Afterglow revisited

Finally managed to find someone to accompany me and eat Afterglow (even though it was a pre-dinner snack). The usual response I get is usually the nose wrinkling and head shaking on countless occasions. My whole logic on why I like to patronise such restaurants is that anyone (or most people at least) can make anything taste good with butter and an assortment of animal fats. So I personally think it takes great skill (or great ingredients) to make something taste good without the use of such tasty fats. And that's something that I am quite willing to pay for.

We had the Dragon Pom salad - which was lightly dressed in a lemon oil dressing and topped with chopped macadamia nuts and half an avocado.

I also tried the vegan nut 'cheese' platter - I swear that the nut cheese tastes like the real thing - and there's some herbs, peppers added in so the texture really reminds me of a cheese dip. The crackers on the side are dehydrated beetroot crackers and green apple crackers. Would definitely return to get more of these.

Afterglow

24 Keong Siak Road

Tel 62248921

Next to Muchachos

Chef Icon

I've been to Chef Icon a few times after work for their desserts - they do a really impressive iramisu and cheesecake brownie, which come in these really cute glass jars (that you can keep).

What most people don't know, is that they serve vegetarian food - just that the whole cafe doesn't scream vegetarian. It's really subtle - so that most people won't even notice it. I even managed to get WKR (one of the most anti vegetarian food friends that I know) to eat the a quarter of a sandwich, to which she agreed tasted really good (bread's super fresh!) and then told her the whole thing was made from soy ham :D

Looks like the real thing right? Tastes like it too (WKR didn't even know the difference). Do try their sandwiches - they're really delicious - much better than most of these new hipster cafes.

Chef Icon
5 Kampong Bahru Road
Singapore 169341
PHone 93373900

Real Food

Went to Real food (Killiney Branch) for lunch - the service is really atrocious. Food is consistently good, but service was bad.

 Their signature salad, which was lacking avocado (the server didn't tell me that they didn't have avocado when I ordered). They made it up by adding a bit more long beans, but it made me feel slightly cheated. Our server really lacked a spark of life.

 Their dumplings are still super awesome - would totally go back to eat a whole bowl of it.

 First time trying the pizza - it's not bad cos the veggies are all very fresh and sweet, but I still felt that I missed ham/pepperoni/sausage in my pizza...

They charge for tap water - do get the bottle and not just a small cup - it's cheaper for 2 persons. Obviously my server with no spark of life failed to tell us that (there were 2 of us).

Real Food
110 Killiney Road
Singapore 239549

Whole Earth

Tried the Whole Earth Thai/Peranakan Resatuarnt at Tanjon Pagar for dinner. 

The dinner started off with a soup, which was pretty unimpressive and unmemorable. A bit too salty for my liking but then again, my salt tolerance is pretty low.

I really liked the olive fried rice (brown rice option), which had a really intense umami taste. Nearly all the other tables around us were having this dish. It was very oily, just like the normal tzechar restaurants. Not sure if they use the whole olives or just the olive vegetable (tastes more like the latter to me), but I really liked the texture of the chewy rice, reminds me of a dry risotto.

Whole Earth - Penang Curry

What was impressive about this was that the 'meat', which is made from mushrooms, actually has the texture of real meat. The curry was very robust - lots of spices and I think there was even banana flower inside? Slightly too spicy for my liking.

I was actually debating between the mushroom kong bak stew (which is one of the highly recommended dishes) or the penang curry, but the server said that the kong bak stew was very oily, so we decided to go for the Penang curry.

Monkey Head Mushroom

My all time favourite dish of the night was the braised monkey head mushrooms with kailan. Though the prices was also astronomical ($25 for a vege dish!). I first tried monkey head mushroom at Li Bai at Sheraton, and I really liked the meatiness and texture of the mushroom. At Whole Earth, the mushroom is braised in a sweet and sour sauce, and has this incredibly interesting texture - which is very similar to meat. I suppose if you're vegetarian and want to eat something that reminds you of meat, then this is the mushroom to eat.

We had the mango pomelo sago for dessert - very underwhelming and I somehow cannot find my photo of this very forgettable dessert. We also tried their enzyme drink (about $10), which actually tastes vaguely like an alcoholic drink (not sure what exactly is inside, but tastes a bit fermented?).

Overall, there were hits and misses - I would definitely come back just for the monkey head mushrooms and the olive fried rice. Generally the prices here are quite steep, and I suppose if you want heavier vegetarian food, this is the place to go  - I found the dishes here to be quite oily, full of spices and chillies. If you're looking for cleaner tasting vegetarian food, I would suggest Real Food or Sunny Choice, where there's lighter, less oiler options. The restaurant was really crowded on a weekday and fortunately, we were early enough to get a seat but it filled up super quickly after. Do make a booking to avoid disappointment.

Tsujiri - Green Tea Desserts that never fail me 

Needed a proper dessert fix after so we hopped over to Tsujiri  at 100am mall for the usual matcha dessert.

Whole Earth
6 Peck Seah Street
Singapore 079331
Tel 6323 3308

Sunny Choice

Bunny says hi!

 I've been living in my current house for nearly 15 years and I'm sad to say that I have never realized the existence of Sunny Choice until a few months ago, when my veggiephobic friend told me her mother wanted to drag her down to try the food. One day when I was free-er than usual, I decided to  go check it out.

Veggie Sushi Roll ($6)
It's a riceless sushi roll, stuffed with crunchy finely shredded beetroot, alfafa, radish, carrots and lettuce. There's a sweet, creamy dressing, which is free from dairy and eggs. It's a really refreshing and light starter, or if you order 2 portions of this, it's enough to make it a satisfying main course.

I don't even feel like I'm missing out on the rice when I eat this dish, and best thing is that there's no post-meal carb coma. However, this dish doesn't keep well cos the nori will get soggy. This comes with a wasabi-soy dip but I'm not a fan of wasabi so I just eat it plain.

The Abacus balls - a healthy rendition of the traditional Hakka dish. This one is purely vegetarian. Actually, I'm not even sure what the real thing tastes like (since I haven't eaten it for a long long time), but this one is packed with mushrooms, nuts, and grated vegetables. It isn't oily, and each of the abacus balls are smooth and soft, and it's not too oily either.

 Thunder Tea Rice (Lei Cha Fan) $7.50
I'm quite a big fan of Lei Cha Fan but then the outlets are all quite far from my place and inconveniently located. (Recently there's a store which opened at the Bukit Timah Market, but it costs $6.50 so I don't feel like eating it when I'm there).
Instead of ikan billis, it comes with this twig-look-alike fried bits, I suppose it's a kind of mushroom. It's slightly sweet very crispy, but I'm not a fan of ikan billis or this twig-like mushroom. I'll ask them to omit this the next time. The other veggies are really nice, crisp and fresh. I particularly liked the angled gourd (cos I don't get to eat it often).

Sunny Choice also sells quite a wide range of health foods and organic produce, at pretty reasonable prices. I managed to buy their home made banana bread which was really good - full of banana and not too sweet.

Like I mentioned in my post before, the pumpkin cassava chips are really good (though I don't think they're very healthy cos they're deep fried).

There's no service charge or GST, so prices are nett. I'll definitely be back for more sushi rolls and the pumpkin keropok.

Sunny Choice
Rail Mall
434 Upper Bukit Timah Road
Singaproe 678060
Tel 6892 2383

Vegetarian Friendly Places

I've been trying to increase my fruit and vegetable intake after going for a lecture by one of the KTPH dietitians. She asked how many of us ate our 3-4 servings of fruits and vegetables daily, and the whole auditorium was filled with guilty mumblings.

I can't remember her name, but I loved it when she said that the blue colour Gardenia bread (the high fibre white bread) has the same amount of fibre as the green colour (wholemeal) one (seriously it's so white and soft I've always been a skeptic). How can this soft white bread have the same amount of fibre as the brown wholesome wholemeal bread? The answer is that it's because it's soluble fibre. Which has the additional benefits of delaying gastric emptying, slowing glucose absorption from the small intestines and decreasing LDL cholesterol (aka the bad cholesterol) - and mind you, all these benefits is on top of the benefits of fibre (soluble and insoluble in general).

This post will review some of the vegetarian cafes/health(ier) cafes that I've tried over the year (which is not many, so it's combined into one post). I quite like the taste of vegetarian food and find it really interesting how the dishes are cooked with just vegetables. However, one thing I cannot accept for vegeterain food is all the mock meats - I really dislike them alot. Perhaps it's cos I'm not vegetarian so I can always eat the real thing anytime.

Real Food (Square 2, The Central - Eu Tong Seng Street, Killiney Road, West Coast Plaza)
10 Sinaran Drive Square 2
#B1-105
Singarpoe 307506 Tel 63972289

 The Real Food dumplings are really impressive - it's encased in a silky smooth wanton skin, with lots of chopped veggies to give it a chewy texture. From studying the chopped bits of veggies, I can see mushrooms, carrots and tofu, and according to their website, chestnuts, french beans etc etc and each are hand made so they have limited stocks daily.

I really liked the dumpling soup, and decided to try the dumpling noodles  ($8.80) for lunch one day. I didn't particularly like the noodles and the sauce (tasted very vegetarian and a bit mushroom-ey) but the dumplings, the crisp vegetables and the lone cherry tomato were pretty good.

I think I'll get a dumpling soup and their salad the next time I'm there. Or maybe the banana strawberry pancakes. Apparently their beetroot burger is really good, and so is their signature salad.

Btw, if you takeaway, and you're intending to take away a large portion, please remember to bring a bag. Or some form of carrier. Cos they only give you the boxed food and no carrier as they are very environmentally friendly.

I'm not a fan of their cold pressed juices - and I think that $6-8 is way too much to pay for fruit juice. I usually get my daily fix of ABC juice from the juice store right outside Real food in Square 2 for $2.80.

Service is quite slow, as they make everything fresh, so it might not be the best place to grab your food from if you're in a rush. It's much better to have a slow, sit down meal here. (The place is really nice, wooden tables and chairs, and has a really relaxing vibe).

The Living Cafe (near Sixth Avenue)
779 Bukit Timah Road, Singaproe 269758 
Tel 67628039

Sadly, none of my friends shared the same enthusiasm as me for the Living Cafe's menu. Even my only friend who sort of likes to eat healthily cannot accept the food there. Perhaps we were a bit too hard core and ate the mushroom with 'cheese' and 'taco meat' (which I didn't really mind but my friend did).  Another thing I couldn't accept was the raw foods. The raw soup is really an acquired taste - obviously I don't have the palate for it. It tastes like cold savoury vegetable juice.

They used to have these really awesome salmon sashimi rice rolls with mango, capers and veggies rolled into a smooth rice paper wrap, served with balsamic vinegar and a side salad. If it was cheaper, I'd buy it alot more often. However, they have revamped the menu and this dish has been taken off.

I'm enamoured by the Revive Smoothie, which has golgi berries, dates, banana, coconut, flax seed and bee pollen. I could do without the last 2. It's very tasty, with the sweetness coming from the dates and a subtle banana taste (which makes it creamy too).

We didn't quite like the raw desserts - we tried the raspberry cheesecake which has a mousse like texture and the layers kept sliding off each other.

Cedele
Novena Square, Various Outlets
I'm extremely happy that I found that one of my friends has the same sentiments as me over an impromptu breakfast at Cedele.

They do a pretty good beetroot burger ($8.50) - I think would be better if they didn't put so many chickpeas in it (I'm not partial to chickpeas). The beetroot patty has a nice intense shade of purple and it looks vaguely like a medium-rare steak. I also like the avocado that comes with it. I think it tastes best with pumpkin bread (cos the bread is round and is about the same size as the beetroot patty). In fact, I like it so much and ate it for my birthday lunch (thankfully - I would have been depressed otherwise).

Cedele also does a really good salad - they have a salad bar where you choose
1. Either romaine lettuce or spinach (+$1)
2. 2 protein - choice of sausage, grilled chicken breast, fritatta, smoked salmon, egg, various forms of pasta etc etc
3. 4 toppings including edamame, beetroot, chickpeas, quinoa, wasabi sprouts etc etc
And top it off with a dressing of your choice. I've only tried the Caesar salad dressing and honey mustard. Go for the honey mustard - it's very chunky and sweet.
They also have combo meals with the salad - $11.50 will get you a salad + hot drink, $12.50 gets you a salad + soup.

I had mine with romaine lettuce, chicken breast and pasta, corn, edamame, beetroot and wasabi sprouts. I really like the wasabi sprouts - it has a mild spicy wasabi smell and taste.

I'd suggest that you don't take the pasta cos Cedele provides free flow bread. I completely forgot about the breads and was dying for some carbs at that time. Their clam chowder is awesome.

Too bad that their service at the Square 2 branch is so excruciatingly slow during lunch time, so I'll usually give this place a miss if I'm pressed for time.


Sunny Choice (The Rail Mall)
434 Upper Bukit Timah Road
Singaproe 678060
Tel 68922383

 I have been a mountain tortoise and even though I live really nearby, and had some vague knowledge that there was a vegetarian restaurant there, I have never ventured in until a few weeks ago (after reading some positive reviews of it online). I've been kicking myself every since, cos the food there is so fresh and good - I should really have gone there sooner!

I'll do a full post on this at a later date (need to trawl out photos from my camera card) but their vege sushi rolls are really good! There's no rice inside, so you won't go into carb coma and yet it's really refreshing. Definitely don't feel like you're missing the rice.

Their noodle salad is also delicious - vibrant mixture of vegetables, nuts, with chewy noodles and crispy rice crackers. 

They also have these really addictive pumpkin cassava chips, which really tastes of pumpkin and have the texture of keropok. I really doubt that these are healthy, but I really like pumpkin so this is currently one of my favourite snacks. It's $3.80 per packet (if I'm not wrong). 

Ok - that's the end to my post. I am still going around happily eating and trying out new food places. I definitely won't be able to give up my foie gras, wanton mee and charsiewpau or bak kwa.
Some more which I'm dying to try - Pidgin (look at their kaya bread and butter pudding! and bak kua macaroni and cheese. I'm a massive fan of bak kua and mac & cheese)