Eating vegan in Singapore

I have been to Singapore several times, but last week was my first visit since I changed my diet to whole food, plant-based diet. My colleague and I were starving when we arrived at our hotel in the afternoon on Monday so we went straight to Paragon Shopping Center and decided to get some lunch at Din Tai Fung. 

Din Tai Fung, Paragon Shopping Center
Having tried DTF at their location in Jakarta before, I knew DTF is a vegan friendly restaurant. And I liked their dumplings and their sauteed pea shoots (pictured below).

Cucumber with sesame sauce - not my favorite. The sauce was too strong for me so I just ate the cucumber. 

Spinach and mushroom dumpling - my go-to dish at DTF and they were tasty

Sauteed watercress was also good but the portion was huge!

 vegetable bun - also my go-to item

My non-vegan colleague also ordered several non-vegetarian buns and dumplings. We had a lot of foods but were able to finish everything! Yes, we were that hungry.

Shangri-La Hotel
After having a big lunch like that, we were still full in the evening and didn't feel like having a big meal for dinner. Instead we just had some snacks at the Horizon Club. I woke up feeling hungry around 3:30 a.m. and ordered some room service when I couldn't go back to sleep. Glad I had some fresh papaya before I enjoyed this bee hon goreng (stir-fried rice vermicelli) at dawn.  

We had breakfast at the hotel restaurant every day. My breakfast for the first 3 days of my stay had been fresh fruits and vegetable dumplings because other vegetarian dishes on the buffet table and all bread selections had eggs or butter. On our last day, we went to BLU Restaurant on the 24th floor that had an awesome view of Singapore skyline. The set up was much nicer than the restaurant at the ground level. I had grilled portobello mushroom from their a la carte menu and asked it to be prepared without salt or sauce. It was tasty. 

I enjoyed with a pot of Japanese green tea. I loved the silver tea strainer and wanted to get one for myself but our waitstaff was unable to tell us where we could get one of those. 

Ling Zhi Vegetarian
I had lunch and dinner at their Liat Towers location on Orchard. I am not much of a fake-meat eater, but having read about their story and philosophy at their website, I was intrigued. So off I went for lunch one day. The menu was huge and everything looked delicious! It took me a while to decide what to order. The waitstaff who helped me was very friendly, patience and helped me choose what to order after I told her I did not consume eggs or fish oil. These are the two commonly ingredients used in vegetarian dishes in Asia. I started off with fresh melon juice with no sugar and vegan version of shumai for appetizer. 

Braised spinach soup with bamboo fungus came next. I could have this soup every day again and again. It was that good.

My main course was braised aloe noodle and chlorella with shredded vegetable. The dish didn't look appetizing at all, but it was quite good. Again, the portion was so big that it had to eat it very slowly in order to finish it. 

By the time I finished my meal, there was no room for dessert! I went back to Ling Zhi for dinner and per the restaurant manager's recommendations - she recognized me from lunch-, I ordered less meals. She literally told me that would be enough for me when I was eying the third item to order. 
I had this delicious asparagus and mushroom soup

And beancurd skin dish. Both were as tasty as my lunch earlier. 

I was so bumped out for not having the time to go to Whole Earth to try the peranakan food. Well, there is always next time.....

Raw Avocado, Banana & Chocolate (ABC) Pudding

We love avocados and are very fortunate to be able to get the fresh and organic ones at our farmers' market all year long. This morning, I skipped the green smoothie routine for breakfast and had avocado and chocolate pudding instead. It was easy, nutritious, delicious and didn't take long to prepare.  Just a perfect way to start the day!


ABC Pudding

serves 2

3/4 - 1 cup coconut milk (I used unsweetened So Delicious)

1 organic avocado, peeled and pitted

2 tablespoons organic, raw cocoa powder (I used Navitals Naturals)

4 soaked organic medjool dates, pitted 

1 frozen banana

1/4 teaspoons raw, organic vanilla powder (I used Live Superfoods)

Blend all ingredients together in a high speed blender,  garnish with fresh organic mint leaves and frozen or fresh organic raspberries, and serve. 

Strawberry Sauce

When I bought a basked  of fresh strawberries at the farmers market yesterday, I was planning to make David Lebovitz'  version of vegan strawberry ice cream. I said his version because I don't have an ice cream maker and was thinking about making it more smoothie-like consistency beverage. But I was not in the mood for recipe experiment today so I decided to just whip the strawberry in a food processor. 

Ingredients: 

1 cup organic strawberries
1½ teaspoon raw, organic Chia seeds
1 pinch sea salt
coconut nectar (I used Coconut Secret brand)
soaked organic medjool dates (optional)
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice to taste

Preparation: 

Process the strawberries until they are pureed. Add chia seeds, salt and coconut nectar. If the sauce is not sweet enough, add 2 or 3 medjool dates. Pour the sauce into a glass jar, add lemon juice to taste. Cover and chill in the refrigerator. Enjoy it on pancakes, waffles, french toast, ice cream or etc.

An Afternoon Snack

I snack a lot. At work, I will have either 4-5 of organic citrus fruits; tangerines, mandarin oranges, satsuma, or clementine - depending on what is available at our Farmers' Market - or a large handful of raw, organic nuts/seeds and dates. On a nice day like today though- we're very fortunate to have such a beautiful and summer weather in February - I prefer to enjoy a glass of cold milk, nut milk that is. 

Lucky me! I just made a jar of delicious homemade almond milk yesterday. This almond milk and my favorite Andean Dream quinoa chocolate chip cookies is a match made in heaven! Just yummy! These vegan, gluten and soy, corn-free, and fairly traded cookies are the best and tastiest store-bought chocolate chip cookies I have found so far. 

Zhouzhuang - Water Town

Pictures taken during a day trip to Zhouzhuang two days ago. Zhouzhuang is one of water villages in China, about 3 - 4 hour drive (with traffic) from Shanghai. Our guide said this town is believed to be China's first water town - with 900 years of history.  Half of the buildings in the village were built during the Ming, Yuan and Qing dynasties.

Banana & Strawberry Chia Pudding

I normally start my mornings with about 2 cups of green smoothie. While smoothies fill me up, they don't hold me over until lunch time. So this chia seed pudding comes to the rescue. And it has become my favorite morning snack at work. I like the jelly texture of soaked chia seeds and I can make tons of variations by using different kinds of fruits (fresh or frozen), nuts or seeds. The possibilities are endless. It is very easy to prepare, super healthy, and delicious! This pudding is also great for dessert - like this one which I prepared as soon as I got home from the farmers market with 3 baskets of organic strawberries this afternoon. I didn't want to wait until tomorrow morning to enjoy this juicy and sweet strawberries. Excellent pudding toppings! 


3 tablespoons raw, organic chia seeds
1 1/2 cups almond milk or any milk of choice 
pinch of pink himalayan salt
pinch of cinnamon
1 organic banana
5 fresh organic strawberries 
a handful organic raisin


Soak chia seeds in almond milk for at least 2 hours or overnight, stir often for the first 15 minutes to prevent clumping. Transfer to a serving bowl, and top with banana, strawberries and raisin. 

Quinoa & Shiitake Salad

It's Friday evening, I am hungry, I don't want a take-out, and I don't feel like eating out alone (hubby is on a business trip). So what's for dinner? There is not much left in my fridge on Friday - I go to Farmers Market every Saturday and/or Sunday, and only buy veggies and fruits for a one-week consumption. So dinner will have to be whatever left there. Glad I have quinoa, a staple in my kitchen that had become my go-to food since I became vegan. 


Quinoa & Shiitake Salad 
- 1/4 cup organic quinoa, cooked per directions
- 1 cup organic shiitake mushrooms
- 1 tbsp raw, organic coconut oil
- a splash of coconut aminos
- 1 garlic, crushed
- 5 leaves organic kale, chopped
- lots of organic greens
- organic cherry tomatoes


Directions
Saute shiitake mushrooms in coconut oil
Add crushed garlic and kale when the mushroom starts to wilt
Pour in the coconut animos then stir 
Turn off the head then add cooked quinoa and tomatoes. Toss together
Arrange greens on a plate than add the mushrooms and quinoa mix. 
Enjoy with a lot of smiles

True Food Kitchen

We finally tried True Food Kitchen at Santa Monica Place 4 months after it opened.  While TFK is not a vegan restaurant, it offers vegetarian, vegan and gluten free dishes - even though only 3 vegan items listed on the menu. I asked about several non-vegan items on the menu to see if they could be made vegan. The server said yes. Good to know for future reference. 

For appetizer, I had Shiitake & Tofu Lotus Cups with ginger, cashew and garlic sauce (pictured above) and melon and goat cheese salad for my hubby. My shiitake and tofu lotus cups were delicious! I could have 2 orders of those for my main.

Hubby had a ravioli dish which he liked. I didn't remember what's in the ravioli though. For my main, I had their organic tomato and roasted vegetable pizza, which was pretty good. 

We rarely order dessert when eating out unless we know for sure the restaurant we visit really has great dessert. But when I looked up their dessert menu and found several vegan dessert; I was tempted. We ended up with two orders to share; dairy free pomegranate sorbet and dairy free chocolate pudding with pistachio and walnut. The sorbet was so refreshing and delicious. It was gone in an instant. The chocolate pudding is also yummy and very rich. 

Overall I am happy. The food is tasty, the service is friendly and the place is beautiful and spacious! Since hubby and I spend our weekends in Santa Monica often, this would be the perfect place for both of us. 

True Food Kitchen

395 Santa Monica Place, Suite 172

Santa Monica, CA 90401

310-593-8300

Real Food Daily - Santa Monica

I am actually not a huge fan of Real Food Daily. While the food is quite good, it is ridiculously overpriced and the service was just okay. But my non vegan hubby can find many items off the menu that he can enjoy. So we go there quite often to both their Santa Monica and West Hollywood locations. Hubby and I went back for late dinner tonight.  

Fergalicious Salad

Hubby went with Fergalicious salad, the special of the week. It had Black eyed peas, garnet yams, red peppers, scallions, watercress, baby spinach, mixed cabbage, toasted coconut, spicy toasted almonds, chili lime vinaigrette. He was very pleased with his salad. I tried a few bites of his salad and it was good.

I ordered tortilla soup which I really liked, followed by the TV Dinner meal which was tempe vegetable loaf, mashed potatoes, golden gravy and steamed vegetables. While the meal didn't look appetizing at all, one of the reasons I waited this long to try it, it was actually not bad. The gravy was especially tasty.

TV Dinner

Real Food Daily
514 Santa Monica Blvd.        And      414 N La Cienega Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90401                   West Hollywood, CA 90048
(310) 451-7544                                    (310) 289-9910

Sauce on Hampton Venice

After our weekly Farmers Market run, we're headed to Venice to grab some lunch from the Green Truck. Alas, the truck was nowhere to be seen so we asked our friends at Tortoise for recommendations on restaurants that have vegan options in the area. They and one of the customers, who overheard our questions and was a local, recommended Axe and Sauce on Hampton. Based on their descriptions of the food and the vibe of the restaurant, we decided to try Sauce on Hampton.

The place was packed when we got there but fortunately a table on the sidewalk opened up less than 5 minutes later.  There were not a lot of options for vegan so I decided pretty quickly what to order (which was unusual). They had only one item that didn't need to be veganized; Pan-Seared Flaxseed Tempeh Crunch that had sauteed mushrooms, avocado, diced Persian cucumber, Roma tomato, and lemon juice and came with roasted yellow sweet potatoes . My non-vegan hubby ordered a Turkey Burger with light red cabbage slaw. My tempe wrap was delicious and so was the turkey burger - according to my hubby of course as I didn't try it.  The bill came with homemade  chocolate chip cookies which looked really good - unfortunately it was not vegan. 


Sauce on Hampton
259B Hampton Dr.
Venice, CA 90291
Ph. 310-399-5400