Herbivore By Zen Japanese Vegetarian Restaurant @ Fortune Center

This place was recommended by my colleague whom is a vegetarian. Prior to this, I'd usually think of Elemen, if we are looking for a vegetarian restaurant.

The restaurant is inside Fortune Center, and pretty easy to find. The shop was smaller in size than anticipated.

restaurant entrance

almost all tables have a 'Reserved' tag

We were dining on a Saturday evening, and hence reservation is a must. The place was bustling! Trays after trays of food were being sent out from the kitchen and looks like bento was commonly ordered amongst the diners.

order pad

Although we weren't inform of the time limitation when making reservation, there was a small signage inside the restaurant that indicated so. If I remembered correctly, each table was limited to a 75 minutes dining during peak hours.

Ordering was easy via the order pad placed on each table. I ordered a drink and will eat whatever that my colleagues had ordered prior to my arrival (sorry, I was the last to arrive!).

my drink

Tonkatsu bento @$22

Teriyaki Chicken bento @$22

The bento seemed to have the same side dishes and dessert, hence the only difference was in its 'main'. From the bento sets, I prefer the tonkatsu more than the teriyaki chicken. Reason being, there was some herb taste with the teriyaki chicken and I didn't like that.

Other than that, the nicest side dish was the donut looking thingy that tasted almost like a 'squid' ring, Pretty yums.

fried rings (at the back) was yummy

The fresh springroll was rather healthy tasting. Loved that there's a small side dish of salad as well.

fresh and healthy tasting

small salad of lettuce, turnips, radish and cherry tomatoes

The sauce/dressing seemed to be soy/sesame predominantly. There was one small side dish that consisted of beancurd skin and that came with spicy sauce.

hot pot

Not sure which hotpot my colleagues ordered as it looked like the tofu and yasai hotpot, but it came with 'pork belly' and that was an eye opener. Really tasty and the texture was almost similar to the 'real' thing. It amuses me every time! 

However, the most recommended item were the unagi maki and the mushroom cheese.

mushroom cheese

First impression of the mushroom cheese? Wow, it was really a flavour burst! And, by far the most salty amongst the rest of the items that I had tried that night.

Unagi Maki @$14

I liked the unagi maki the best! Balanced flavours and best tasting. Lovely!

closer view of the maki

We spent about $35 per pax for a meal here.

Herbivore

Address: 190 Middle Rd, #01-13/14 Fortune Centre, Singapore 188979

Website: https://www.herbivore.sg/

Contact: +65 6333 1612

Business Hours: 

Daily: 11:30AM–2:30PM, 5–9PM

[Media Invite] Fifth Season Tangra Chinese Restaurant @ 28 Race Course Road

It has been quite a while since I last visited Race Course Road. Last visit was mainly for naan's or curry fish head. However, little did I realise that there is an interesting place located there as well called Fifth Season Tangra Chinese Restaurant. An Indian restaurant serving up Chinese fare. Excited to try!

order via iPad

We started with soups; Hot n Sour Chicken Soup, Thukpa Chicken Soup and Manchow Chicken Soup. Portions are good for two to share. My favourite was the Hot n Sour Chicken Soup. Tasty and spicy.

Hot n Sour Chicken Soup @$9.80++

The Tibetan Thukpa Chicken Soup was tangy and refreshing with lots of vege while the Manchow Chicken Soup was comfortingly familar.

Tibetan Thukpa Chicken Soup @$9.80++

Manchow Chicken Soup @$9.80++

One of the items in the menu that caught my interest was the momo. Momo's are basically dumplings stuffed with either vegetables or minced chicken meat. One can have it deep fried or steamed.

Pan-fried Chicken Momo Spicy Plate (5 pcs) @$12++

Steamed Chicken Momo (5 pcs) @$10.90++

The spicy momo was tasty and the spice level was awakening but it doesn't linger. Liked the steamed momo more as it resembled a bit like a chicken xiao long bao.

The restaurant offers a wide range of sauces that will cater to most tastebuds. Go from  Parsley, Oyster, Mustard, Mild Garlic, Manchurian, Sweet Garlic, Sweet and Sour, Chili Soya, Hot Garlic and Szechwan.

Crispy Chili Baby Corn @$14.20++

Fish Kasundi @$16.90++

All the mains at Fifth Season are strongly flavoured and suitable to have it with rice. The Fish Kasundi has the pickled mustard sauce flavour and this was one taste that you either love it or leave it.

Coriander Chili Chicken @$15.20++

The dish that Purple Taste would recommend is the Corander Chili Chicken. The taste was just superb. Lovely flavours, and good juicy chicken texture. Couldn't get enough of this.

Corn Curd Balls in Pickled Szechwan (Semi Gravy) @$14.20++

The corn curd was interesting. It was almost like a corn tofu but firmer. Loved the fragrance of corn in this. The restaurant charges a dollar for each bottled water and they serve drinks like lassi, soft drinks and alcoholic beverages too. The mango lassi was good. Thick and sweet. So appetising!

Mango Lassi @$6.90++

Next up, let's have some carbs. Usually, one would order either a rice or noodles. At Fifth Season, you could have both in one order. For example, the Chow Chow Rice which is a mix of hakka noodles and fried rice with vegetables, egg and spiced with black pepper.

Chow Chow Rice @$13.10

Have you heard of American Chop Suey? It is vegetables in sweet and sour sauce, with a fried egg and topped with crispy muruku. Ecletic, yes.

American Chopsuey @$15.30++

Another favourite dish of mine that night, was the chili prawns. So good. Prawns were of a good size and firm. The sauce would go well with rice.

Chili Prawn Soya @$18.90++

The recommendation would be to come in a small group to try out perhaps just one or two sauces and the momos.

Of course, do try the dessert as the restaurant has some that are not so commonly found. A party of 5 pax could try about 3 to 4 desserts. Thankfully, the sweetness level was manageable.

Rossomalai @$8.90++

Mishti Doi @$6.90++

The Rossomalai is a type of Bengali dessert which has cottage cheese balls, in thickened flavoured milk and pistachio. The texture was a tad spongy and easy to eat. I adored the Mishti Doi, a dessert of caramelized yoghurt. The smooth yoghurt flavour served cold, was good. The last special dessert, baked Sondesh was seasonal and of limited edition. It was made of fresh cheese, dates, jaggery and has a grainy texture. Quite lovely and sweet without added sugar.

special dessert - baked Sondesh

The Fifth Season Tangra Chinese Restaurant has a seating capacity of about 70-pax and they are on major delivery platforms too. The peak timing for the restaurant during dinner is after 730pm.

Thank you Fifth Season for hosting the tasting and HGW for the invite.

[Media Invite] nALAn Restaurant @ Capitol Piazza

nALAn Restaurant is located at B2 of Capitol Piazza and serves purely vegetarian food. Its menu has the usual northern and southern Indian dishes, a sprinkle of Desi Chinese dishes and a few western-influenced items. The restaurant is spacious and could easily accommodate a cosy 2-pax party or larger groups of say 10 to 16 pax.

menu

interior

Have always wanted to try lassi, a popular drink that is  blend of yoghurt, water and spices. The adventurous one took the butter milk lassi (white), the semi-adventurous one took the badam milk lassi while the safe-ones chose mango lassi. The butter milk was watery, has cardamom in it and most sour amongst the three while mango lassi was the sweetest. Am most delighted with mango lassi!

butter milk @$3, badam milk @$5 and mango lassi @$5

For our meal, we started with western-styled cream of mushroom soup. The soup came with a rather peppery taste. So hold on to the pepper and salt shakers till you've tasted it.

cream of mushroom soup @$7

If you are in a group of say 6 to 8 pax, then you might want to order the Tandoori Platter for sharing. It was an interesting plate with an assortment of kebabs; paneer tikka, hara bara kebab, vegetable sheek kebab, button mushrooms and cauliflower. Loved the hara bara kebab which is essentially made of green vegetables such as spinach and peas. Crunchy flavours of onions on its outer batter and fragrance of green peas on its insides. Lovely.

Tandoori Platter @$25

there's vegetables in my kebab

The Daaba Salad was rather spicy and it contains mostly raw vegetables such as carrots, onions, and capsicum. Beware of the chopped bird's eye chilies in it.
 

Daaba Salad @$6

Gobi Manchurian @$13

My favourite was the Gobi Manchurian, an addictive dish of fried cauliflower where its sauteed with garlic, ginger, chilies, onions, capsicum, soy sauce and ketchup and decorated with chopped spring onions. Yummy.

Our main course consists of butter and garlic naans, chappati, rumali roti and kashmiri bread. The accompaniment were communal dining portions of aloo palak, dal makhani, mushroom mutter methi and kadai paneer.

main course

naan @$4.50 per piece

Dal Makhani @$11

Jeera (cumin) Rice @$8

Would like to recommend Jeera (cumin) rice with Mushroom Mutter Methi. These two should win an award for best partner/combination. The ingredients in the mushroom mutter methi are ginger, onions, corriander powder, turmeric, paprika, cayenne, black pepper, tomato puree, cardamom, black pepper, green peas, dried fenugreek leaves and coconut cream. The result was simply creamy tasty magic!

Mushroom Mutter Methi @$13

But best bread has to be Rumali Roti. How is it that I've not discovered this flatbread till now! If you unfold it, it is really a large large piece of thin (almost paper thin) dough. Non-oily and light to taste. Eat it with a pinch of this and that, and chew. The flavours were just so agreeable.

Rumali Roti @$4.50

For a healthier choice, then that'll be chappati. Made of ground whole wheat and contains complex carbs and low in fat content.

For dessert, one could end with the sweet Kashmiri Naan. This flatbread has cashews, badam and glazed cherries.

Kashmiri Naan @$7.70

Otherwise, one could opt for the traditional Indian desserts of gulab jamun and carrot halwa. Do note that these are very very sweet! Take small small bites and savour. The carrot halwa has a strong milky aroma and garnished with pistachio.

Gulab Jamun @$4.50

Carrot Halwa गाजर का हलवा @$5.50

Thank you HGW for the invite and nALAn Restaurant for hosting the dinner. It was fun learning the names of the dishes and its ingredients.

Elemen 元素 @ Millenia Walk

For our foodies get-together, Elemen @ Millenia Walk was suggested. Rather unusual choice but we gave it a try. One of our new friend liked the place quite a bit and has been there for a few times already. Reservations were made (which we later learnt was quite a necessity) and at the appointed date, we turned up for brunch at Elemen.

Elemen is located at Level 1 of Millenia Walk and was quite easy to find. The shop ambiance was refreshing with a rather spacious dining area.

shopfront

interior

Once seated, diners could peruse the paper menu or via the tablet. When ready, just order via the tablet device. One could opt for course set menus of 5-courses @$23.80++ or 8-courses @$32.80++, or go ala-carte.

menu cum ordering pad

traditional menu

Basically the items in ala-carte are the same as those that you can mix and match into the course sets. For ala-carte menu, the starters price ranges from $2.80++, salads goes for $5.80++ while soups can be as high as $8.80++. Main courses generally either $12.80++ or $15.80++ while desserts are priced at $5.80++, $6.80++ and $8.80++.

Liked the restaurant's versatility in terms of not making it compulsory for everyone at the same table to order all ala-cartes or all course sets. For our group of 9 pax, we ordered 2 x 8-courses set and a few ala-carte mains.

rosemary infused water

(included in 8-Course Set) Elemen Appetiser @$4.80++ and apple cider

Didn't manage to taste the Elemen Appetiser except for the small squares of sesame pudding. Nice intense sesame flavours in the beginning but it finishes with a burnt after taste. The apple cider tasted like a sharp version of apple juice.

tomato looks inviting

Wild Mushroom Cream Soup with Truffle Oil

Double Boiled Maca Soup @$8.80++

We chose soups from western and asian influenced. The mushroom cream soup was thick and not too overpowering. It was unfortunate that by the time I managed to get a sip, the soup had turned cold. With all the items served on the table, it was tough to pay equal attention to each dish. The Asian styled Maca soup was pleasant and tasty.

Avocado Salad with BBQ sauce @$5.80++

Mushroom Salad @$5.80++

Gosh, I think I might had missed out on the avocado salad! Haha, what a bummer. Nevertheless, managed to have a bite of the mushroom salad. It looked pretty cute with the plump stem. Light earthy flavour.

For mains, we ordered mostly Asian items. We tried the Tempura Tofu with Avocado Roll, Oven Baked Mountain Yam with Walnut, Braised Pumpkin with Glutinous Rice in Hot Stone and a relatively new item at Elemen, the Japanese Curry Noodles with Beancurd Roll.

Tempura Tofu with Avocado Roll @$15.80++

The Tempura Tofu with Avocado Roll was done up very nicely. Easy to share too! The sushi rice was good and it goes well with the fried bits and the sauce.  Yummy and quite worthwhile to get it in a set. Tasted like something one could get from a Japanese restaurant.

Yet, another Japanese-inspired dish. Japanese Curry Udon with Beancurd Roll may not look pretty but it tasted quite likeable. The sweetish Japanese curry that wasn't too thick, the strands of thin udon that required a bath in the curry gravy, ample leafy greens and lovely beancurd roll too. Surprise find was the chestnuts. 

Japanese Curry Noodles with Beancurd Roll @$12.80++

Next, two dishes that were recommended by foodie friend that had dined at Elemen before. The Wild Mushroom and White Truffle Pizza and the Braised Pumpkin with Glutinous Rice in HotStone.

The pizza was thin-crusted and crispy round its edges. The toppings were not overpowering and great for sharing.

Wild Mushroom and White Truffle Pizza @$15.80++

Braised Pumpkin with Glutinous Rice in Hot Stone @$15.80++

The braised pumpkin hotstone pot was served bubbling. There's green apples, pumpkin, and king oyster mushroom in there. The sauce is made of red wine and teriyaki sauce. The crispy glutinous rice would soften once its soaked enough in the pot.

yuzu mint mojito @$4.80++

For drinks, there are four choices in each of the hot or cold beverage categories. Chose Yuzu Mint Mojito for something cold and the Lychee Black Tea from the hot selection.

The cold yuzu mint mojito had a tad too much ice in it and that kind of diluted it a little. Nevertheless, it was refreshing on a warm day.

The hot Lychee Black Tea was served in lovely black teapot that was pretty heavy. The tea has been properly infused and the fragrance of lychee was noticeable.

Lychee Black Tea @$4.80++

For the Course Sets, we got ourselves desserts; the interesting purple-coloured Sweet Potato Puree and the previously most-ordered cafe dessert of chocolate lava cake served with gelato.

The Sweet Potato Puree offered an unadulterated taste of sweet potato. Mild and light. As for the chocolate lava cake, it was decent and pretty enjoyable. Just don't expect the lava to flow out.

Sweet Potato Puree @$5.80++

Chocolate Lava Cake with Gelato @$8.80++

On the overall, we thought it was quite a good value to get the course-set when you're dining at Elemen.

For a 5-Course Set @$23.80++, one gets:

• 1x Elemen Appetiser
• 1x Salad/Soup
• 1x Main
• 1x Dessert
• 1x Drink

For 8-Course Set @$32.80++, one gets:

• 1x Elemen Appetiser
• 1x Rosemary Breadstick with yoghurt sauce
• 1x Salad
• 1x Soup
• 1x Apple Cider
• 1x Main
• 1x Dessert
• 1x Drink

Recommended for families, large groups or anyone that would like to dine in a comfortable environment to enjoy meatless dishes.