Showing posts with label Vegan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vegan. Show all posts

Saturday, June 30, 2012

Eating with the Garden Slug

We went to try out The Garden Slug on a Friday evening. It's an eclectic little restaurant that comes off very laid back. Their unique list of appetizers, mains, desserts and even a small cider selection, has a substantial vegetarian slant. Their motto is an interesting "Eat Drink Don't Think". Cute! We received some surprisingly professional service from the young staffers there.

I went with the strange choice of a Sloppy Portobello Veggie Burger - it was a vegetarian choice. When the plate was laid down in front of me, I was aghast cos the only sides to my burger were huge raw celery and carrot sticks! I confess, I didn't expect vegetable sticks for sides, expecting some fries to come along if at all (it wasn't specified in the menu). However, with some encouragement from Mky, I dipped the veggie stick into the thousand island sauce and found that I actually didn't mind it at all. Quite refreshing really. It also helped that Mky's dish came with 2 other sauces.


The burger itself was composed of a large portobello mushroom and a "curry patty" (basically potato spiced with curry powder) sitting on romaine lettuce and a slice of tomato. For some reason I was instantly reminded of Cedele's excellent Chicken Chermoula Burger. Must be the curry. Well, being as how the Chicken Chermoula is one of my favourites, the Sloppy Portobello was immediately judged on a higher scale. I thought it was delicious, I just didn't think the burger bun was anything to shout home about - it just served its purpose I guess.


Mky had heard that the fried calamari rings at the Garden Slug was heavenly, but we didn't think we could finish an entire serving of it between us, so she went with the Battered Seafood Sandwich, which came with the aforementioned calamari rings, some potato wedges and more veggie sticks. The calamari rings were quite perfectly done - crispy batter covering the still soft and juicy squid ring. The potato wedges were as standard as potato wedges could be. The platter came with 2 sauces though, Ranch and Honey Mustard! All the better to dip those healthy veggie sticks into!

Her Seafood Sandwich was almost like a less sinful version of traditional Fish & Chips - with the battered hake fish in question served between toasted multi-grain bread with romaine lettuce and tomato. She liked her order well enough (well it was mostly friend stuff, who does not like fry-ups? =P )

Overall, the Garden Slug has some interesting offerings on their menu that we would like next and gets our "We'll be back!" vote!


The Garden Slug
55 Lorong L Telok Kurau, #01-59/61
Bright Centre,
Singapore 42550
6346 0504
justask@thegardenslug.com

Sunday, March 20, 2011

New Sensations @ 7 Sensations!

After our excellent first visit to this healthy vegetarian restaurant, Mky decided that she would love to bring her parents here and sample the other aspects of their wide and varied menu.



We ordered the Moussaka again, but instead of going for individual portions, we did a shared-dishes type of meal this round. We also had a platter of Gado-gado and Mango-Avocado Salad to kickstart the meal - both dishes were decent but nothing to write home about.

Moving on to the mains, we had one serving each of Korean Brown Rice, Petai Fried Rice and a bowl of regular brown rice as our main carbs, to go with the Tea-Flavoured Vegetables, Sambal Buah Keluak and "Mutton" Curry.  Though we were already quite stuffed by then, the urge to order desserts was irresistible so we rounded off the excellent meal with some sweet treats - Chocolate & Raspberry Cake, Eggless Durian Cake and Avocado Mousse.

Since we had a larger party this time, we managed to sample a wider variety of delectables in the 7 Sensations menu.  Overall roundup:

HITS:
- Moussaka: according to Mky, today's version of the Moussaka tasted even better than our last encounter. We surmised that it was cos we ate it hot, straight from the oven, rather than letting it stand till it got cold. Very good nonetheless!  Mky: Moussaka was moister this time round, giving it a smoother, richer bite than our previous try (which was in itself good, but this time it was better!), where it was a bit grainy.  The eggplant layer was also more discernable... a good thing!
- Korean Brown Rice: can't go wrong with this dish!  Everybody liked it.
- Petai Fried Rice: slightly tastier than the regular plain brown rice.. Mky: the petai bits could have been bigger for more kick... by cutting them into slivers, there's hardly any petai taste in each bite unless one gets lucky and has a whole heap clustered together.
- Tea-Flavoured Vegetables: smelled great, loved the thick mushroom slices!  Mky: thought it clever that they deep-fried thick-cut slices of mushroom stem.  Created a taste sensation similar to fishcake which wowed us all.  The greens were well-executed, no tough fibrous bits, only crunchy tasty goodness!
- Chocolate & Raspberry Cake: Excellent high density cake that Mky decided would likely be the cake that I will be having for my birthday in April =D  Mky: Looking at Dky's expression when eating it, I knew for sure he'd love to have it as his birthday cake.  Saved the very last bite for him, and boy was he gleeful.  Cake had a decadent, almost velvety mouthfeel, liked very much that it was made of bittersweet chocolate enhanced by the pleasing tartness of raspberry jam.  Definitely not a sugar-bomb confection.  We love it!
- Avocado Mousse: Cool, soft and topped with a generous portion of gula melaka.

MISSES:
- "Mutton" Curry - The "mutton" pieces were actually very well-done, with realistic grain and texture and without the greasy sheen one usually associates with mock meats.  However, the curry gravy was a letdown as it was thin and tasted too strongly of curry powder.  One-dimensional.
- Gado-gado - Mky: Not quite worth it's price tag, even if the sauce was made of cashews (or was it almonds??).
- Sambal Buak Keluak: Even though this is categorised under a "Miss", I must say you can't go wrong with Buah Keluak.  Main issues was the sauce that was used - it had way too much vinegar, so it was overwhelmingly sour and mouth-puckering.  The "chicken" bits were as good as the "mutton" though!
- Eggless Durian Cake: Mky's parents who are durian lovers, say that the cake here didn't match up.  And this was quite obvious from the speed at which the other 2 desserts were being consumed, leaving the durian cake in the dust.  Mky: Perhaps the durian cake would have benefited from the inclusion of some fresh durian pulp for texture and fragrance.  The cake appeared to have been set with a gelatin or gelling agent, which affected its creaminess.


I must say that eating at 7 Sensations is a real happy-making experience. I thoroughly enjoyed the tastes that each and every single dish promised, especially since there is no MSG aftermath following it. I was practically bursting with joy while eating here! Mky: hear, hear! No MSG attacks!

Currently there is a promotion for Standard Chartered card-holders. Eating here on a Sunday gets you a whopping 20% discount. Spending over $100 gets you another 5% on top of that. That means you get a whopping 25% discount! Doesn't that make you want to just make a reservation there now?
(A caveat: being in Little India, there are a lot of foreign workers thronging the streets on Sundays, thus the large discount probably benefits only those who don't mind or aren't scared of walking in huge crowds.  Finding a parking space can also be an issue.).

Kudos once again to cousin Dawn for introducing this delightful restaurant to us.

16 Madras Street S(208413)
(Just behind The Verge at Tekka)
Tel: 6298 8198

Saturday, February 26, 2011

7 Sensations



7 Sensations: who needs meat when food tastes this great?

We've had some recommendations on vegan restaurants recently, thanks to our friends who've suggested some really great places to try. All I can say is when I ordered the Vegetarian Lasagne on a lark (how can a lasagne without meat taste any good?), I was shocked at the first bite, and exclaimed to Mky "Who needs meat??" The lasagne was divine!

I'll leave the rest of the review for Mky, since I can't remember the dishes' names now.

Mky: On top of the creamy, perfectly al dente lasagne (as opposed to the chewy hard sheets of pasta we've experienced at some places), we also picked a Moussaka from the appetiser section.

What was served to us eventually was DEFINITELY not "appetiser" in size... it was a massive portion of spiced eggplant baked up with a cheesy top... ginormous! Certainly sufficient for a regular diner as a main course (we wouldn't have been able to finish it if not for Dax's high-capacity tum)! Of note was the tomato reduction which came with it... zingy, moreish, very VERY appetising!

Last but not least was my main course, a size-able claypot of "Korean Brown Rice" (?), which was essentially nutty brown rice topped with fresh veg (believe it was blanched chye sim) and shredded mushroom stalks (a personal love - better than eating meat!). It was a tad oily, but the flavours melded well together and we finished up every grain.

All in all, very tasty, well-executed dishes. The ambience is classy, with food prices that are surprisingly inexpensive (within the $12-20/dish range).

16 Madras Street S(208413)
(Just behind The Verge at Tekka)
Tel: 6298 8198

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

LivinGreens



LivinGreens: vegan dining that won't blow a hole in your pocket.

No MSG, garlic or onions, but they still manage to get their food tasting quite good. We had the daily brown rice set (Saturday's was "Tomato" - crunchy flash fried chye sim, potatoes and soy protein in bolognese sauce and watercress salad), green curry dry pasta and some really delicious baked potato wedges with tangy soy mayo dip.

325 Beach Rd
63965523