Living That Veg*n Life 🌱

A classic Chinese dish that’s easy to make vegetarian, and also one that’s hard to go wrong with. This version is packed with broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, mushrooms, white and black fungus, and braised beancurd. The sauce tasted like regular oyster or abalone sauce so this is a safe choice if you’re just starting or trying to go meatless.

For those looking for a lighter choice, D’life has got you covered. Meatless doesn’t mean tasteless here. The fish soup broth is tasty on its own, and comes with a generous amount of vegetables - cabbage, yam, carrots, tomatoes.

Can’t say the mock fish actually tastes like real fish, but if you’re used to mock fish then it is what it is, and I’m not complaining. Would’ve been nice if they gave more slices of mock fish though!

I think this is one of the more expensive mains in the Plentyfull menu. It would be pricey at $27++ on its own, but with Entertainer’s 1 for 1 Main Dish offer, this was actually very affordable.

I’m always in awe of Beyond Meat patties, and Plentyfull managed to cook this to a lovely medium rare doneness with a lovely red center. The buns were great as well, and the combination of melted cheese with caramelised onions was perfect.

The fries at Plentyfull were also artfully done. They were crispy, yet not dripping in oil. A little on the pale yellow side, but don’t let their colour fool you. They’re seasoned with just enough salt. We actually polished off ALL the fries because they were so good. Definitely one of the mains I will be ordering time and again with Entertainer because it’s worth the money.

*Plentyfull is on Entertainer. The 1 for 1 Mains include the Brunch, Sandwiches and Mains sections!

*Try reserving a table in advance if you want a nicer seat! Plentyfull is on Chope!

This isn’t one of the items on their regular items, it has to be ordered in a large batch. Thankfully, a family friend gave us some because it would be near impossible for my small family to finish a whole batch of these.

Thow Yen’s vegetarian mushroom pau doesn’t have the softest buns, but I really enjoy the filling which has as meaty texture. I love the earthy smell of mushrooms and this filling is so unique, I haven’t found any other pau maker that does the same. Worth ordering if you need some vegetarian paus but have to cater to meat eaters!

Juicy and tender sliced mushrooms breaded and fried to a lovely golden brown. This was as satisfying as eating a breaded chicken cutlet in my opinion, and it comes complete with fries, salad and baked beans. The cutlet does need to be cut into smaller pieces with a knife, because it is quite hard to chew the whole mushroom. While this isn’t a dish I would usually turn to at Sauté, it’s a great Western vegetarian option for when you’re in the mood for chicken cutlet or fish and chips.

I can’t resist handmade mee hoon kueh, and this is a dish I’ve ordered multiple times. However, I haven’t visited Saute in a while. Unfortunately, a few things have changed, and not for the better. Firstly, the portion size seems to have downsized a fair bit. It’s almost half of the amount of what I remembered. Next, the noodle texture isn’t as great as I remembered. It’s thinner, more slippery, and doesn’t have as much bite. The seasoning and ingredients are pretty much the same, but I would go for a different main next time.

The perfect dish for people who love crispy and chewy eggs in oyster omelette but not the oysters. Sauté serves up a vegetarian version with mushrooms and a great chilli sauce that’s slightly spicy and sweet. One of my favourite places to visit for “oyster” omelette!

*Saute is opening a new outlet at Funan this year too!

Seriously what sorcery is this? I love Sauté so much because these are the best nuggets I’ve had and they’re not even real meat. The texture is totally on-point, and the nuggets are fried to perfection. These nuggets will fool even meat lovers!

Originally wanted the Hakka Yong Tau Foo from the Orchard Road Soup stall at Food Republic in 313@Somerset, but was told that it wasn’t available. Decided on the lei cha with pumpkin rice next, but apparently they only had olive rice left. So here I was. I’m appalled at how badly stocked this stall is on Sunday evening.
Overall, the lei cha is not the best, but it’s also not bad. The thunder tea has a distinct grassy herbal taste, though the outlet here at 313 seems to be more watered down than the one in Suntec. The olive rice provides a saltier base than the pumpkin rice, but both of them complement the thunder tea overall. Not where I’d recommend for lei cha, but decent enough for a quick fix.

Disclaimer: this zhang isn’t made by the vegetarian stall, they purchased it from a supplier for dumpling festival and is just a seasonal item. Despite that, the pretty blue butterfly pea-coloured glutinous rice deserves a mention. The contrast of white and blue is really pretty, and the taste of the zhang is good too! The filling is fibrous and has a legitimate meat-like texture, which is enough to fool you into thinking that this is real meat and not a vegetarian zhang. It’s well-seasoned, and you can actually enjoy the rice or the fillings on their own, or together. Overall a surprise quality find in NUS Science Canteen, wish we’d known earlier so I could’ve bought some home as well.

Don’t be fooled by the name, Well Dressed Salad Bar certainly serves up a multitude of vegetarian and vegan dishes - and they are some good stuff! They’re housed in a corner unit with Eight Treasures Vegetarian (which serves Chinese vegetarian dishes) near the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. The staff will ask whether you’re here for WDSB or ETV, bring you to your table and provide the appropriate menus before coming back to take your orders later. Our young male server was a little blur about the menu items, but he was genuinely very sweet, friendly and earnest. Though some of the staff weren’t as friendly, the majority of them were proactive and helpful - even coming back to our table to check if we wanted ‘no onions’ in our other dishes as we’d specified that for another order, offering to take a family photo when all our food had arrived, checking if the sweetness was okay for my beverage as I’d requested for less sugar. The ambience at WDSB isn’t snobbish, it’s homely, welcoming, and with such delicious healthy vegetarian foods, I’ll definitely be returning.

Recommendations:
- Smokey Edamame Chia Nachos ($7.50)
- The BPMH Burger with SeaSalt Seaweed Chips as a side ($16.50)
- Veganlicious All-Day Brunch Set ($16.50)

The BPMH burger stands for black pepper monkey head mushrooms, served with bell peppers, celery, cucumber, tomato and avocado slices, tucked between lovely vegan wholemeal brioche buns. We ordered these without onions. This dish comes with two sides where you can select from herbed potatoes, seasalt seaweed chips, Italian pasta salad and garden salad. We went with the seaweed chips and garden salad which were fantastic choices - the seaweed chips were akin to fried popiah skin wrapped around crisp seaweed, which was a favourite across the table and we all agreed that we should order a double portion of this next time. The salad vegetables were really fresh, not a limp leaf in sight - always a good sign at any self-respecting eatery.

The monkey head mushrooms in this burger are sliced longitudinally which makes them all the better to absorb the black pepper sauce. I love the fibrous and meaty texture of monkey head mushrooms, and these were no exception. They were tender, chewy and oh so flavourful with the black pepper sauce. The vegan wholemeal brioche buns were toasted to crispness and tasted amazing. Not as buttery or sinful as regular brioche buns, but honestly they were so delicious in this burger I didn’t think I was missing out on anything. The vegetables in the burger were scattered quite haphazardly across the bun, so you won’t get a single bite with everything. That didn’t bother me much as the main star of the burger was the monkey head mushrooms, which were spread quite evenly across the whole burger. I did wish that the avocado was smashed and spread on the bun rather than sliced as the pieces kept slipping around. Eating this burger is a messy task, and I suggest just getting down and dirty with your hands instead of trying to be dainty and cutting it apart. Don’t expect that toothpick in the center to hold the burger together, and be gentle when putting the burger down as the fillings do tend to fall out.

Overall a delicious and satisfying burger that I wouldn’t mind ordering again but with such a wide variety of delicious and healthy dishes to choose from, it might be a while before I order the BPMH once more.