Vegetarian Food

There must be something to be said about chinese stall owners; they are pretty straightforward people. Vegetarian Food despite its name, served up damn good noodles.



The lady in pink is the stall owner. She started the stall by manning it herself, so it was one woman kicking. Good sign to see her getting an assistant!

HouTou Mushroom Noodles $3.50

I had their specialty - HouTou (monkey head) mushroom noodles for breakfast Sunday morning and the noodles seriously rocked my world. At least till lunchtime. When I was a kid around 6 to 7, mum and I would go to Marine Parade for keyboard lessons. After class, we would go to Katong for beef noodles. I think that beef noodles shop might be still around.

In my memory, those rice vermicelli noodles (beehoon) were served in thick gravy with slices of beef, a handful of beansprouts (tau gay) and parsley garnishing on top. I never had any inclination towards beef, but the rich soup warms up your tummy and heart, especially on a cool rainy day. And finally I met it's vegan contender.

The beehoon in HouTou Mushroom noodles were stained brown from the soup and the said soup was alittle starchy but flavourful. The mushrooms were braised in the soup for a sufficient length of time and tasted better than any kind of braised meat. They were also generously added in chunks. I squeezed out the lime, pulp and all, plus added a good spoonful of green chili (this blogger can't live without spicy food) and the flavours went well together, it was incredible.

The only part I didn't like was that spoon of fried, oily unidentifiable thing.(I suspect it's dough). I can't find my fondness for oily food, so I removed it from the noodles.

Ngoh Hiang $2.00

 I also ordered a side of Ngoh Hiang. It tasted exactly the same as the one at Yes Natural at Geylang, except she didn't heat it up. They must had ordered from the same supplier.......

Without a doubt Ngoh Hiang was also one of the dishes I missed very much and I'm so glad it found its way back to my menu again!



2nd visit:

I popped by for dinner again on a cool after rain evening and ordered the Nyonya Laksa with a serving of cucumbers.

Nyonya Laksa $3.00

It was beehoon (thick rice vermicelli) in a very mild laksa soup with Yam roll and Ngoh Hiang slices with pieces of taupok. And a sprinkling of beansprouts.

I can't find the Nyonya in the laksa. It was neither rich not piquant. Neither can I acknowledge it as Laksa either, it wasn't that spicy. But just as beehoon cooked in mild laksa soup, it wasn't bad. The soup was fairly tasty too, after I had skimmed off some oil. The best thing was I didn't pick up any much MSG used in the food. And I like Yam roll and Ngoh Hiang pretty much.     If only there's more fresh vegetables in the dish!

Vegetable side $1.00

I also order a side of pickled cucumber lookalike,(I adore ah char by the way, so that was where my curiosity came from) only that I was wrong. It turned out to be cucumber and carrots blanched in water and lightly seasoned with oil, salt and sugar. God knows why but I polished it. I think I was madly craving for greens.










Vegetarian Food

Location: Tampines St 21,  Blk 201C
Opening hours: 6.30am - 8.00pm daily

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Just Greens

Eating is a happy thing. Especially after a 25 days fast. So with renewed appetite and much gusto, I set about eating out again. And one of the stall that I went to in my first week of post fast meal was Just Greens.

It's located at Eastlink foodcourt, right at the exit of Tampines interchange heading towards the MRT.  So inbetween my tution classes,  it was a tossup between a wrap at subway and Chinese style cooked lunch. Rice won, so Just Greens it was. 

 It's a pretty simple stall, not much specialty dishes. But plenty of variety like a typical a mixed rice stall. I tried ordering the Assam fish, but it wasn't in season.

What I like about this stall is primary its location. It's right inbetween the MRT and interchange, so for someone shuttling around in Tampines like yours truly, getting a quick bite is awfully easy. 

Another plus is its variety of dishes, I found it fairly pleasing. The neatness of its setup and overall presentation does enhance my visual appetite. 

Brown rice with 3 vegetables. $5.00

(For some reason I can't get the photo to be aligned correctly, so apologies for neck exercises.) I love my veggies. It somehow doesn't sit well with me unless half my plate is filled with vegetables. Which explained my broccoli, cauliflower and vegetable curry. The rice portion was also halved on my request.

I like how nicely moist and sticky the brown rice was. The curry was quite sweet, which I put down to the winter melon added to the curry. The vegetables were alright, crunchy. The cooking was pretty tasty, and the soup which was given free was yummy. It was pumpkin and corn soup  (which tasted sweet and flavourful.) On close examination, the pumpkin was finely shredded and the corn was in their kernels which increased the concentration of the soup.

My only gripe was that firstly my meal costed $5. I think brown rice costed $0.50 more? But still, it was a tad expensive for a foodcourt in the heartlands.

2nd visit:

I went back again for a breakfast cum lunch one week later And this time I managed to order the Assam fish with my 2 vegs + a tofu.

Brown rice with 3 dishes and Assam fish - $6

The tofu was nice, fried but not oily, topped with cucumber and carrot strips with a salty bean paste.

The assam fish was a very believable mock lookalike, the sauce was very milky, and hardly spicy, with long beans, brinjals and tomatos. It wasn't too oily and would be much more memorable if spicier. (It's Assam man!) 

Unbeknownst to me, I was sharing the table with the boss and his manager. And they chat with me telling me that their vegetables are all organic. (Which explains the sweetness of their food, Great to know that) So I mentally revised my first gripe. For organic vegetables their pricing is reasonable. Plus the organic veggies do taste so much better. Lastly, I'm glad to know the source of sweetness in their food, it's from the veggies! :)  



Just Greens
Location: Eastlink Foodcourt, Tampines Interchange
Opening Hours: 6.00am to 10.30pm
Special note: Discount available from 9.30pm till 10.30pm. $3.50 for 3 sides and any rice.