turned out to be the ones used in Indian cuisine. Without the lemon juice, I would have thought I was eating some chickpea masala. Nevertheless, it was satisfying enough for me if I stopped searching for that something special.

6. Hummus bil Tomato - Soft whole chickpeas with tangy tomato cubes and small cut chilli. Just a little spicy.

Contrary to the menu description, this dish was not spicy at all. In fact, it reminded me of the tomato paste used in Mediterranean dishes, such as pasta and pizza. Strong tomato flavor always works well with me, and this dish was no exception. Being a tomato lover, adding more of the "tangy tomato cubes" would significantly improve the dish for me.

7.Plate of Olives - Plate of green olives with pickles

These dishes, especially the dips, are meant to be eaten with the Arabic bread, which is inclusive in this set. Arabic bread is simple unleavened bread made of flour, water and salt. Since no yeast or leavening agent is used, the bread is quite tough to bite. Luckily whoever invented the recipe way back then had the common sense to flatten it. For a food that was not meant to be eaten on its own, I could forgive the bread for being plain and uninteresting.

Although Mezze did not manage to get a perfect score from me, it still ranked high with the better vegetarian dishes I had tried so far. It certainly did an above average job in the taste department. What I thought was even more praiseworthy was the creative Middle Eastern cooking method in turning the unassuming plant based ingredients into novel looking dishes, thus tempting me to pay more than usual just to try it. No regrets doing so though.

Foul mesdammes - The national breakfast dish of Egypt. It consists of slow-cooked fava beans that have been partially or completely mashed.

At Cafe Le Caire, the creamy texture of this dish indicated that the fava beans were completely mashed. With a robust flavour that attributed to the use of aromatic spices, foul closely resembled a finely minced meat stew. This satiating dish definitely deserves its title of national breakfast dish of Egypt. At S$4.50, it is one of the cheaper yet filling dishes on the menu. Do remind the waitress to leave out the egg if it is forbidden in your diet.

Salata Laban Ma’na’aana - Freshly cubed cucumbers topped with refreshing yoghurt.

Unlike the rest of the dishes, this cucumber salad was served cold. Submerged in a pool of plain yogurt, each individual cube inherited the tartness of the fermented milk. Pleasantly refreshing at the first few mouthfuls, the excessive amount of yogurt dressing made it a little sick as I progressed further into the dish.

Conclusion

If not for the S$25.00 voucher I paid $12.50 for, I would consider having a meal at Café Le Caire a luxury. Besides I am someone with a light palate, so I do not see myself eating such foods on a regular basis, no matter how delicious they are. Still it is a place worth considering to have a vegetarian meal on special occasions.

Address	:	-
Opening Hours	:	-
Bus Service	:	-
MRT Station	:	Bugis
Website	:	-

Xin Yi Vegetarian

Not long after I thanked VSS e-newsletter for introducing Hozen Vegetarian Cafe a couple of posts ago, the following issue alerted me to yet another newly opened vegetarian eatery. This notification landed me in International Plaza near Tanjong Pagar MRT station (Yay no more Bugis or Aljunied! ). With Loving Hut Cafe in the same building and Whole Earth nearby, this area is not exactly deprived of vegetarian eateries. To a vegetarian however, an additional choice of a place to dine at is never too much.

Based on what is printed on the shop front, I infer that Xin Yi Vegetarian is a subsidiary of Earth Kitchen, also in International Plaza. Unlike Xin Yi, Earth Kitchen is a non-vegetarian eatery. Since I went there with an empty stomach, figuring out the exact relationship between these two eateries was less important than selecting something to tame my hunger. After scanning through the extensive menu, I decided that the set meals were the more value for money choices. Call me stingy if you like but I do not pay anything above S$6.00 for a meal just to eat gluten or common hawker fare. Hence I ordered mini hotpot set. At a price of S$8.80, the set comes with a pot of nourishing (According to the Chinese name) mixed vegetable soup, a bowl of white rice and a small plate of tempura items. Upon request, one can substitute white rice with brown rice at an additional cost of 50 cents.

The Food

Never underestimate the importance of reading fine prints. That's the lesson I learned at Xin Yi. When my food arrived, the tempura side dish captured my attention first because it looked nothing like what I saw on the menu (Click here to see the menu which opens up in a new window or tab. Pay attention to the footnote which reads “All pictures are for visual reference only”). Instead of tempura vegetables, all I had resembled shreds of tempura batter. Sampling a couple of them confirmed my observation. Crispy and a little heavily seasoned, I believed this side dish would be enjoyed by anyone who loved to snack on packets of salty titbits found commonly in Mama Shops. Unfortunately (But fortunate for my health), I preferred whole food to these “goodies” these days.

The mini hotpot soup itself contained a reasonable amount of mushrooms, especially the premium shimeji variety, to prevent me from labelling this set meal a rip off. Generously filling up the soup, the Chinese cabbage had a natural sweetness, meaning that the inner portion of the vegetable, also my favourite part, was used. Other born to be sweet ingredients include the chunks of pumpkin, sweet corn and taro. Herbal soup base was used to further justify the price. I’m sure Chinese in general would appreciate the health value of these herbs but to the non-Chinese, the flavour might be an acquired taste. What could have been the saving grace of this set meal was undermined by excess seasoning, particularly pepper. If I was not famished that day, I might have skipped the soup itself.

After finishing the soup, I felt rather warm despite the strong air-conditioning. Either the herbs used in the soup were of warming nature or there’s simply too much pepper. Therefore I do not recommend this set meal to individuals with a yang body constitution, aka “heatiness”. If you aren’t familiar with Traditional Chinese Medicine, simply avoid this soup on a hot day. Nourishment, in the Chinese context, is very different from what we are taught in modern science.

Conclusion

Although it is partially my fault for missing out on the disclaimer, I still feel a little cheated because of the tempura side dish. Previously, when I dined at slightly more expensive places such as Honzen or Trust, what I saw on the menu was pretty much what I got. While I do not expect an exact replica of what is shown in the photograph, at the very least, the ingredients should match.

Normally I do not have much reason to travel to Tanjong Pagar. Price is also a deterrent. Hence I do not see myself returning to Xin Yi Vegetarian. However if I happen to be around that area on a weekday, I may try their slightly cheaper vegetarian curry rice, which is only available on the weekdays.

Address	:	10 Anson Road Internation Plaza #01-50A, Tanjong Pagar, S(579903)
Opening Hours	:	Mon - Sat, 11:00 am - 3.00 pm, 5:00 pm - 11.30 pm
Bus Service	:	-
MRT Station	:	Tanjong Pagar
Website	:	http://www.facebook.com/xinyiveg

Happy Vesak Family Day Funfair 2011

Following Sunny’s blog is an excellent way to get the latest information about vegetarian related event. Actually she has diligently updated the sidebar of her blog with various religious and health events. Personally I am more interested in the ones about food. Having missed the Vegetarian Food Fair at Ngee Ann City a few weeks ago, I made a mark on my calendar to make myself available for this one.

This event was meant to commemorate Vesak Family day. Being an event of Buddhist nature, a vegetarian food fair was included. Held on 29th May 2011 in the open field near Eunos MRT station, the fair was extremely crowded. Much to my delight, the booths were dominated by cooked food and snacks, which matched my agenda of the day.

The Food

Disappointment was the first feeling that hit me, since I was expecting some exotic flavour from a cuisine that I hardly had any exposure to. As I recalled my Geography lesson from way back, I remembered that Sri Lanka is quite near to the southern part of India, which could explain the sense of familiarity I had. Notwithstanding the general similarity in flavour between this rice set and a typical South Indian dish, I had to admit that the curry-flavoured potatoes and chick peas were enjoyable enough. Concealed beneath the brown rice were a few thinly sliced bitter gourds. Being a salad dish, the gourds retained a significant amount of raw bitterness, only to be appreciated by fanatics of bitter gourd (me included).

In my opinion, the most interesting feature of this rice set was the jackfruit curry. If you had problem finding this side dish in the picture, I could understand. Initially I was reluctant to touch the brownish pile of what I thought was mock mutton and left it to the end. When I finally tried it, I was surprised by how it felt more like eating some fruits. During that time, I did not know this was jackfruit. Instead my mind was drawing a weird hypothesis that gluten would acquire a fruit-like texture when stewed too long. At that instance, my initial disappointment gave way to the curiosity of trying something for the very first time.

After I finished this delicious rice set, I returned to the booth of Mahakaruna Buddhist Society to enquire more about this interesting side dish. That was how I learnt that what I had eaten was actually jack fruit, not mock meat. Sensing my desire to take some pictures, the volunteer generously opened the lid for me to do so. He requested that I shot in an angle that did not show the oil. Sir, thank you for your kind gesture, but I still prefer to show my readers things as they were.

These were some of the other items I had bought at the fair so as to use up my coupons. The almond bean curd dessert at the top, though had a rich almond taste, carried a hint of milk. Due to this experience I made it a point to ask the volunteers, especially those selling cakes, if eggs were used and I got quite a few positive answers. Then again it was unfair to accuse the organizer for misleading the public. After all, this was a vegetarian food fair, not a vegan food fair.

Conclusion

After exploring the entire food fair, I concluded that the Sri Lanka Vegetarian Set meal was the most value-for-money and best tasting item I had bought at the fair. Thinking back, I regretted not asking the volunteers if the society opened an eatery that sold similar food items.

A little improvement I would like to see is to have the coupons fully in smaller denomination, say S$1.00, to make payment easier. Other than that, I am certainly looking forward to such events in future.

Organizer	:	Singapore Buddhist Free Clinic
Venue	:	Eunos MRT open field
Date / Time	:	29 May 2011, 9.00 am - 5.00 pm
Bus Service	:	-
MRT Station	:	Eunos
Website	:	http://www.sbfc.org.sg/