Thursday, December 06, 2007

Eight Immortals Vegetarian

My DH and I first went to this restaurant last week. We had heard about it from a friend, although I have also seen it while passing by on previous occasions, but never thought about giving it a try. The restaurant is not at all fancy, but is clean and brightly lit, with simple decoration.

We ordered a vegetarian fish soup, Peking duck (mock duck, of course) and a sambal kangkong. The soup is a milky soup with crispy fried "fish", tofu, preserved veg and some mushrooms. The Peking duck was served with cucumber and lettuce - which you are supposed to use to wrap the slices of "duck" in. Sambal kangkong is a local vegetable cooked in chilli paste.



We took a picture after all the food arrived (and we had already started on some of it!). We really enjoyed the soup, and DH liked the "fish" inside. The kangkong was good and spicy! I thought the Peking duck was a little dry, but still quite ok. Overall, it was a satisfactory meal :-)

Today, we decided to go again, and since we liked the soup so much, we got it again. We decided to try the gong bao "chicken" (gong bao ji ding) and the kai lan in "oyster sauce". The gong bao chicken is mock chicken cooked with cashew nuts and red chilli peppers. It turned out to be really good - better than most gong bao chicken we have had at other places. The kai lan was... well, kai lan! Perhaps we should go for more interesting veges next time!

Tonight's dinner came up to about $20 for the two of us.

Eight Immortals Vegetarian Pte Ltd
Blk 721 Clementi West St 2
#01-126, Singapore 120721
(beside West Coast Road Chinese Temple & CC)
(opposite Ginza Plaza)
Tel: 6774 6102

Note: They also operate outlets in various food courts around the island.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Home-made Fried Rice

My home-made fried rice:

Well, it isn't really all that fancy, and I suppose pretty much anything can be fried with the rice. Here's how I did this particular one:

Ingredients:
1/2 a red onion
1 chilli
1pc Tau Kwa (the firm kind of tofu)
1/2 a yellow bell pepper
a handful of bean sprouts
1 stalk of xiao bai cai (sometims called chinese mustard)
1 bowl cooked rice
1 egg
2 tsp oil (or enough for frying)
1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
1 tsp soy sauce (or to taste)

Preparation:
- Chop the onion and chilli. Cut the tau kwa and yellow bell pepper into strips.
- Wash the bean sprouts and xiao bai cai. Cut the xiao bai cai into small pieces.
- Heat oil and fry the tau kwa until it is golden-brown (yeah I love doing that).
- Push the tau kwa to the side of the wok, add onion, chilli and salt in the center. Fry and mix in the tau kwa.
- Throw in bell pepper, bean sprouts and stalk of xiao bai cai. Fry 'til "al dente". Then add the leaves of xiao bai cai.
- Make a space in the center of the wok and add the rice. Add a more oil if necessary to prevent the rice sticking to the wok. Add soy sauce and fry, mixing in all the other ingredients.
- Make a space in the center of the wok, break the an egg in the center, mix in all the rice and ingredients and fry.

TIP: For best results, use cold rice (e.g. refrigerated overnight).

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Ling Zhi Vegetarian Restaurant

Ling Zhi Vegetarian RestaurantLast weekend, my DH and I went to Ling Zhi Vegetarian Restaurant for dinner. There are two branches, one at Far East Square, the other at Liat Towers. We went to the Liat Towers branch, and above is the entrance to the restaurant.

Ling Zhi Water Chestnut Tea    Ling Zhi Spinach Soup
We had the "special tea" - it was a water chestnut drink that day. (picture above left). To start, we ordered spinach soup (picture above right). The soup is served in a bamboo cup - really cute! It is a simple and refreshing concoction, and is not overly spiced or savoury, which brings out the flavor of the ingredients. We enjoyed the simplicity of it all.

We ordered three main dishes. I really can't remember what the names are in the menu, so I will just describe them, and hope the pictures do them justice.

Ling Zhi Mock Fish
The mock fish consists of layers of beancurd wrapped in crispy seaweed-type "skin", with shreds of caramelised ginger on top, and chili sauce on the side. DH and I absolutely loved this dish.

Ling Zhi Stuffed Eggplant
The stuffed eggplant (picture above center) came in a claypot, and was served with four fried buns. I wasn't expecting the fried buns and had also ordered white rice! I ended not eating any of the rice. The eggplant was stuffed with tofu, and served in claypot with mushrooms and potato slices. The sauce was good (and went well with the fried buns). This is a tasty dish!

Ling Zhi Bag of Treasures
The only dish for which I remember the name on the menu is the "Bag of Treasures". This consists of veggies wrapped in beancurd skin, and served with broccoli, with a drizzle of a light sauce. Nice simple addition to the meal.

Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed dinner. It is known that this restaurant isn't exactly cheap - we spent over $60 on dinner for 2 - but it was definitely worth it!

LingZhi Vegetarian Restaurant - Liat Towers
541 Orchard Road,
#05-01 Liat Towers,
Singapore 238881
Tel: 6734 3788
Print-friendly website
Tung Lok Group website

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Porta-Porta Italian Restaurant

Last night, my DH and I went out for dinner with a friend. Our friend had suggested an Italian place in Changi, and made a reservation for 7:30pm. Driving all the way to the other end of the island wasn't exactly pleasant. We set out - from the West side! - at 7pm, and traffic was stop-and-go most of the way. We had to call our friend to change the reservation to 8pm instead!

The restaurant is one of a row of old shophouses. It is a small place, with barely eight tables, but extremely cosy. We were brought bread (picture right) and olive oil with small pieces of vinegared eggplant which was really good. For starter, we also ordered smoked mozzarella - which we devoured before I remembered to take a picture of it!

My DH got a penne arrabiata in black olive sauce (picture left). It was excellent! The black olive sauce had crushed black olives in it, and the dish was nicely spicy. The penne was al dente, and nicely so (unlike some other places where it tastes hard).

I got the parpadelle in cream sauce with mushrooms. The parpadelle was excellent - it was extremely fresh tasted lovely. I have never tasted such great pasta in Singapore before! The cream sauce was light and the dish was served with a ton of mushrooms. The portions were hearty, and I was getting rather full towards the end.

After the main course, we decided to share dessert - a tiramisu, which was highly recommended (picture left). For good reason too, as it was one of the best I had tasted - the mascarpone was fantastic, and the biscuit layer at the bottom was soft and yummy "rummy".

Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed dinner, and the atmosphere - definitely worth the 1-hour drive through traffic. It may be on the expensive side, with each pasta dish costing $24 or more, but certainly worth it. It also has an interesting selection of pasta, with different sauce options other than the common boring red tomato sauce. Indeed this must be one of the best Italian restaurants I have been to in Singapore!

Porta-Porta Italian Restaurant
971 Upper Changi North Road
Changi Garden
Singapore 507668
Tel: 6545 3108

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Food Tasting at Silk Road Restaurant (Amara Hotel)

A couple of days ago, we were at Silk Road at the Amara Hotel for a "food tasting". The 9-course vegetarian menu is as follows:
Vegetarian Cold Cut Combination
~*~*~
Vegetarian Hot & Sour Szechuan Soup
~*~*~
Braised Vegetarian Chicken with Broccoli
~*~*~
Steamed Tofu with Mushroom
~*~*~
Steamed Winter Melon with Vegetarian Goose
~*~*~
Yam Ring with Seasonal Vegetables
~*~*~
Braised Mushrooms with Spinach
~*~*~
Braised Ee Fu Noodles
~*~*~
Mango Pudding

The first dish was nicely decorated, and very interesting but the portion was disappointingly small. The soup was pretty good - nicely hot & sour - very appetising.

The third dish had more broccoli than "vegetarian chicken", but since I love broccoli, that was just great. However, the next dish seemed to have exactly the same gravy, but more of it! While the gravy was fine with the broccoli and "vegetarian chicken", it didn't go that well with steamed tofu and mushrooms. Or perhaps I wasn't expecting to have more of the similar-tasting stuff...

By now, I was already starting to get kinda full, but the winter melon in the next dish was a nice touch, with a cool and light taste. The yam ring was not exactly what I expected - I didn't see a ring, just two strips of what seems to be fried yam... Looks more like "yam fries"! Hmm... was it too much to expect them to make a ring for individual servings?

After this was a dish of mushrooms and spinach. The spinach was ok, BUT they dumped a ton of button mushrooms on top of the spinach - uh, I could have gotten that out of a can. In fact, I probably could have made this dish myself! DH hardly touched it...

The noodle dish was rather disappointing, as it was utterly dry, and lacked... everything - it was literally just fried ee fu noodles! Ok, with a sprinkle of mushrooms. What did I expect? Well, perhaps some veggies, say strips of carrot and a few strands of greens, and a little bit of gravy would be nice.
However, the mango pudding was a nice sweet ending, with real mango chunks at the bottom.

SIX of the courses had mushrooms, and given the my DH is not a great fan of mushrooms, I ate his as well. I had totally "overdosed" on mushrooms by the end of the evening!

Overall, while many of the dishes were quite tasty, a few were rather disappointing. Also, the presentation was not at all appealing, except for the first dish, which we didn't take a picture of. Practically all the were dishes served in just a plain white bowl. It almost seems like they put in the minimum thought necessary so that they can justify getting away with it on the actual day, if we didn't say anything! I felt kinda bad that my sis and her fiancé had to pay $90 per person for this.

Silk Road Restaurant
Amara Singapore, Level 2
165 Tanjong Pagar Road, Singapore 088539
Tel: 62273848
http://www.silkroadrestaurants.com/rest.html

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Vegetarian Festival in Thailand

Thailand observes the Vegetarian Festival, starting on the first day of the 9th month of the Lunar calendar, and lasting for 10 days. This year, that would be 10-19 Oct. The Bangkok Post reports the Vegetarian festival in full swing, ahead of the actual date!

Here's an article about the festival: Festivals Southern Thailand

How interesting, it would be fun to go if I can go. Perhaps all countries should observe something like this every year!

Saturday, October 06, 2007

Lemongrass Thai Restaurant

This evening we had a dinner date with another couple and their baby. We went to Lemongrass at Pasir Panjang, and it was pleasantly good.

The baby got her own chair and utensils, and she immediately busied herself playing with them. Overall the service was great. I also noticed that they now have a vegetarian section in the menu!

We got the mango salad and spring rolls for starters. The mango salad was really good - tangy and spicy! The spring rolls were tasty, but nothing too phenomenal. For mains, we got the tofu with basil, kailan with mushrooms and the green curry. We also got the thai style noodles (pad thai). I really liked the green curry. The tofu must have been made with tamarind, which gives it a slightly sourish-tangy taste!

Lemongrass Thai Restaurant
http://www.lemongrass.com.sg/

Friday, September 21, 2007

PAM Real Thai

PAM Real Thai is a little eat-in restaurant at the corner of West 49th Street and 9th Avenue in Manhattan. MM did not have too high expectations, but I was raving about it. Cheap, Tasty, and Fast. A triple play!

They have an extensive meat and fish menu for the non-vegetarians and a separate veg menu for the vegetarians. Unlike many restaurants, vegetarians actually have a choice of items instead of the token one or two dishes.

Ok, here is the verdict. We got two dishes.

The first - Tofu and Sprouts.
MM: The sprouts were really good, but the tofu was a bit rubbery. The dish overall was pretty tasty.
Me: This is not a dish that I would typically order. Bean sprouts to me are something that just go over pad thai, not a main dish. But I was pleasantly surprised. The dish was tasty. The tofu was good as well but there was not enough of it. Overall, glad I tried it and something I would order again.

The second dish - Vegetarian Duck in Basil Sauce.
MM: IMHO, the dish was a little over the top. They tried a bit too hard, YKWIM. The veggie duck was pretty good, the capsicum was really good though. The sauce was very heavy, but KM says she likes to drizzle it over rice.
Me: This is my favorite dish at Pam, which I always get. It is very tasty, with garlic, onions and basil. It is a bit saucy but I don't mind that. I usually get it very spicy which kicks it up another notch. A must try for any vegetarian. I could eat this for dinner everyday and for $6 it would not break my bank!

The price of the meal (with one Thai iced tea) and tip was $17. Ok, even I have to admit that is a good deal in NYC.

404 W 49th St.Between 9th and 10th Ave.
212 333 7500
http://www.pamrealthai.com/

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Earle Swensen's at Vivo City

My colleagues and I had lunch at Earle Swensen's at Vivo City today. I had originally thought it would be just like any other Swensen's, but no - it is supposed to be a "high class" Swensen's, and guess what, "high class" Swensen's doesn't have anything vegetarian on the menu! Oops, sorry, gotta take that back - forgot about the fries, and the ice cream...

Check it out for yourself - Earle Swensen's has its menu online!

The only saving grace was that it has a lovely salad bar, with nice & fresh produce. Trust me, I have been to salad bars in Singapore where the lettuce look pathetic! But not here. I loved the corn, and the Waldorf salad, and a ton of other greens they had in there.

Oh and I forgot to mention that, for lunch on weekdays, they have a set menu which is quite reasonably priced, that actually has one dish I could get - vegetable spaghetti!! Woohoo! That comes with the salad bar, coffee/tea and ice cream, all for $15.90++. Of course the spaghetti portion was also reasonably suited to the price, but I'm not complaining, as I actually already filled myself on the salad before the spaghetti was served.

Saturday, September 08, 2007

My first attempt at Char Kuay Teow

This evening, I suddenly had the urge to try making char kuay teow. I had no recipe, just a packet of fresh kuay teow I bought from the Sheng Shiong supermarket, and some imagination. I sort of had to make do with whatever I had in my fridge, and here's how it turned out:


In case anyone is interested, here's how I did it:
Ingredients:
    a handful of Kuay Teow
    a handful of bean sprouts
    1/2 piece tau kwa
    1/4 an onion
    1/4 yellow bell pepper
    3 stalks spinach
    1 egg (optional)
    1/2 teaspoon chilli black bean paste
    2 teaspoon soy sauce
    oil (sufficient for frying)

- Fry the tau kwa until golden-brown. Set aside.
- Brown the onions, then add bell pepper and bean sprouts.
- Add the tau kwa, and chilli black bean paste and soy sauce.
- Add kuay teow and spinach.
- Make a space in the center of the wok, break the egg in and fry.

Well, it tasted pretty good, but wasn't spicy enough - gotta put more chilli bean paste next time!

Friday, September 07, 2007

Vegetarian Bak Kut Teh

I made Vegetarian Bak Kut Teh last night.

"How do you make bak kut teh without the bak?", my sister asked.

Well, I used mock meat, chinese mushrooms, tau kwa, and tau pok. Ok, I did not make the spices from scratch - I used the pre-packet spice, which made it easier.

Today, I found a recipe in The Star Online - Kuali. I wish I had also thought of putting in beancurd sticks and cabbage! And of frying the mock meat before...

Still my concoction came out quite tasty. Will experiment with other ingredients another day.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Anatolia Turkish Restaurant

My friend first introduced me to Anatolia a few years ago. I have been returning to this restaurant many times since, and again this evening. The restaurant is a small and cozy place, in a quiet corner of Far East Plaza.

They are quite vegetarian-friendly, and what I really love is their lentil soup, salad bar, sutlac (rice pudding dessert) and of course turkish tea! In terms of main courses, they have vegetarian lamacun, pide and omelettes. There is, of course, also the turkish ice cream booth, complete with all the tricks that are really amusing to watch!

Anatolia Turkish Restaurant
14 Scotts Road #02-58/29 Far East Plaza
Tel: 6836 3352

Saturday, August 25, 2007

The peril of eating alone in a foodcourt in Singapore

Imagine this: you are alone, trying to grab a quick bite at the foodcourt before heading off to your next appointment (whatever that may be). In the middle of your meal, you get up to get a drink (or a fruit or whatever). That takes no more than 1 minute, but the next thing you know, your food is no longer there!

This is no joke, and has happened to me before, and almost happened to me again this morning. Luckily I was quick enough to yell at the "uncle" to inform him that I wasn't yet done!

Somehow the foodcourts in Singapore seem to have a super-efficient system of clearing tables - when you don't want it cleared! As opposed to when you're waiting for someone to clear vacated table still full of empty dishes...

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Miao Yi Vegetarian Restaurant

A Chinese-vegetarian restaurant, tucked away on the 3rd floor of Coronation Plaza. It may not be very prominent, but always seems to be very well-patronized every time we are there. As with all other Chinese-vegetarian restaurants, it serves the usual concoction of mock meat, but also has a great selection of tofu dishes.

When we were there last weekend, we tried a "soft tofu fantasy", which was tofu fried with a crisp brown skin but still white and soft inside. It was topped with crunchy bell pepper and TVP bits. Another dish that was a "first" for us was a sweet-and-sour mock duck (or some mock meat). The mock meat was crispy, and the sweet and sour sauce was just nice - not too sweet and not too sour!

This is one of vegetarian restaurants we have returned to frequently, as we enjoy the selection of dishes they offer.

Miao Yi Vegetarian Rstnt Pte Ltd
#03-01/02 Coronation Shopping Plaza Singapore 269707
Tel : 6467-1331

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

The NUS "Arts Canteen"

The canteen in the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences at the National University of Singapore has recently undergone renovation and will begin operations again on 13 August 2007. Oh, yes and it is now called "The Deck".

Here's the layout of the new canteen.

Anyway, there will be a vegetarian stall there... I wonder if it will be the same stall holder as before, as I really liked how they always had a clear soup on the menu every day.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Imperial Herbal Sin Chi Cafe and Restaurant

Two weeks ago, I met up with a few high-school classmates for dinner. Being the only vegetarian, I was again compelled to be the one to suggest where to go.

Just for kicks, I called up Imperial Herbal Sin Chi Cafe and Restaurant at Vivo City, to ask if they cater for vegetarians. Yes, of course they do, you can ask the captain on duty for vegetarian recommendations!

Well, I certainly didn't forsee the difficulty finding parking on a Saturday evening, which made me half an hour late! By the time I arrived, my friends had already finished a (non-veg) starter, which was fine by me. Apparently, the starter was good enough to prompt one of them to make a reservation for her family lunch the next day!

As I wasn't up to eating too much, I ordered a soup for myself. We also got a dish of greens, a tofu dish, and a noodle dish which we shared. Overall, it was pretty good, and my friends also enjoyed the non-veg dishes they got.

Saturday, May 12, 2007

My Special Salad

Last night I made a special salad for my DH:

Friday, May 04, 2007

Korean food

I was in Korea for two weeks in February. During those two weeks, I sort of got hooked on Korean food... not that it is all that vegetarian-friendly, but what there is is pretty good.

First off, I love kimchi. Most places make it vegetarian. I also like the spicy ramen noodle soup. I suppose, anything spicy is yummy! ;-) The little sides of vegetables were also pretty good.

I also like the soybean soup, but since most places use meat stock for the soup, I did not manage to have too much of that. Bibimbap can be made vegetarian very easily, and I like the sunny-side-up egg on top of the rice.

And of course - lots of seaweed and rice (with kimchi)!

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Secret Recipe

On Friday, my colleagues and I went for lunch at Secret Recipe (at Anchorage). This restaurant has exactly two (2) vegetarian dishes on the menu - a vegetarian spaghetti, and some Japanese noodle dish. HOWEVER when I tried to order, the waiter could only tell me, sorry, the vegetarian dishes are not available!
What absurdity!

I asked what I could eat then, since we came in because there are some vegetarian options. Trying to be helpful, he suggested the prawn arrabiata spaghetti, without the prawns. Normally I would have just nodded and said ok, but that day, I just thought I'd ask, how much it would cost me to have the prawn arrabiata without the prawns.

To my disbelief, he said, we'll charge the same... the same as what? the same as the prawn arrabiata even without the prawns! Erm, the vegetarian spaghetti cost about $2 less than the prawn arriabiata, and I'm going to get charged for the prawns, when I don't want the prawns?

Finally I asked for his manager, who came out to explain, very politely, that they don't have vegetarian dishes because the factory did not send the material. Well, I don't really need to know that, nor do I care - I just want to know that I won't be getting charged for prawns that aren't going to be there! Eventually, he agreed to make a vegetarian spaghetti, but not before repeated warnings that the dish won't be the same as described in the menu!!

Friday, January 19, 2007

Min Jiang Restaurant

Last Friday, we attended a small dinner function at Min Jiang Restaurant in Goodwood Park Hotel, at 22 Scotts Road. Like many Chinese restaurants, they offer the regular full-course dinners, while serving the vegetarian meal as individual portions.

The restaurant's interior design was very interesting - there was a main corridor, with wooden floor & walls, a mirror on one end, wooden sliding doors leading to private rooms. The room we were in had just 4 tables, and a private "attached bathroom"! The food was pretty decent.

Just for interest's sake, in May 2006, Goodwood Park Hotel opened its second Min Jiang restaurant at One-North, no. 5 Rochester Park.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Annalakshmi Restaurant

Annalakshmi is an Indian vegetarian restaurant with a noble concept:
Eat what you like, Pay as you wish
We belive in you and trust you
The main restaurant and the arts center is located in Chinatown Point. The basement location is cool - we descended on the escalator, and were deposited right at the door of the restaurant!

Here, lunch is buffet-style, and dinner is a la carte. The food is excellent. Staff are volunteers, and are quite friendly. Reservations are recommended.

Annalakshmi also runs another branch at Amoy Street, as well as two Dosa Deli corners, one in the Biopolis food court, and the other at Lau Pa Sat. They also have a presence in Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Coimbatore, Perth and Chennai.

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