Vegetarian Express

My Serangoon staying friend swore that there weren't any vegetarian eateries to the best of his knowledge at Heartland Mall. And then we stumbled on Vegetarian Express, opened on its very first day of business!

Congratulations!

We literally lighted up when we saw a promising new eating joint.
So despite having 12 Kuehs collectively just an hour ago, we decided to make a little bit more space to sample Vegetarian Express's offerings.

Chinese styled cooking oriented, we were impressed with the variety on its menu. Its dishes also come in small and large, kinda easy to cater to different group sizes.



I had been missing curry, so I chose the Fish Curry, while another selected Baby Kailan with Mushrooms and the last selection was the Tom Yam fried rice.

Fish Curry (small) $8.80

The Fish Curry is a mix of potatoes, brinjals, lady's finger, tomatoes, cabbages and mock fish.

What I like was the mock fish used. It was beancurd skin wrapped with seaweed, so much nicer than gluten.

The ingredients were generous and tasty, while the curry was balanced just right. Spicy with just a hint of sourness typical of fish curries while not too heavy.

What I don't like was that some of the vegetables were fried before added to the curry, it increased the overall oiliness. While I'm comfortable with natural fats and oils (uncooked olive oil, almond butter, avocadoes), processed vegetable oil are really unhealthy for the body and they do get stuck in our fat cells as our bodies protect our vital organs from toxic waste. Thus I'm quite concerned about the amount of oil used in this dish, and how hot oil frying changes the nutritional energy of the vegetables. It would be great to have a more holistic way of handling the ingredients and yet still have a great tasting curry.

Baby Kailan with Mushrooms (small) $6.80

The baby Kailan tasted crisp and fresh, the serving of mushrooms was generous. There were some mock meat added which kinda gives variety within this dish.

What I like best is the balance of different ingredients within this dish. Cooked simply but well done.

Tom Yam fried rice (small) $5.80

The Tom Yam fried rice lived up to its name. The rice was fried with different mock seafood, cabbage and carrots. What I like was the fragrance of lemongrass from the fried rice and the sourish spiciness atypical of tom yam flavour. It is also moderately spicy to suit the general palate.(The great thing was vegetarian blanchan is given on request) However it tasted a little dry and oily. More fresh vegetables in the dish to enhance the water content and crunchiness of the fried rice would make it a winner.

Vegetarian Express's food items taste similar to your typical 'zi zhar' stall. So its kinda easy for non vegetarians to adjust as well. And also for the vegetarians who miss 'zi zhar' food.  A special note; there's no GST or service charge, the prices quote were the ones reflected in the final bill.



Vegetarian Express
http://www.vegetarianexpress.com.sg/

Heartland Mall Kovan
2nd Storey Unit 4 S(530205)
Tel: 63835672
Opening Hours: 10am - 10pm

Fatt Soon Kueh

Sunday afternoon was a day spent with two handsome guys with huge appetites. But somehow inbetween deciding where to stop for our late lunch, we found ourselves at Kovan.

Kovan is usually out of my territory, not having much to do there. But with this blog, I was motivated to explore it further. What better fun than with friends? So we recce Kovan 209 food market.

Kovan 209 Food Market - right beside the prominent Heartland Mall

We found zilch vegetarian stall in the foodcentre, but what we do observed was the many fishball noodles stalls throughout the hawker centre. And a Fatt Soon Kueh stall. It earmarks the prominent Teochew culture in the area. (Are there many teochews in Kovan/Hougang?)

As a sidenote; to my scant knowledge, some of the hallmarks of Teochew food cuisine - Teochew porridge, fishball noodles, Png Kueh, Soon Kueh, Chwee Kueh, Jiu Cai Guo (Chives Kueh) and Orh-nee (Sweetened Yam paste)

Because we were soooo damn hungry, we settled for Chives kueh from Fatt Soon Kueh.

Yes there was a queue  But it was fast moving, so we got our Kuehs pretty quick.

This was part of my breakfast growing up. Mum would usually bring us to the food market in Bedok north where we had a rotation of Chwee Kueh, Soon Kueh, Chai Teow Kueh and Chee Cheong Fun for breakfast. So you figure where my fondness for most things rice flour come from.

Soon Kueh and Chives Kueh at 3 for $2.00

The Chives Kueh was yummy. The filling was decent and most important of all, it was fresh. You can taste the freshness of the Kueh skin (definitely not frozen and thawed) and the chives in the filling.

An interesting note about chives, or jiu cai in mandarin, it's definitely an acquired taste, like raw garlic. It reminds me vaguely of durian without the pungency. My companions didn't like it, so I had the remaining 2 to myself. :D

They use vegetable oil and no meat in their items. But the chives are fried with shallots, so depending on your version of vegetarianism, you may not want to have it.

As you can tell, we ordered the Soon Kueh as well. Similarly, the Kueh skins are freshly made and the melon and carrot filling with strips of fungus overwhelmed us with its freshness. (They really tasted great). But it's not vegetarian as there are bits of dried prawns (hay bee) in its filling.

So we thought this is it. The end of our vegetarian food hunt. As nice as Chives Kueh are (to me) no way can one survive on them daily. But lo and behold guess what we stumbled on next?



Fatt Soon Kueh
http://www.fattsoonkueh.com/

Blk 209 Kovan Food Centre #01-17
Opening Hours: 7am - 7pm (closed on wednesdays)

Blk 271 Bugis #01-118

Opening Hours: 7am - 7pm (closed on wednesdays)

Blk 207 New Upp Changi Road #01-51

Opening Hours: 7am - 11pm (closed on wednesdays)