Taipei - Quan Zhen Vegetarian (全真素食)

The last time I went to Taipei, I've only introduced the must eat snacks there and I didn't really had a chance to eat at restaurants. This is contributed by Jeslyn sis, thanks once again! And she made me wanna go taipei real soon again!

I'll try my best to translate the dish as it was given in Chinese. The exchange rate is around 20 TWD : 1SGD.

Egg Fried Rice 西式蛋包饭 TWD 90

Fried Egg is covered on top fried rice and then topped with tomato sauce. Does has a Japanese style in presentation. The good thing is that was it not too oily and makes you want to eat more. Best recommended to those people who doesnt like the taste of taiwanese rice.

Tomato Squid Rice番茄苏东饭 TWD 90

The portion is just right for one and it was served with an additional bowl of soup. The squid slices are deep fried but not too oily. Tastes blends well with the tomato sauce.

Spicy Ramen 麻辣拉面 TWD 90

Not a very spicy dish and tasted more like instant noodles. The noodles used is similiar to Udon and was certainly very chewy. Comprises of vegetables, mushroom and corn. A healthy choice for people who are not into mock meats.

Hotplate Chicken 铁板香鸡 TWD 130

This was serve in a hot plate with tomato sauce as the base gravy again. It seems like most of its dishes have tomato sauce in them. A sad thing is that the sauce doesn't blend well with the food as it tasted quite sour. It is not recommmended for people who are not into sour food.

Hot Pot 招牌素食锅 TWD 120

Best recommended to eat it cold weather. The serving is quite adequate for 3 pax unless u are a big eater. There are a lot of vegeatables, pumpkin, mushrooms , corn and vermicelli and it doesn't contain MSG.

The good thing about taiwan is many people are very health conscious and vegetarian food is available almost everywhere. Even most non-veg places do have vegetarian options. So Taiwan has always been one of my favourite place to visit!

Locations:

Just Greens @ Tampines

As far as I understand, there are 4 Just Greens outlets and 1 restaurant in Singapore. In Tampines alone, there are 2 outlets. One is located at east link, the Tampines Interchange Food Court, And another is a the S11 food court where Prime Supermarket locates. I have tried at both places before, but the one at tampines interchange charges too high rates that my sister calls it the 杀人放火 (meaning its so expensive that you can kill) stall! Reason being they charged her 5 bucks for a plate of rice with 2 veg and 1 tofu. It set us thinking: How ex could veg be? Charging high rates at a normal veg stall could easily chase patrons away, especially when many people do think that vegetarian food is supposed to be cheaper.

Anyway, I personally prefer the other stall, which takes a 8 mins walk from the interchange. Tried the chicken rice and I think its really not bad!

Chicken Rice $3.50

This is quite common at a lot of places. The chicken can be brought from suppliers. So you simply need to steam with minced ginger and mix with a little soy sauce and its good to serve!

Location:

1. Blk 506 Tampines Central 1 #01-361
Singapore 520506
Open: 0800 - 2200 Hrs
Telephone: 6788 6078

2. 8 Tampines Central
Eastlink Foodcourt #01-09 Stall 4
Open: 0600 - 2230 Hrs
Telephone: 6788 6078

3. Simei East Point Level 5 Food Court
Open: 1000 - 2200 Hrs
Telephone: 6784 5206

4. Yishun Bus Interchange
Blk 924 Yishun Central 1
Singapore 760924
Open: 0600 - 2130 Hrs
Telephone: 6257 2005

5. Restaurant

49-51 Joo Chiat Place, Singapore 472223
Open: Daily 0800 - 2300 Hrs
Telephone: 6345 0069 / 6222 2039

Vegetarian Villas (素雅轩)

Thanks to clare sis for the contribution! I haven't been blogging as I've been busy. Its the season of weddings yet again! So I guess I will be doing my wedding dinner reviews pretty soon too~

Bukit Merah as what I've last heard has slowly transformed into a new vegetarian heaven.. there are couple of good places like Loving Hut and Nature in that area. Lately vegetarian villas has joined the crowd too! It has been a long time since I went there.. but am really glad to hear so many new openings! Vegetarian Villas has opened 2 outlets to date and this review is being done at the Bukit Merah outlet.

Mee Rebus ($2.50)

Serving portion a little small, but the taste was good.Gravy was tasty and noodles topped with small chunks of tau pok and dou pau.

Satay Bee Hoon ($3.00)

Quite good presentation -- with 3 sticks of satay made out of mock meat that is quite juicy and chewy, kang kong and mock prawns. Satay gravy was frangrant. I find the serving a little small too. Could have more bee hoon as alot of peanut sauce leftover.

Dessert: Almond soup with dumplings ($2.00)

Find the price appealing for a bowl of dessert, so decided to order to try.Was a good choice! The almond soup was not too thick and you can choose dumpling fillings of sesame or peanut.

Overall dining in this cafe was good as the price of the food was not too expensive and the taste was good.Will definitely go again to try other food on the menu! Daily specials: Kway chap, laksa, nasi lemak, chicken rice. I do find alot of customers order: Claypot rice, claypot mee and herbal soup set ($4 each)

Locations:

1. Blk 11 Jalan Bukit Merah Ground Level Singapore 150011

Operating Hours: Monday to Friday 10.30am - 9pm and Sunday 10.30am - 9pm (Closed on Saturday)

Tel: 6273 2337

2. Blk 479 Jurong West Street 41 #01-264 Singapore 640479

Tel: 68973977

Email: vegvillas@gmail.com

Nature Vegetarian @ Sin Ming

I've long heard people raving about the brisk business of this coffeeshop in Thomson area. I guess its also due to the fact that it is located right beside the Bright Hill temple whereby people usually will go here and eat after praying. This is also the only coffeeshop that wholly serves vegetarian food. It is definitely delightful to find ourselves spoilt for choices as there are many stalls to choose from, instead of the usual only one in a normal coffeeshop. I've earlier blogged about Nature from Bt Merah before, but I do not have any idea if these 2 shops have any relation to each other.

This is the exterior of the coffeeshop, and inside, there are around 8 stalls selling different variety of vegetarian food!

As I went at 8.30pm, most of the stalls were already closed. Nonetheless, the food available range from Roti Prata (So Luke, time for you to try here too!) to Chinese Dim Sum, Yong Tau Foo, Mixed veg Rice and even Tze Char is available too. I guess its the only place that vegetarians are spoilt for choice!

Dry Mee Pok

Since the noodles stall was the only one opening that late, my mum ordered this Dry Mee Pok. I was amazed by the amount of ingredients they gave!~Noodles was okay.

Yong Tau Foo

Dad ordered the Yong Tau Foo. Soup was really tasty! In fact I find most places that serve yong tau foo are of standard, which I guess is due to the fact that most mock items are brought from the same veg. suppliers so the taste seldom go wrong too!

Laksa Yong Tau Foo

Not to my liking perhaps the laksa gravy wasn't strong enough.

Carrot Cake

Something special about the carrot cake here is that you do not see it in small little cut up pieces. Instead, it is served as a BIG omlette, with the kuey in the middle. Kinda special, but I tasted more egg than the flour! It is a really popular dish from the tze char stall. Do remember to order the White version!

Location: Blk 409, Sin Ming Drive
Tel No.: 65534719
Operating Days and Operating Hours: 630am to 10pm daily

Malaysia - Malacca - Yang Sheng Vegetarian Restaurant Sdn

Thanks to my cuz wendy sis for her input. Over the weekend, she and her friends went to Malacca for a short trip. I've heard my parents rave about how this this place was, but didn't have a chance to visit. Anyway, Yang Sheng is one of the places that my parents recommend. Despite Malacca being the 3rd smallest state in Malaysia, it has quite a number of vegetarian restaurants, which I think is good!

Crackers

Free crackers to munch.. Nice, crunchy and not oily..

Tom Yum Fish RM 12

Ingredients comprise of some fish slices, cabbage, long beans, ladies finger, pineapples and tau pok. Soup tasted average, however tom yum shouldnt have tau pok as it would seem like veg. curry.

Chili Kang Kong RM 7

This dish was quite oily and it tasted sweet instead of spicy.. not to my liking though. If you do not take spicy food, this is definitely ok for you.

Claypot tofu RM 9

Colourful dish. Comprise of Fried tofu cubes served with mushrooms, tomatoes and capsicums. Tasted normal, but definitely cheaper than those you can find in Singapore!

Fried Abalone Mushrooms RM7

Really good dish. Very crispy and fresh abalone mushrooms. The chili dip was a plus!

One of the places you can consider if you do visit Malacca someday!

Location:

養 生 素 食 冷 氣 餐 廳 有 限 公 司
Bhd 313, Jln Gajah Berang, Melaka Tel: 06-284 4400
Opening hours: 10.30am to 2.30pm; 5.30pm to 8.30pm
Rest day – Thursday

Lastly, thanks cuz once again for your contribution.

Ru Lai Vegetarian @ Thomson

I've long heard my cousins rave about this stall as they adore the food here as much as we adore Zi Zai in Tampines. So one of the night after visiting grandma, we finally decided to drive there to eat. Seems to be the only stall operating at night.. and the entire coffee shop was really crowded. Do note that this Ru lai has no relation with the Ang Mo Kio Ru Lai (note that i've yet blogged on this too~) at all. Its quite common to see similar stall names in SG.
The stall is a typical Tze Char stall but has a little carrot cake wok at the side. I've read other reviews and found that the carrot cake is good here!

Anyway since it was our first time to this stall, we leave it to my aunt and cousin to introduce.

Tofu with abalone hotplate $12

Beautifully presented, this tofu dish is a MUST try! The tofu and mushrooms and abalone are stir fried in a homemade special sauce, then served on top of omlette in a hot place. The taste of the gravy is wonderful. Not too salty and has a little spice in it. Most importantly, it is rare to find abalone in such dishes, and there were many piece of it! Love it with rice! Do notify the stall owner if you do not take eggs to omit the egg below.

Sambal Kang Kong

Aint too spicy and tastes just right. Common dish that can be found elsewhere too.

Butter Abalone Mushrooms

In chinese this dish is usually known as 奶油田鸡..supposed to look like frog legs? Anyway, this is basically abalone/oyster mushrooms that are deep fried in batter, then cooked in carnation milk, Hence it will have a sweet and crunchy bite. Not suitable for vegans though. You can find this dish at Zi Zai Tampines as well as Ru Lai AMK.

Soup of the day

Soup of the day was lotus roots soup. Fresh and healthy.

Crispy Peking Duck

I tried to open up and analyse what makes up this dish but couldn't as it was too thin! I think it is mock meat that is wrapped in beancurd skin and flour then deep fried. You may eat it with the Yong Tau Foo Sweet Sauce. It would have been perfect if there is popiah skin to go with it. Anyway, really crispy and tasty!

Carrot Cake

If you recall most of the carrot cakes I eat are black cos' i always love it a little sweeter. Anyway, my cousin loves the white version. Nothing special as it still cannot be compared to uncle's. hahah!

I remember we also ordered oyster cake but I forgotten to take the picture. Tasted normal too. I do not recall the rest of the prices, but we paid $51 for 5 pax and the above dishes. Hence this is definitely worth the price. Note that these are all medium dishes. Meaning, if you do have lesser pax, you may order a smaller size. My cousin even had to ta bao the carrot cake and oyster cake home as we were too full already. I will definitely come back again.

Diet: Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian, Some dishes contain Eggs and Milk

Location: Blk 24, #01-51 Sin Ming Rd, Singapore 570024

Tel: 64576143

Operating Days and Operating Hours: Open 8am-9pm every day, except the day after the 1st & 15th of lunar month

Cai Gen Xiang @ Singpost *CLOSED DOWN*

*CLOSED DOWN*

I've earlier updated that this is a new stall at Singpost Banquet Food Court. I was delighted as I no longer have to walk all the way to Haig Road to eat on a hot day!




Anyway, I had a late lunch one day and had to ta bao from the cai gen xiang @ Singpost.

Kway Chap $3

Was looking for soupy food and ordered kway chap. Man.. it was full of ingredients (soya intestines, beancurd and Tau Pok). I wasn't expecting much as I've always adore kway chap by my mum. But this kway chap was really good. It has a strong aroma of tonics which comprise of the star anis, cinnamon and some herbs too. Could tell that it was brewed for a long time, as even the beancurd has turned black. Tasted perfect with chili sauce.

I have yet tried other dishes. They do have the usual mixed-vegetables rice, with brown rice options as well as tze char too. Took the namecard and found that the Terminal 3 outlet is already closed down.

Locations:

1. Blk 236 Yishun Ring Road #01-01000, Tel: 6758 8588

2. 10 Eunos Road 8, B2-08, Stall #6, Tel: 8388 1968

Opening Hrs: till 8plus. Do call the singpost outlet before you go as most stalls close earlier.

Website: http://www.caigenxiangvege.com/

Recipe - Vegetarian Siew Mai

I've always adore siew mais before I turned vegetarian. Sadly we cant really find replacements in the market and even places like lingzhi doesnt serve good siew mais. The only one I like so far is those that are sold by the suppliers.

So one of the days when I felt like munching something, i steamed 4 little pieces that can satisfy my hunger pangs for a while.

Siew Mai

This is how the original packaging looks like. Made from Malaysia and is certified Halal in the package. Woohoo! At least even my muslim friends can eat this too. Anyway, siew mai originally comprises of pork and according to my friends is actually very fattening. Anyway this vegetarian version needs to be kept in the freezer and all you need is to thaw and steam a few pieces as and when you want! Comprises of a total of 72 pieces in a pack.

The ingredients comprise of soy protein, wheat, carrots and konnyaku wrapped in wanton skin. Tastes really chewy and definitely healthier. If you are looking at places that sell you, Yuan Xiang does serve this but they do charge higher at 50 cents per pc.

Anyway, you can get this at most vegetarian suppliers.

Phuket Vegetarian Festival 2009

I've blogged about the Phuket Vegetarian Festival 2 years back when I first embarked on the trip. I've been wanting to go again, so this time I went with my parents, together with my aunt and cousin as well. The phuket vegetarian festival is a really big event that's held during the 9th lunar month. For more info, you may click here.
During this period of 10 days, the devotees and those attending the rituals would have to observe vegetarianism diets. Hence it was a true treat for us as vegetarian food is available in almost corner of phuket town.
Im going to introduce the foods that I did not mention in my earlier post.

I did not recall 7-11 has all these set meals available back then. Hence I was very happy when I saw this poster. Loads of set meals and paos available for us! All you need is to heat up in the hotel microwave. We brought 2 sets to try.

Green Curry with Brown Rice Set 35BHT

I'm not a fan of green curry but my cousin who ate this said it wasnt too bad! The authetic taste was there. Comprises of eggplant and some mock meats. It really affordable.

Hong Kong Noodles 35BHT

Comprises of Mushrooms, Cabbage and carrots. Simple but tasty!

Vegetarian Bun 15 BHT

I brought this really last min.. as I wanted to try how the buns taste like. It was surprisingly not bad tasting, not spicy as well. Comprises of Mushrooms and veg.

Potato Snack 20BHT

I was still wondering how come so many people where queuing up to buy this, but I got blown away the moment i ate it. VERY crispy and tasty! It is basically potatoes thats sliced with a special machine into this spiral form, then dipped into some batter before deep-fried. Then topped with the various spice flavours available. We took the hot and spicy flavour. YummY~ Thats my dear cousin posing with the yummy potato.

Coconut Snack 20BHT

I have not idea what is the name of this snack but since its made of coconut fillings, i'm naming it the coconut snack. Tastes heavenly if you love coconuts. The exterior is just a very thin layer of flour, and baked with fresh creamy coconut milk.

Chicken Rice/ Char Siew Rice

I was very happy to find chicken rice and char siew rice too! The sauces made the rice tasty. However the char siew tastes very different from the ones we eat in SG, hence we didn't really like it.

Must buy - Vegetarian Instant Noodles (Tom Yum)

5 of us brought 3 boxes, which is a total of 90 pkts home. Its really good.

It is amazing to find more than 100 stalls selling vegetarian food. Ranging from the normal char kway tiao to noodles soup to mixed veg rice.. they have almost everything you yearn for. However, there are a lot of fried foods too, making it really unhealthy. Hence do CHOOSe wisely. Now that I am back, I gotta go on a detox mode due to the over-eating. My aunt was left very satisfied at the end of the trip and is dreaming about coming back again. I guess I can start organising a yearly vegetarian food tasting trip to Phuket real soon.

Diet: Vegan, no eggs and milk used in all foods sold during this season

Location: All over Phuket Town

Wedding Review - Happy Restaurant (双喜楼) @ Paya Lebar

Just before I embark on my vegetarian festival Trip..I shall do 1 more post which was provided by my preggie sis, clare. My out-of-touch cousin was hosting his wedding dinner the same night as a close friend of mine.. So the rest of my family members went for his wedding dinner while I was at Swiss. Nonetheless, I reminded my sis to do the review.

No Menu on the table at Happy, so I will name them according to my understanding and experience. My parents were quite looking forward to this meal as it brought them some memories since they held their wedding dinner here 33 years ago too. But well, they were not vegetarians back then.

Cold Cuts Combination

It looked like a combination of my 1st and 3rd dish in a plate! Comprises of Mock Char Siew and Duck, Spring Roll and Crispy Goose. Seems like its missing in beehoon too. the crispy goose was better fried though. Everything is deep fried, so its definitely not suitable for the health enthusiast.

Sharks Fin Soup

Comprises of loads of ingredients like abalone mushrooms, enoki mushrooms and some mock meat. Mum said not too bad.

Golden Duck

Brought directly from the veg supplier, nothing can go wrong with the taste.

Brocolli with Mushrooms

Normal tasting, similar to those sold at tze char stall. The chefs (My mum and aunt) were still commenting that if they add abalone on top will be better.... until...

Abalone

The next dish came.. and this was served separately.

Stir Fried Cauliflower

Seems to have the same sauce with brocolli earlier. The colour combi is not bad though.

Fei Cui Roll

Mum used to sell this at $3 per roll at her stall. This is one of the nicest mock meat I've tried so far. Easily found at most veg suppliers, but I think the best is from Xiang Xiang. Costs Ard $35 per big pack of 20 rolls I think. Easy to cook, just pan or deep fry will do. Tastes good with Sweet Sauce or Chili.

Noodles

One of the better dish of the day... loads of veg, carrots and the taste was alright. However, noodles can be a little more dry.

All in all, aint too bad a meal since mostly are brought from the suppliers.

Location: 15 Tanjong Katong Road, Lion City Hotel

Le Cafe Confectionary

Was introduced by bubby (my boss's wife) when she brought this for us sometime back. Le Confectionary is so far the only shop i've known to sell this special tart!

Beancurd Tart $5 for 6 pcs

From the outlook, you may think that this is your usual "egg" tart. However, instead of the high-cholesterol egg, this filling here is actually beancurd (Tao Hway) instead! ALso, the colour is slightly lighter than the usual Yellow. The texture is smoother and softer than egg, doesnt taste too sweet and is encased in a delicious pastry. No pork/lard is used here. However, I believe there is butter or milk in the crust. Hence its not suitable for vegans.

Other than this beancurd tart, the confectionary sells your usual cakes and patries as well.

Diet: Vegetarian, may contain milk/butter.

Locations:
1. 264 Middle Road Singapore 188990 ; Tel: +65 6337 2417

2. Blk 42 Cambridge Road #01-02 Singapore 210042; Tel : +65 6298 1477

3. Blk 637 Veerasamy Road #01-111 Singapore 200637; Tel: +65 6294 8813

Opening Hrs: Mondays to Saturdays10:30 am – 7:30 pm ; Sundays and Public Holidays10:30 am – 3:30 pm