ALL-VEGGIE RESTAURANTS EVEN CYNICS WILL LOVE
They are a testament to the universal appeal of vegetables done just right.
H ere it is. Those who give up meat are usually a) deeply concerned about animal rights b) worried about their health or c) really love their veg so much that they are willing to forgo their bloodlust. Or it could be all of the above. But let’s face it: The last group of people is still a minority here, and many find it tough to give meat a miss – for good.
So for the longest time, vegetarians like myself watched longingly as restaurants in America and Europe celebrated their greens in interesting dishes that could absolutely upstage the meats. With the rise of plant-based diets, the movement swept the Western world and was regarded as part of a wider food culture, no different from ethnic cuisine.
Then in the last five years, chefs in Singapore started taking notice of a growing number of veggie aficionados yearning for more options. Ever hungry for an opportunity to reinvigorate their menus, they saw the potential for an exciting new type of creative vegetable-centric cuisine. The aim wasn’t to preach to the choir, but to court the masses with tantalising meatless options that even the most carnivorous souls couldn’t resist.
Enterprising chefs threw exotic ingredients, unusual cooking methods and interesting flavour combinations into the pot. And out came several all-vegan and allvegetarian eateries that have risen to prominence, each promising to make a veggie believer out of us without a shred of mock meat in sight. It’s no wonder that in 2016, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) named Singapore the No. 2 vegan-friendly city in Asia after Taiwan.
As if that wasn’t enough, nonvegetarian restaurants everywhere also started coming up with more diverse and appealing vegetarian and vegan dishes on their menus, ones that don’t invite “rabbit food” labels. Finally, being vegetarian no longer seems like a form of deprivation.
01 AFTERGLOW BY ANGLOW 24 Keong Saik Road, tel: 6224-8921
When Afterglow first opened in 2013, it took an austere approach to plant-based food. Founder Carmen Low was determined to introduce people here to the rawfood movement (“raw” means every ingredient is unprocessed and nothing is heated above 45 deg C). The cafe would use only the freshest, highest-quality produce.
Five years in China handling crisis communications for a big corporation and battling one food scandal after another had shown Carmen the importance of eating clean for the ecosystem and the body. She tried to communicate this to Singaporeans through her ambitious raw vegan cafe.
The wellness crowd and chefs who were tired of the more heavy-handed treatment of food in their kitchens flocked over to get their fill of pure and unadulterated fresh flavours. But the majority of customers simply weren’t ready for such a spartan menu.
“Cutting out processed food means you cannot disguise the taste of your ingredients in sauces,” Carmen explains. Local taste buds attuned to fiery chilli and salty oyster sauces did not take to unadorned dishes. “We realised we had to tweak the menu to make it more palatable to the local market.”
The menu went through multiple iterations before arriving at where it is today. It’s still mostly raw vegan, but has a sprinkling of hot options like soup and baked cauliflower bites, as well as a few non-vegan items like the quinoa and spinach burger that has egg and goat cheese.
These days, Afterglow attracts both raw-food proponents and those new to it. We are won over by its avocado kimchi rolls, which substitute cooked rice with pulsed almonds soaked overnight in water to release essential nutrients. The flavours are subtle. It’s the textural complexity which demands your attention and yields a pleasing symphony of mealy almond rice, creamy avocado and crunchy homemade kimchi that would go unnoticed with stronger seasoning.
Similarly, the crispy raw lasagne must be consciously savoured. Thinly sliced zucchini and pine nuts are used in place of pasta sheets and ground meat, layered with vegan cheese, fresh tomatoes and tomato puree.
Carmen’s success with Afterglow proves that you can have fun with clean food. Case in point: the rich raw cheesecake, made with cashew cream fudge, cold-pressed organic coconut oil and maple syrup on a cashew and date base.
Ng Wai Lek was a vegetarian for 29 years before he turned vegan in 2015 after learning about how cows and chickens in factory farms were illtreated for egg and dairy production. Unlike vegetarians, vegans don’t just avoid meat – they steer clear of all animal products.
The switch was tough, and Wai Lek found that most vegan eateries in Singapore were either upmarket or offered standard Chinese vegetarian fare. He wanted an accessible place. So, rather than wait for one to pop up, he opened his own vegan fastfood joint, Nomvnom, serving locally inspired vegan burgers.
Three years and three outlets later, business was booming. But a new challenge presented itself: How to make affordable vegan food less pedestrian and more sophisticated for the discerning millennial? The answer, Wai Lek thought, would be a laid-back cafe serving an eclectic mix of Western and Asian.
So he opened Cozy Corner by Nomvnom this year. The set-up is modest and welcoming, in a corner store at an HDB void deck. And, as he predicted, it attracted a new crowd of veggie-curious people. Teenagers stroll over in the evenings to grab a scoop of chickpea coffee ice cream or a bean-based waffle on a stick. Parents with toddlers pop by for a frothy and luscious purple sweet potato latte. And just about everyone stays for the thin-crust vegan pizzas. Our pick is the Monkey King Truffle pizza topped with button, king oyster and monkey head mushrooms, white truffle oil and a generous helping of homemade vegan cheese.
A word on vegan cheese: soyaand cashew nut-based cheeses (Cozy Corner’s version is a mix of both) bear no resemblance to the stringy mozzarella you typically find on pizzas. Instead, they have the pleasant consistency of lightly whipped cream. With an umami kick from nutritional yeast and none of the greasiness of real cheese, it has us reaching for more slices.
Non-cheesy pizza toppings like rendang and Mexican hummus are also available, as well as pasta, sushi and burgers on steamed buns, all within a very affordable $5-$20 for mains. Wai Lek says the menu is a work in progress – he makes frequent tweaks based on customer feedback, something he’s done from the start, since opening Nomvnom (which now has more than 20 burger choices). His philosophy: There shouldn’t be barriers to vegan food, and everybody can be part of making it better. The notion of vegetarian fine dining may seem absurd to some. It certainly seemed that way to regulars at Dozo, the JapaneseFrench restaurant that Huang Yen Kun was leaving behind in 2014 to start his new vegetarian eatery.
“Many of them made reservations when they heard our new restaurant was opening. But when they found out it was fully vegetarian, about 70 per cent cancelled,” recalls the restaurateur, who already had multiple successful establishments under his belt, including one in Melbourne. But he was undeterred.
Having spent years living in Australia and running his restaurant there, Yen Kun had tasted truly delicious vegetarian cuisine that did not revolve around mock meat. He saw a gap in the market here and seized his chance to elevate vegetables by showcasing them in ways Singapore had never seen before. He wanted to convince people
that even the most humble ingredient could be transformed with a little magic in the kitchen.
It wasn’t the vegetarians or vegans he was interested in wooing. That would have been too easy. “No, I opened Joie to target meat-eaters,” he says with a grin.
Yen Kun learnt that winning over non-vegetarians requires an element of performance. Taste and experience reign supreme; religious and ethical reasons are secondary. He doesn’t proselytise with facts about animal cruelty or the health benefits of a plant-based diet. Instead, he lets the intriguing menu do the talking.
Carrots blended with konnyaku masquerade as sashimi on a platter of visually stunning appetisers. It may be an optical illusion, but the slippery carrot slices taste inexplicably fishy too. And monkey head mushroom compressed into a block resembling meatloaf is served on a hot stone. Grilled like a slab of beef, the mushroom flesh, smoky and flavourful, melts in your mouth like the forbidden fat of a juicy steak. More than mere amusement for those who enjoy smoke and mirrors, the dishes are both mystifying and satisfying.
Every item is executed with artistic flair. A bowl of Japanese kunbu broth holds a piece of silken tofu painstakingly carved to spread out like a flower. And the lighter-thanair liquid chocolate dessert is a combination of four types of chocolate served at exactly the right temperature so the dessert melts on your tongue at once. It’s the blend of elaborate molecular gastronomy, age-old culinary techniques and masterful plating that make the meal unforgettable.
04 GANGLAMEDO VEGETARIAN CUISINE 40 Craig Road, tel: 9651-9788
Ganglamedo’s dining hall transports you to a bucolic past. Its wooden lounge chairs, room dividers made of colourful thread, and thoughtfully placed ornaments are rich with Tibetan heritage.
While meat is a staple in Tibetan households, Tibetan cuisine is known for its monastic tradition of plantbased, allium-free foods. (Onions, garlic and chives belong to the allium family of vegetables.) In 2016, owner Anita Yuan travelled to China to spend time with a Tibetan priest for a literal taste of the ascetic lifestyle.
Seeking to spread the message of compassion towards all life when she returned home, she left her job as a fashion-company manager to start Ganglamedo (“snow lotus” in Tibetan). Its contemporary take on Tibetan and Chinese cuisine nourishes the body without harming other creatures or the environment.
What sets it apart from traditional vegetarian eateries are the ingredients used: sea asparagus, bamboo fungus and purple cauliflower. It is also notable for its steamboat, the centrepiece of the set menu (for $49.90 a person) – pick one of four soup bases made from rich vegetable broth (mushroom, tomato, hot and sour, and white pea). The white pea soup stands out for its unexpected creaminess and depth of flavour.
Other dishes are delightfully experimental, such as the chewy sesame mochi bread served piping hot with vegan mayonnaise. Most of the meal is punctuated with mala spices, just enough that your tastebuds sing, without turning the rest of the food numbingly bland.
The star ingredient at Ganglamedo is cordyceps sinensis, sourced from the mountains of Tibet and touted for its supposed benefits to respiratory and heart health. It’s incorporated throughout the special Cordyceps set menu ($88 a person). A la carte items like Naqu cordyceps double-boiled soup, and dry tossed cordyceps flower – a cold dish with shredded carrots, radish and enoki mushrooms – are also available.
But the two in-house chilli oils really steal the show – the meaty mushroom chilli and sweet five-nut chilli are dangerously addictive.