Xin Ming Vegetarian Stall @ Bedok

Once in a while I'll go to this stall for dinner when I got bored of the cheap $2 rice sold at Bedok Interchange. Anyway, this stall offers quite a wide variety of food, ranging from Mixed Vegetables rice to Tze Char, hence it does still quite attracted a couple of patrons. The stall owners have been operating this stall for more than a decade and hence has got their regulars. They were earlier located in the coffee shop located beside Shop and Save supermarket at the bedok central. However, since the coffee shop was rented to someone else, they moved to another coffee shop closer to the library side along the main road. Today, I've got news that they are moving again, to another coffee shop across the road, at block 418. Details would be posted later.

Mixed Vegetables Brown Rice $2.50

Ordered this when I can't make up my mind. 3 Dishes for $2.50 sounds quite reasonable for such a big portion served. I do not quite like the rice as I felt it was overcooked. The dishes (especially the braised egg) are still ok. If you do not mind cold dishes, brown rice is a better and healthier option.

Other than brown rice, I would normally order Duck Rice (comprises of vegetarian mock duck, egg and tofu) or I would eat the Kway Chap. However, the prices are much higher ($3 onwards).

Current Location: Blk 204, Coffee Shop
Opening Hours: Till 9+, daily

Loving Hut

Finally i'm writing about this cafe since it opened last week. Anyway, loving hut is a new cafe replacing the previous indinine. Its quite a pity as Indinine has built a reputation over the years. Anyway, If you do know where indinine has moved to, please let me know!
I'm quite happy that it is yet another vegetarian cafe replacing and this gives me more options to choose from since Im working at suntec.

Thats the cafe.. the Sofas are gone, but the tables, chairs are still the same. One thing is you wouldnt know its vegetarian till you see the poster or menus. This is a good marketing strategy, as loads of meat eaters shun the word veggie.

Thanks to Gill who made the trip down to lunch with me!

Mee Pok Dry ($4.80)

I remember seeing the price tag at $2.50, maybe my eyes did play a trick on me. Anyway, the portion was big and the soup tasted good. The most important part in making good mee pok is the tactics of cooking the mee pok. Luckily this tasted just right, it wasnt too soggy and in fact was chewy enough to make me finish the entire bowl. Ingredients comprises of fresh lettuce, minced vegetarian meat with mushrooms and fishballs. Soup is brewed with corn, sweet potato and carrots, making it real sweet. I like it! If you do order this dish, remember to request for no onions.

Silky Tofu Mushrooms Set $5.80

The silky tofu mushroom is served with brown rice and stir fried cabbages and completed with a soup. It is a big portion for 1 serving. If you are a small eater, I guess you may just order this set meal and add another plate of rice to eat with another person. The tofu tasted normal and i reckon the ingredients used on top is the same for my mee pok. The mushrooms are chewy though.

Tofu Jacket $3.80

Doesn't look good on pictures, but it is quite a surprise. The tofu jacket is a side dish we have ordered to share. 5 big pieces of Tofu stuffed with ingredients. I couldn't really make out wat are the ingredients (other than carrots and minced tofu), but it was really juicy.

Sunny Forest/ Rose lemon Juice $3.80 Each

Im not really into juices as I usually requests for plain water since most places do not charge a fee. Anyway, since I wanted to write about this place, gotta write something on the drinks... so we ordered the Sunny Forest and Rose Lemon Juices. Sunny forest is a lemon, mint and soda mixed drink. I thought it was good, and it comprises of a combination taste of sweet and sour. As for the rose lemon juice, there is far too much lemon taste that I could hardly make out the taste of the rose petals available. You can just order plain water to save the money.

Do request for no garlic/onions if you do not take them.

All in all, loving hut seems to be going all out this year to promote vegetarianism in view of the growing global crisis. They are planning to open (some are already opened) outlets in HK, Taiwan, USA, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, and this is definitely great news for us vegetarians. Do google for more information!

Location:

1. 3 Temasek Boulevard, Suntec City Mall,
Sky Garden #03-016, Tower 2, S 038983
Tel: 65 6238 6755
Opening Hours: Till 9+PM daily

2. Parklane Shopping Mall, 35 Selegie Road #01-07, Singapore 188307

Opening Hours: Till 9+PM daily

Website: http://www.lovinghut.com.sg/

3. Blk 161 #01-3752 Bukit Merah Central (next to POSBank) Singapore 150161,

Open Hours 11am - 9:30pm except Monday 11am - 3:30pm

Su Shi Piao Xiang Vegetarian Cafe (素食飘香)

Another trip to fortune centre since it is a heaven for vegetarians. Thanks to fran for always accompanying me around to try new places too. Anyway, the stall owner used to operate in bedok before this shop at Fortune Centre. Food wise, quite normal, but cheap. Me and fran ordered 2 dishes to go with a fried noodle.

Sambal Kang Kong $4

Big portion for the 2 of us. Very fresh, but it was not spicy enough. I like it as it wasnt too oily.

Salad Prawn $7

Fran loves salad prawn whereever its sold.. so normally it is a MUST order dish should we be eating Tze Char. haha. Anyway, the Salad Prawn here is really a BIG portion that we can hardly finish it. Unlike the usual salad prawn, the "prawn" used is not as nice, and you gotta dip into the sauce. Normally the sauce is pan fried onto the entire prawn, where it is more fattening.

Guihua Noodles $4

Tasty and the noodles are chewy. I guess thats the best dish for the night. It is not too dry.

Location: Fortune Centre, Level 2 - 18

Opening Hours: till 8Plus daily

Green+on+Earth Vegetarian Cafe (绿之天地) *CLOSED DOWN*

This cafe has closed down. Please let me know if they have moved.

Green on Earth (GOE) initially started with selling organic food but it has since focused on doing wholesome healthy fusion vegetarian cuisine. I've long heard of this cafe as the web is created by my friend daniel.
Anyway, I finally had the chance to eat and write about the food there. Thanks to Gwennie again, for she has been fetching me around SG just to try at all these new cafes, as some of them (like GOE) is not really accessible via train.

Thai Tofu cakes with Salad & inhouse sauce $4.80

Since the dish name starts with a "thai", I was expecting it to make me reminisce the bangkok days, but i guess only the sour salad did the trick. This is basically an easy side dish made from a tofu mixture wrapped in beancurd skin and panfried (without oil). The tofu mixture is a combination of Tofu and carrots (and maybe other ingredients which I am unable to see) then wrapped into a roll. I was trying to figure out where the inhouse sauce was. There were only 3 dots of chili for 5 mini pieces of tofu, hence I was not able to taste how special it tasted, as it really is just chili sauce. 96 cents for each piece of tofu, and supposed to be a "signature" dish. Seriously, I find it expensive.

Zha Jiang Mian (Price unknown)

Not able to see the noodles as it was totally covered by the special mushroom sauce and lettuce. All you need to do is to mix the whole plate like rojak. This is still a worthy dish to try as there is no MSG added at all. Another place that sells good zha jiang mian is living greens off beach road.

Creamy Mushroom Soup $3.80

Gwennie forbade me to post her picture, but I doubt she checks my blog anyway.. hee, Sometimes with people in the picture, its more promising mah! Anyway, the soup is not very creamy like the one we tried at Roma Deli's, but it does has a similar taste to the one served at the green room cafe in Bishan. However, it is not as thick and tasted rather blend. I reckon that there is no butter/flour used in this concoction, hence if you are looking for a healthier alternative, this is a good option.

Baked Curry Brown Rice $9.80

I was expecting the dish to be served from a baking dish, but was quite surpised to find the cheese spread to be just 5 cm circumference big covering only the top of the rice. Comprises of Potatoes, Pumpkins and brown rice. The curry taste is very authentic and is suitable for those who like indian vegetarian food.

Decor wise, it is generally clean, and modern styled. As it is located on the top floor, there is a stark contrast between the hawker centre located opposite and this cafe, as it really appears more "atas". Prices wise, for noodles/rice, reasonable. For separately cooked dishes, I find it more on the high side, perhaps due to inflation and perhaps the ingredients used are more expensive.

Still, not a bad choice if you are looking for healthy food.

Location:
144, Upper Bukit Timah Road
#04-03 Beauty World Centre
Singapore
(S) 588177

Tel: 65 6468 4748

Opening Hours: Open Daily (Including Public Holidays)11am - 10pm (9.30pm Last Order)

Website: http://www.greenonearth.sg/

Roma Deli's Vegetarian Cafe

This cafe has been around for ages and has since becomed so popular that it is always fully packed. Anyway, had dinner with gwennie at this cafe the other day. What I think has been successful for this cafe is that it reaches out to the young and trendy with western dishes like pasta/bread/soups. I was quite surprised to see most young people patronising this cafe. I guess this is where we can actually start vegetarianism awareness among the young! Back to the food, set meals are popular where it comprises of a soup, main dish (pasta or pizza) and a soft drink. It costs around $10 per set meal, which is quite reasonable, however, not for your everyday meal.

Set Meal - Mushroom Soup

Soup comes with the baked herbs bread. The soup tastes thick and quite comparable to other places. I personally thought soup spoon is better. Anyway, this is not vegan friendly. Fattening too, as much butter and flour is used for the thick gravy. Opt for just drinks instead, if you are on a diet. Nonetheless, a little pamper once in a while is required.

Main Course - Spicy Cheese Spagetti

Not very spicy and I thought the gravy could have been thicker instead of it being so watery. Ingredients wise is quite reasonable. as there are quite a lot of ham stripes and lettuce included.

Curry Rendang Baked Rice

This is my all time favourite.. I tried the Satay Spagetti before but I thought that was too much like a chinese dish. Anyway, this baked rice never fail to satisfy my hunger pangs. It may not be too cheesy, but the taste is just right. The curry is not too spicy and the chicken chunks are fabulous.

All in all, it is a cafe that has started out unnoticed, but it business has since grown into providing ready microwavable meals today. I guess this is a good model for a business to sustain overtime.

If you are still thinking of indinine, perhaps this is an alternative.

Location: 100 Beach Road #01-23 Shaw Towers

Tel: 6293 4585

Opening Hours: 11.30am - 9pm (last order at 8.30pm)