Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Lotus Kitchen @ Chinatown Point

One of Ms Veg's Fav Buffet Hunt (Lotus Vegetarian Restaurant located at Quality Hotel) has finally decided to venture into new business opportunity. They have recently opened a new restaurant Lotus Kitchen (https://www.facebook.com/LotusVegetarian/) at Chinatown Point. This restaurant serves contemporary cuisine, ranging from Dim Sum to Local Delights.

Restaurant Exterior
Strategically Located in Chinatown Point (Level 1), this restaurant is easily accessible via MRT (Chinatown Station Exit G).
Interior

The restaurant has a 80 pax capacity, which is great for small gatherings. 

Menu
Dim Sum Price range is between $4.80 - $8.80, which Ms Veg finds reasonable.

Chilled Tea with Osmanthus Jelly/ Winter Melon Tea $.480
Personally quite like the Chilled with Osmanthus Jelly as its quite refreshing and the jelly is yummy.

 Signature Crispy Summer Wrap with Passion Fruit $35.80
One of the classic delicacy that is recommended by the staff is this dish, which features a "Popiah wrap" combination of Crispy Soya Slices coated in batter, combined with Passion Fruit, Carrot and Cucumber Stripes, topping it off with their homemade sauce. The taste is pretty refreshing with a mix of sweet, sour, and savory taste. Its good when served hot though.

Signature Homemade Satay $15.80
This is quite a creative local delight where the soya chunks are marinated in more than 10 spices. 

Taro Mee Sua Cake $6.80
One of the better sides I've had is this taro Mee Sua cake, 有惊喜哦!The taro bits in this deep fried side makes the dish memorable. This is one of dishes which is VEGAN friendly.

Signature Lion's Mane Mushrooms Pan Fried Dumpling $8.80
There's 6 pieces per serving and this is one of the must order I'll recommend. The mushroom filling is really good!

Double-Boiled Herbal Tian Ma Soup $8.80
Steamed and brewed with more than 10 herbs and mushrooms. Pretty Light if you just want a simple soup.

Spicy Grilled Oat Slices in hotplate $18.80
Ms veg is still reminiscing the spicyness of this dish and it does gave me the impression that its actually Mock "fish", but the fact that it was Oats, made me want more! 很下饭 - meaning, goes great with rice. 

Braised Mushroom in Hot Stone Pot $18.80
Another dish that goes very well with rice would be this Braised Mushrooms, theres loads of fresh bamboo shoots in this dish as well.

Steamed Beancurd Roll $4.80
Not sure if this is handmade, but ms veg cannot resist all kinds of steamed beancurd roll as usual.

Stir-Fried Laksa $9.80
This is a modern twist from its traditional laksa (Note that their quality hotel restaurant serves the soup version). Pretty good if you like dry Laksa. 

Pumpkin Paste with Purple Rice $6.80
Interesting Mix of Purple Rice and Pumpkin Paste. Kids would like the ice cream

 Lotus Yam Paste with Purple Rice $6.80
If you are craving for Or-Nee, yet worry for your health, this is a great alternative for you as theres no Lard and Coconut Milk used. The Lotus Paste was sooo creamy that we had 2 servings of this as we couldnt get enough of it. If you still have space for dessert, Trust me, this is great. Note that its a warm dessert.

Its great to see many new offerings in Singapore now and then and as a vegetarian, we hope to see more options available for all. Will definitely be back to try the rest of the dim sum soon!

Location: #01-01/02,  Chinatown Point, 133 New Bridge Road, Singapore 059413
Opening Hours: Monday to Sunday, 11:30am – 3pm; 5:30pm – 10pm
Tel: (65) 6538 1068 
Instagram: @lotusvegetarian

Saturday, January 7, 2017

2017 CNY Reunion Dinner @ Elemen 元素 (Millenia Walk/Thomson Plaza)

Elemen has just launched their 2017 Chinese New Year Menu and Ms Veg went to try it recently.

Prosperity Truffle Yu Sheng 元素松露七彩捞生 3-4Pax $38.80++/ 6-8 Pax $48.80++
Last year (Post here)  Elemen created their Yu Sheng with Black Truffle and this year they decided to include White Truffle and Konnyaku jello instead! 
Ms Veg went to try out their CNY set meal (8 dishes) which includes Yu Sheng as the starter.

The Full set!
Comprises of: Carrots, Purple Lettuce, Fried Yam slices, Lime Ginger, Ginger, Orange peel, Pomelo, crackers, sesame seeds, Peanuts, Truffle as well as Konnyaku! Portion shown here is for 3-4 pax.

And we are ready to Toss! Wishing all good luck and happiness this coming 2017! Note: If you do not have a sweet tooth, you may cut down on the sauce. Otherwise the entire blend of sauce and veg is awesomely yummy esp. the truffle which has a strong aroma aftertaste!
This Yu Sheng is available for takeaways or dine in from 16th Jan to 11th Feb.

CNY Set Meal 2Pax ($98.80++); 4Pax ($188.80++)
Now for the Mains!

Dish 2: 5 Elements Soup 富贵椰皇养生汤
The Ingredients for the soup: Mushroom, Yellow Fungus, Bamboo Ginseng, Lotus Jelly (雪莲子) and red date. Boiled for hours and served in a Baked Coconut Husk, and amazingly all the flavors blend adequately well. It was the first time I've tried 雪莲子 and it has a jelly taste.

Baking the coconut husk allows us to eat the coconut meat too! Ms Veg was getting full after this soup.
 
Dish 3: Purple Rice Tofu with Miso Sauce 金碧紫米豆腐
 A new creation by a famous chef, this dish blew me off totally and voted by Ms Veg as the best dish of the night! The purple rice covered the top of the tofu and its crispy on top! The Asparagus was rather blend, but the sauce was just nice for it. They even included a mushroom wrapped with edible gold leaf on the side! Ms Veg had golden lips after eating this! 

Dish 4: Water Bamboo in Cream Sauce 香椿忌廉春笋
This is a east meet west creation which I never thought could be such a surprise! The sauce is a western style creamy sauce and bamboo shoots were so fresh! Most importantly, there's a fried "mantou" (steamed bun) for us to dip into the sauce! 

Dish 5: Firecracker Monkeyhead Mushroom 鸿运川辣山珍
Served with a onsen egg which has an awesome japenese soya sauce aroma. The Mushroom reminded me of "crispy chicken", a little spicy with the sichuan peppercorns.

Dish 6: Braised Ee-Fu Noodles in Japanese Style 日式迎春伊面
 Served with aplenty of vegetables, capsicums and mushrooms, the ee-fu noodles taste really chewy and healthy! It has a tinge of truffle aftertaste.

 Dish 7: Traditional Almond Yam with Cream 如意银杏芋泥
This dish was served warm and its sooo creamy-ly awesome! If you are really health conscious, you may ask them to serve the generous scoop of coconut cream on the side.

Last Dish: Mandarin Orange Mojito 甜蜜金桔报喜
Served cold with bits of Mandarin Orange in this Mojito. It does taste like Mojito minus the Alcohol.

All in all, it was a great dining experience with good service staff at Elemen, and the chefs have put in tremendous effort on this CNY menu, which Ms Veg thinks is good as there's no mock meat used! Ms Veg thinks that it is a reasonable price at approximately $60/Per pax (after tax) as ms veg felt extremely full after this meal! 
Reservations are now available.
The CNY menu will start from 23rd Jan till 31st Jan. During this period, note that their regular menu would not be available.
For vegans, i've enquired that some dishes do contain dairy content, but they can remove/replace with alternatives, so do inform them before you go.
I'll definitely visit again as they have recently changed their regular menu, so there are many new dishes to try! Sedap!

Location:
1. Elemen@ Millenia Walk 
9 Raffles Boulevard #01-75A/76
Tel: 62380511
2. Elemen @ Thomson Plaza
301 Upper Thomson Road #01-113 
Tel: 64520351
 
Opening Hours:
11:30 - 16:00, 17:30 - 22:00
https://www.facebook.com/elemensg/?fref=ts